Review

David Uber
Legend of Lake St. Catherine:

Delevan, NY, United States
Publisher: Kendor Music
Date of Publication: 1996
URL: http://www.kendormusic.com

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

Lake St. Catherine is an idyllic body of water located just south of Poultney, Vermont.  Uber, who has contributed many pieces to our graded brass repertoire, uses this tranquil setting as the inspiration for this composition. The sectional, fantasia-like organization of the work characterizes the ever changing scenes of that body of water. 

The bass trombone part includes florid, frequently sequential lines within a tonal framework. The fantasia style requires rhythmic flexibility and allows for significant individuality in interpretation. The composer does include many expressive controls in the score that guide interpretation, and it will be the instructor’s job to move the student beyond “obeying the markings” to playing the phrase. 

The tessitura of the solo is quite low almost entirely in and below the bass clef staff, GG-c1, and two valves will greatly ease the execution of the solo part. In fact, the part could be effectively performed up an octave by a tenor trombone. The piano part is of moderate difficulty, and contributes a pleasing, often quasi-impressionistic tonal canvas. Although the solo part is not without difficulty, and certainly the work contains pleasant musical moments, the grade 5 rating the publisher assigns the work seems high to me. Grade 3.5 to 4 would seem more consistent with levels found in the Kagarice Annotated Guide.

-Paul Overly
Bob Jones University