Review

Jamie Wehr
Ballad for My Other Brother:
trombone, piano, narrator, and tenor drum

,
Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2005
URL: http://www.wehrs-music-house.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Chamber Music

Ballad for My Other Brother involves collaboration between composer Jamie Wehr and poet Stephen Caldwell Wright. Commissioned to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the founding of Seminole Community College in Sanford, Florida, the programmatic work firstly depicts the town’s martial heritage and then “a calm confidence in one’s self and life.”

The piece opens with dramatic, fanfare-like figurations that depict the early days of Sanford, then Fort Mellon. Its angular melodic material unfolds from the initial motive, and the incessant presence of the tenor drum underscores its martial tone. This section intensifies into a dramatic climax and then recedes into the life affirmation of the second section. The staccato of the tenor drum is now exchanged for the voice of the narrator. The music is peaceful as Wright’s poem sets forth the settled confidence of a brother who is content to live in his small town, even though his “other brother” is successful and moves away. The peaceful nature of the movement is interrupted for a time with aggressive writing that depicts the vicissitudes of life, but descending chromatic lines in the trombone part bring the work to a serene ending.

Ballad for My Other Brother is an intriguing chamber work. The trombone part requires agility and musical imagination, but does not place unreasonable demands upon the performer. The piano part is difficult but accessible. Several spots do not lie comfortably under the fingers, and at times important melodic material is imbedded in inner parts. Wright’s poem lends a programmatic understanding to the music, as do the extensive program notes provided by the composer. A performance of this work will be both visually and musically dramatic.

-Paul Overly
Bob Jones University