Review

David Wilborn
Rhapsody:
Solo bass trombone with chamber orchestra (piano reduction)

, United States
Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2022
URL: http://www.wehrsmusichouse.com

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with orchestra
Secondary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

David Wilborn holds degrees from the University of Texas and the Eastman School of Music. He studied trombone with Donald Knaub and John Marcellus and composition with Donald Grantham. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Texas A&M University in College Station, where he teaches the low brass studio and coordinates small ensembles. As a clinician and trombone soloist, he has presented sessions and performances at conference venues throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe. His original compositions are performed and professionally recorded nationally and internationally. His Excursions for Six Trombones was selected as the winner of the 2003 Allen E. Ostrander Trombone Choir Composition Prize; his brass quintet Escapades was selected as one of the winning compositions at the Appalachian State 2004 Brass Chamber Music Festival Composition Contest, and his Three Movements for Brass Sextet won second place at the 2005 Humboldt Composition Contest for Brass Chamber Music. In February 2008, Wilborn performed the solo bass trombone part in the New York premiere of his Concertante Caprice with the Texas A&M University Wind Symphony in Carnegie Hall. Rorianne Schrade, a music critic for the New York Concert Review, praised the work for its freshness and excitement.

The composer writes the following:

“Rhapsody for bass trombone and Chamber Orchestra was written in the Spring of 2022. It was written specifically for the opening concert season of the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra in Orlando, Florida. The composer was the featured soloist with the orchestra under the direction of Todd Craven. It is a lighthearted piece, designed to capture frivolity and lyricism. These captions are apparent through moments of technical explorations followed by the several lyrical passages all designed to expose the musical potential of the bass trombone soloist. Most of the thematic material in the introduction and the opening trombone solo serves as the melodic focus of the music. Although the work was not created with a storyline or specific references in mind, the music still conveys a feeling that a story is being told. It feels like music intended for a soundtrack, full of adventure and moments of subtlety. It is a work that displays the wide range of the bass trombone as well as the technical possibilities, while also confirming the instrument as a legitimate and convincing solo instrument.”

Originally written for bass trombone and chamber orchestra, this review is based on the bass trombone and piano version. A generally accepted definition of a musical rhapsody is a single movement work that is episodic, irregular in form and features contrasting moods and colors. That applies to this Rhapsody. The harmonic, rhythmic, textural, and melodic material are traditional and conservative, not ranging much beyond late 19th-century practices. A good deal of the writing is homophonic; melody with accompaniment predominating. At a total performance time of around 11 minutes, the five distinct sections alternate between energetic and lyrical gestures. The ending is soft, with an often repeated four-note motive. The solo part’s dynamic indications lie almost completely between p and f. Technical demands are minimal. A good sense of legato style, mostly in the middle register, is required for a successful performance. 

Rhapsody is playable by a mature undergraduate. The paper, printing, and layout are first-class.