Review

Zsolt Gárdonyi
Fantasie über ein ungarisches Danklied (Fantasy on a Hungarian Song):
four trombones and organ concertante

Frankfurt, , Germany
Publisher: Musikverlag Zimmermann
Date of Publication: 1990

Primary Genre: Chamber Music
Secondary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

This work is based on a 16th century Protestant hymn. As such, the music is loosely tethered to a cantus firmus, but it also contains several episodes that range far afield in tonality, texture, and meter. This piece features the instrument Mozart called "the King of instruments" (the organ) as much as it does the instrument Berlioz called "the voice of God;" truly, then, this piece matches heaven and earth. Indeed, the overall effect is spirited, alternately reverential and playful.

A brief introduction sets the stage for varied settings of the hymn melody. Organ solos set off sections of different meters that build to a thunderous climax, which is heightened by a thick fff organ texture that is bound to overwhelm the block chords of the trombone quartet unless a celestial compromise can be reached. The trombone writing ranges from C in the fourth part to c2 in the first part. Mutes are needed as is an ability to read tenor clef. Gárdonyi, a professor at the Musikhochshule in Würzburg, writes that a conductor is not required for performance. Despite the welcome inclusion of organ cues in the trombone parts, this comment should give a sense of foreboding to musicians who have performed a work of any rhythmic complexity with their local organist, royal inclinations notwithstanding.

-Joel Elias
Sacramento State University