Review

Gabriel M. Stockhausen
Poe Songs:

Denton, TX, United States
Publisher: Kagarice Brass Editions
Date of Publication: 2001

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - unaccompanied

Written in 1998, Gabriel M. Stockhausen’s Poe Songs is a five-movement work for unaccompanied trombone. Each movement is titled on a well known work by Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and House of Usher. The musical language is often directly descriptive of the texts in a predictable manner that is likely to satisfy a less sophisticated audience. This is a moderately challenging work that features a few extended techniques, including some notable multi-phonic passages. Since an f-attachment is not required and, with the exception of the requisite pedal BB-flat “heartbeats,” the tessitura is mostly mid-range suggesting that the work can be performed on a wide range of trombones. Poe Songs are quite approachable for upper class undergraduate students. They are a good assignment in interpretation and are useful demonstration pieces.

-Andrew Glendening
University of Redlands