Review

Victor Cardenas
Sonata para Trombon y Piano:

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Publisher:
Date of Publication: 2009
URL: http://victorclarinete@hotmail.com,

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Victor Cardenas, (b.1968) in Colombia, is a clarinetist and conductor with quite a few wind compositions to his credit. His Sonata, available directly from the composer, is a difficult work with interesting musical ideas. Both the trombone and piano parts are challenging, highly technical and rhythmically complex. The trombone writing in particular uses the full range of the instrument, requiring a valve, with rapid sixteenth-note passages on the edge of single tonguing speed. Its harmonic style is not tonal, not serial; the best I can describe, its musical language is  similar to Andrew Imbrie’s Three Sketches, and just about as difficult. Tackling a piece this challenging is a personal decision; I found it worthwhile but intense. A YouTube recording of an electronic version can be accessed by typing in title and composer; each movement is a separate page. It was useful in answering my questions concerning notational problems (see below).		
The first movement is aggressive with call/response passages between the instruments and interesting contrast between trombone in its uppermost range and piano in its lowest. The movement contains quick, upward octave slurs and rapid triplet figures that will take practice.  The second, a ghostly waltz, features a lyrical A theme leading to rapid triplets between the players. I found that keeping the slow waltz time in mind helps the piece flow. The last movement, Allegro alla polka, is an almost perpetual motion idea for the trombonist comprised of double-dotted rhythms in an ABA form. Driving bass figures in the left hand of the piano keeps the movement going forward. Throughout the piece the trombonist must navigate large skips and extended technical passages.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the manuscript problems, many of which can be resolved by listening to the YouTube recordings. There are many clashes of slurs/clefs/rests against notes in the piano part and there are no courtesy accidentals, which will no doubt slow down the players in the technical passages. The marking of ‘eighth note remaining constant’ in the first movement doesn’t really explain going from triplets in 2/8 meter to sixteenths in 6/16 meter, and there are two lone measures of alto clef at the very end of the piece which turn out to be correct, i.e., not tenor clef. In sum, an extremely challenging work written by an accomplished musician that stretches the limit of trombone playing.

-David Mathie
Boise State University