We live in a time where you pretty much can google any information within minutes. There are probably not a lot, if any trombone recordings that nobody has heard of before. Still I would like to see who of us believes that a recording of a soloist they own deserves more attention. It can either be a player whose name has kind of been forgotten over time or a recording of an otherwise very well known player that nobody talks about.
Maybe a start. I grew up with this recording, the soloist, Jürgen Heinel, was principal trombone of the Staatskapelle Berlin, one of the premier ensembles in former Eastern Germany. His playing style and sound concept might seem a bit out of the norm for listeners these days but it gives insight into the concept of trombone playing from the first half of the 20th century in Germany. Due to the isolation of East Germany, some traditions and teachings were preserved that you wouldn’t easily find anywhere else. Also, the entire recording was done appparently in two recording days, which in itself is quite remarkable.
Sure. Here are some albums from a famous trombonist that most of us probably have not listened to. Mostly Christian Lindberg. His stuff is not just Blue Bells of Scotland and stolen works for violin.
Michael Nyman, trombone concerto. Maybe the best concerto written for the trombone, it's like an anthem for anyone who has dragged themselves into a job they don't like, day in and day out, and hoped every day for something better (the filing cabinets in the percussion section are a hint). This movement comes out of nowhere, following a massively difficult passage. Check out the whole piece if you like it:
Or how about this one. I saw this piece live in DC. The Kalevi Aho trombone concerto. Some of the most awesome music written for trombone. Changed my life:
How about Hakan Bjorkman's CD?
This gem from one of the discs that most people only buy the Saint-Saens track from:
Donald Sanders (December 28, 1952 - September 26, 2020) was one of the world's greatest trombonists. He won the highest prize awarded at the Prague International Solo Competition in 1978 and Second Prize at the 1979 Geneva International Solo Competition, was a member of the Empire Brass, and was Principal Trombone of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. But he was not widely known outside of Boston because his solo career was shortened by Multiple Sclerosis, diagnosed in the early 1980s. He kept playing at a very high level for years after his diagnosis, and I was fortunate enough to meet and play with him in the early 1990s.
This is a live recording of Arthur Pryor's Thoughts of Love, from a recital in 1981 at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. He is pictured with his wife Laura, his close friend Michael Mulcahy, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra low brass section (Larry Isaacson, Bob Couture, Gary Ofenloch, and Walter Brauer), his friend and colleague Don Rankin, and John Williams.
I created this playlist from the CD he produced after he retired from playing. He only pressed about 250 copies of it and gave them all away, and his family gave me permission to put the tracks up on youtube after he passed away.
Miles Anderson was principal trombone of the LA Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He has since been making a marvelous career as a soloist. "Miles Anderson Plays His Slide Trombone Again" is standard French repertoire played on a small bore trombone, and it is a revelation.
Many of us know Carl Lenthe's name from Indiana University (where he is retiring this year). Have you really heard him play? Here is a FANTASTIC live recording of the Hindemith Sonata, with a pianist too famous to name:
And speaking of the Hindemith Sonata, here is one unlike any other you've heard, from the great Danish trombonist Palmer Traulsen. Please don't just dismiss it because your teacher told you to play it with longer notes. Palmer Traulsen lived through World War II.
Along similar lines to the above, Per Brevig's name is certainly familiar to most of us for his many years teaching at Juilliard, Manhattan School, Mannes, and Aspen, but how many heard him play? I was lucky enough to study with him before he put the trombone down after an injury. The huge, rich, resonant sound of the first notes he played for me is still burned in my mind - on an Eastlake 88H and the Doug Elliott equivalent of a 6-1/2AL. The first time I heard the Hindemith sonata was him playing it in concert on an old flat wrap .522 bore Conn.
Also, why doesn't this concerto get played? What a fantastic piece.
GabrielRice wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:05 am
Along similar lines to the above, Per Brevig's name is certainly familiar to most of us for his many years teaching at Juilliard, Manhattan School, Mannes, and Aspen, but how many heard him play? I was lucky enough to study with him before he put the trombone down after an injury. The huge, rich, resonant sound of the first notes he played for me is still burned in my mind - on an Eastlake 88H and the Doug Elliott equivalent of a 6-1/2AL. The first time I heard the Hindemith sonata was him playing it in concert on an old flat wrap .522 bore Conn.
Also, why doesn't this concerto get played? What a fantastic piece.
I agree with you on this one Gabe. I found the Chavez recording when I was a student at Oberlin. It made such an impression on me that I ordered the sheet music for it immediately. I still take it out and play selections from time to time. The concerto itself has many awkward passages and large intervals, all of which were played effortlessly by Per Brevig.
Another great Per Brevig recording is the Hovland Concerto that he made with the Bergen Symphony. I must have listened to that 1000 times when I was in school……another piece that I ordered the sheet music immediately.
