Winner of the Royal College of Music composer's concerto competition, performed on 9th February 2023 by the RCM New Perspectives Ensemble.

Episodes From An Imaginary Opera

Written for & recorded by the Fidelio Trio.

Soniquete

the summoning

for trombone and fixed media

performed by the composer

That trombonists tend to have hundreds of bars rest in between notes is such a banal observation that it seems an uninteresting topic for a piece - but the demand to produce the perfect note out of the blue involves a unique kind of anxious anticipation and catastrophisation. This fixation on a single note is responsible for the deployment of all kinds of techniques to mitigate the risk of any potential mispitching: furiously honking silent bursts of air through the instrument in a desperate attempt to warm it up; making sure for the third/fourth/fifth/sixth time that the water key has done its job; drenching the slide in far too much oil; etc. This short piece, shifting the focus away from central/‘idiomatic’ modes of trombone sound production, captures many of these neuroses, from the act of assembling the instrument all the way up to the fudged note in question.

on the anxieties of being an orchestral trombone player (2023)

successful day playing around with delays + finding a balance with the flexibility/fragility of these dyads !

interlude i

Conductor - Chloé van Soeterstède
RCM Philharmonic

15 February 2024
Amarillys Flemming Concert Hall
Royal College of Music, London, UK

in D

Sultan of sentiment for contrabass recorder

Giallo Jan

Recorded at the premiere concert, 14th of March 2024. Performed by RCM's New Perspectives ensemble, directed by Tim Lines.

on the anxieties of being an orchestral trombone player (2023)

Ed Driver

Related tracks