Review

Dan Locklair
A Birthday Fancy: for Two Trombones and Piano
2 trombones, piano

Minden, Ontario, Canada
Publisher: Counterpoint Music Library Services Inc.
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cpmusiclibrary.ca

Perusal score

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 2 trombones
Secondary Genre: Chamber Music

Dan Locklair holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a DMA from the Eastman School of Music. Presently, Dr. Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His compositional catalog, influenced by a wide variety of traditions, includes internationally performed symphonic works, a ballet, an opera, and numerous solo, chamber, vocal, organ, and choral compositions. CDs of his music have been released by Naxos, Albany, Koch International Classics, Priory, Raven, ARSIS, Gothic, Loft, and other labels.

Notes by the composer: “A Birthday Fancy  was commissioned by Jean-Marie Barker to celebrate the June 19, 2020, birthday of her trombonist husband, David Archer. Sharing in the dedication of the piece, is friend and former Archer trombone student, Robert Conquer, on the occasion of his 20th birthday on June 29, 2020. Imitation abounds throughout the single-movement work. It is in three primary sections. The slow and majestic opening section is filled with motivic fourths and fifths in the trombones, even as a lyrical melody unfolds in the piano. Dotted rhythms and a somewhat jazzy spirit characterize this section. A tempo increase leads to the more gentle middle section. Underpinned by an undulating accompaniment in the piano, this section’s primary melodic idea lyrically alternates between the trombones and the piano. As the section progresses, hints of the traditional Happy Birthday tune are heard, becoming more obvious in the trombones at the climax point. A return to the opening tempo and spirit of the first section marks the beginning of the third section. With rich upper-register sonorities in the trombones and piano, A Birthday Fancy  concludes as the piano offers a final quote from the well-known birthday tune.”

Harmony, melody, rhythm, texture, counterpoint, and form are all very conservative. The technical and interpretive requirements for the performers are modest, and well within the reach of good undergraduates.

A perusal score is available at: https://cpmusiclibrary.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/A-Birthday-Fancy-REVISED-perusal-score.pdf

There is also a fine recording online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUu9IoDbdtc