The funny thing is that Brevig came to teach at Oberlin a year or two later. I prepared the Hovland for my lessons and was so fearful that I would not play it to his expectations…..I was a mess! He was very understanding and helped me through my jitters.
These are some of the recordings I grown up with , in the early '80 .
At the time , was not so easy to find these kind of stuff in Italy ...
I have the impression that nowadays these musicians are somewhat forgotten , in the USA also .
This is one of the soloist I was in love with : Jack Jenney (Stardust)
Henry Charles Smith : from the LP "Plays Trombone" (side two)
Dennis Smith : Blue bells of Scotland (from the LP " the virtuoso trombonist Dennis Smith" )
Crazy4Tbone86 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:54 am
The funny thing is that Brevig came to teach at Oberlin a year or two later. I prepared the Hovland for my lessons and was so fearful that I would not play it to his expectations…..I was a mess! He was very understanding and helped me through my jitters.
I guess you were there shortly before I was. My first year at Oberlin was his last.
GabrielRice wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:51 am
Miles Anderson was principal trombone of the LA Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He has since been making a marvelous career as a soloist. "Miles Anderson Plays His Slide Trombone Again" is standard French repertoire played on a small bore trombone, and it is a revelation.
Glad someone brought Mile Anderson up- such incredible playing and recordings. This one of Morton Subotnick's The Wild Beasts. Such an unbelievably difficult piece that the ghost score also makes pretty disorienting and he just plays it with so much ease and style. Totally amazing that he had orchestra posts like that then left to do the type of work he did.
In relation to the Ceacilia-Concert side, their sackbuttist, Adam Woolf, has two fantastic solo records- Songs without Words and Food of Love (with tenor Charles Daniels). The former record has this unbelievably beautiful recording of these recorder variations based on the Dowland Flow of mine tears that he plays on sackbut. Really beautiful.
Crazy4Tbone86 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:54 am
The funny thing is that Brevig came to teach at Oberlin a year or two later. I prepared the Hovland for my lessons and was so fearful that I would not play it to his expectations…..I was a mess! He was very understanding and helped me through my jitters.
I guess you were there shortly before I was. My first year at Oberlin was his last.
I graduated in May of 1986. I believe 1985-86 was his second year on campus. Per’s daughter was a student at Oberlin at that time, so he had multiple motives for being there.
Of course, there is the possibility that you arrived in the fall of 1985 because I spent the fall of 1985 in England. When I came back for my final semester, I turned into a study and practice hermit and saw very little daylight. I don’t think Per ran a trombone choir that semester either. Thus, there might have been brass players on campus that I never met!
In his first months there, I wasn’t particularly impressed with what I heard of Per. It turned out that he was not doing much playing while getting settled there. Then his performance schedule went into high gear and we could hear him practicing constantly. I’ll never forget Per’s demonstration of Also Sprach at one of my lessons. When his playing was in full stride, there was an incredible energy in his sound.
Ms. Bucher was among the first female professional low brass players in Central Europe. She held positions in Freiburg, Germany, and then in Basel, Switzerland. She also was a member of the famed Slokar Trombone Quartet.
Dystonia ended her active playing career in the 1990s but she is still an active educator in Zwitzerland. She sounds really fantastic and unique to me in this recording.
I'm biased, but my grad school teacher is the associate principal of LA Phil. He's certainly not a nobody, but perhaps not as well known as some others.
Burgerbob wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:03 pm
I'm biased, but my grad school teacher is the associate principal of LA Phil. He's certainly not a nobody, but perhaps not as well known as some others.
This recording really makes me happy:
I was sufficiently vague in both the title and description, I hope. I think it is absolutely ok to mention recordings of people we all know due to the position they hold but who do not aggressively promote their fantastic skills all that much. Beautiful recording of Mr. Miller !
In Germany there is a specific recording floating around with some great trombone music. I have it, but right now cannot find it and don't have any written information on it. But I remember I have been told it may have been a retirement or anniversary concert for Johann Doms (former solo trombonist Berlin Phil and professor in Berlin) with some of his former colleagues and students playing. It contains ensemble and solo pieces, including a GREAT Martin Ballade. RustBeltBass, do you know more about this one?
Loren Marsteller, freelance player in Los Angeles for decades, has a wonderfully unique album of trombone and euphonium music - beautifully played on his setup, which I'm pretty sure is an Elkhart 8H with a Bach 7T (large shank) mouthpiece.
droffilcal wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:29 pm
Loren Marsteller, freelance player in Los Angeles for decades, has a wonderfully unique album of trombone and euphonium music - beautifully played on his setup, which I'm pretty sure is an Elkhart 8H with a Bach 7T (large shank) mouthpiece.
This recording by Boris Vinogradov from ‘76 is one of my favorites, I believe he was in the Leningrad Philharmonic in the 70’s. The playing is very different than what most are probably used to but I think it’s fantastic, and the Matej Sonata he’s playing is seriously underrated.
These are some of the recordings I grown up with , in the early '80 .
At the time , was not so easy to find these kind of stuff in Italy ...
