Review

Victoria Borisova-Ollas and Elias Faingersh
Hamlet-Drama for Trombone and Orchestra:

Vienna, , Austria
Publisher: Universal Edition
Date of Publication: 2008

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with orchestra

Victoria Borisova-Ollas was born in Russia and began her musical studies at the Central School of Music in Moscow and continued her education at the famous Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Additional composition studies were taken in Sweden at the Malmö Music College and at the Royal College of Music in London. She resides in Sweden and her music is widely performed by world-renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), and the Swedish Royal Philharmonic. Her works have been recorded and broadcast on radio and television throughout the world. A member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since 2008, her music is published by Universal Editions in Vienna.

Trombonist Elias Faingersh was born in Moscow and is a graduate of the Malmö College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. Based in Sweden, he has developed a unique performing style that blends music and elements of drama. The manner in which he uses his trombone and live electronics, as well as his stage presence, distinguish him from any other artist on the scene. His critically acclaimed show Trombone Magic has earned him several major Swedish arts awards and has been performed in Denmark, Sweden and Israel, in addition to being recorded for Swedish National Television, Latvian TV and German Radio. He has given over 250 solo concerts including performances at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the ArtGenda Festival in Hamburg, the Nova Estonia Festival of Contemporary Music in Gdansk, Poland, the Kaliningrad State Gallery in Russia, the Target Studio Congress Palace in Riga, Latvia, and the BIBA Brass Festival in, Karlskrona. Also a much sought-after composer, his music has been used in more than 30 stage productions and in a large number of television and radio shows. 

Borisova-Ollas and Faingersh interpret Shakespeare’s famous play with the solo trombone interacting with both the orchestra and the audience. At 47 minutes, this compelling work is perhaps the longest in the trombone (with orchestral accompaniment) repertoire. As Faingeresh stated: we basically cover the entire play scene by scene. Borisova-Ollas wrote all the orchestral music while Faingersh is responsible for the solo part. Performing on a double bell instrument with a mute in one of the bells, the soloist is able to switch instantaneously from muted to open sounds. The trombonist must be an excellent actor, as recitation, movement and facial expressions are important in conveying the drama. Aside from playing the trombone in a traditional manner, the soloist uses various techniques such as multiphonics, moaning, singing, whistling, etc.  These are recorded into an electronic effect processor and two loop machines, which allows for the production of various echoes, delays, distortions, loops and multi-layered textures. The resulting sounds are then adroitly controlled by foot pedals in real time and played against. The musical results are for the most part tonal and traditional in rhythm but with an interesting array of sounds. As Faingersh states: I love trombone and I love music. I want people in the concert hall to feel something; I want to really connect with them - not to be too exclusive, nor too cheap and populist. I also do not think that people should be prepared for me, but rather, I have to be prepared for them. I see music as the most communicative art, and today people really appreciate when you take them seriously. And as one reviewer noted: In the ‘Ghost’ scene he created a fascinating atmosphere with winding melodies, ancient church-bells and the sound of waves culminating in a powerful explosion. The première of Hamlet took place at an outdoor concert in Malmö June 15, 2008. The Malmö Symphony Orchestra commissioned it with funds from the Swedish Arts Council. Unfortunately heavy rain forced the cancellation of the last third of the work. The missing part was subsequently recorded indoors, completing a video documentary of the piece. This was later broadcast on Swedish television.

Drama or theatrics included in trombone performance can perhaps be traced back to the Berio Sequenza V, continued in some of the works of Stockhausen and further enhanced by master soloists such as Christian Lindberg, Abbie Conant, and Michael Svoboda. Elias Faingersh continues and adds to this tradition. Part of his performance of Hamlet and other of his presentations can be viewed at these internet sites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkh676PvVe8
http://www.trombonemagic.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnJoEndLQlk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6BH0nDDKk

-Karl Hinterbichler
University of New Mexico