I have the impression that nowadays these musicians are somewhat forgotten , in the USA also .
This is one of the soloist I was in love with : Jack Jenney (Stardust)
Henry Charles Smith : from the LP "Plays Trombone" (side two)
Dennis Smith : Blue bells of Scotland (from the LP " the virtuoso trombonist Dennis Smith" )
Regards
Giancarlo
The 3 Henry Charles Smith recordings have been re-issued as a 3CD set. Beautiful playing, way ahead of it's time! Check out the Haydn - Trumpet Concerto on a Bass Trumpet.
I agree with Jiim Scott about the excellent playing of Henry Charles Smith !
I listened over and over his records . I had the volume 2 first , in which he was performing also two Bordogni' s vocalizes , the Larsson' Concertino , and the Ravel' s Pavane , among others . I will check for the re-issued 3CD set !
Another record that I loved so much was this Ralph Sauer ' work :
I think that the wonderful Fred Beckett is an almost forgotten musician .
Here with H. Leonard Band : A La Bridges (trombone solo start at 1.31)
droffilcal wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:29 pm
Loren Marsteller, freelance player in Los Angeles for decades, has a wonderfully unique album of trombone and euphonium music - beautifully played on his setup, which I'm pretty sure is an Elkhart 8H with a Bach 7T (large shank) mouthpiece.
Kiril Ribarski, the great Macedonian trombonist. I remember someone playing this album for me back in high school, I had never heard anything like it up until that point. Ribarski has a smallish sound and and different style by today's standards; he’s a pretty remarkable player, but not so well known outside of old Eastern Bloc. Maybe the most solid embouchure I’ve ever seen on a trombonist. He has an endless high register that comes with effortless agility and facility.
chromebone wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:47 am
Kiril Ribarski, the great Macedonian trombonist. I remember someone playing this album for me back in high school, I had never heard anything like it up until that point. Ribarski has a smallish sound and and different style by today's standards; he’s a pretty remarkable player, but not so well known outside of old Eastern Bloc. Maybe the most solid embouchure I’ve ever seen on a trombonist. He has an endless high register that comes with effortless agility and facility.
Great Yugoslav trombonist. He played on a mouthpiece of huge diameter, but with a very shallow cup.
I like this one:
Larry W. Bird
Bass Trombonist
(retired, San Antonio Symphony)
Wonderful recital from 1992 at Rice University
Canzoni no. II per basso solo /Frescobaldi
Tetra ergon / White
Sonata / Vollrath
Meditation / Hidas
Etre ou ne pas être / Tomasi
Parity / Gibb https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/81503
GabrielRice wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:51 am
Miles Anderson was principal trombone of the LA Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He has since been making a marvelous career as a soloist. "Miles Anderson Plays His Slide Trombone Again" is standard French repertoire played on a small bore trombone, and it is a revelation.
Anyone who has not listened to Garage Musik in above link ^ really needs to! Truly amazing.
Side note: A few years ago, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a bag of free trombone mutes. I responded, of course, and it turned out to be Miles Anderson reducing his equipment! He is a super-nice guy!
One of the great Soviet trombonists is Viktor Batashov (1937). He was the winner of the 1st prize in Geneva in 1958 and the 3rd prize winner in Prague in 1963. For 30 years he was a soloist of the Grand Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television of the USSR. Now he is a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.
I stumbled upon this one last year during my studies about solo jazz trombone players and it is one of the most amazing sound experiences. Not sure if you can hear it somewhere online tho. But it's definitely worth it!
Doug Elliott wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:37 pm
Someday I hope I have time to check out all the great recordings in this thread. Some of them are definitely new to me.
Yes. Kudos to RustBeltBass for starting this thread. When Bob Isele popped up I knew the thread was a keeper.
Look at the pic of Bob Isele. I think that is a fake mustache. Lol. When I had one, I had to shave it off b/c the mpc always wore it away on one side to where it looked terrible. Nice playing, though. Nothing fake about that.
Doug Elliott wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:37 pm
Someday I hope I have time to check out all the great recordings in this thread. Some of them are definitely new to me.
Yes. Kudos to RustBeltBass for starting this thread. When Bob Isele popped up I knew the thread was a keeper.
Thank you, I do appreciate the love !!! I check this forum a couple of times a day, mostly when we have rehearsal breaks…and find it a bit disheartening to see so few posts, at leasts in the sub forums I am interested in. I still believe in the use of a bulletin style forum due to its organizational advantages over Facebook groups but more quality content is definitely needed, rather than fights over too big or small bass trombone mouthpieces, so I hope that was a good start. Better content = more interested and knowledgeable readers and poster, I hope at least.
Andrea Conti is one of Italys most famous players, he has strong ties to the Chicago School of trombone playing, I believe he studied with Arnold Jacobs as well.
He held and hold major positions in Germany and now Italy and has to my knowledge never released an album. Here he is playing absolutely beautifully:
