Review

Elizabeth Raum
The Witness Pixel: for Six Trombones

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2023
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 6 trombones

Award winning Canadian composer, Elizabeth Raum, has forged an enduring career featuring a wide-ranging output that includes operas, ballets, concertos, and over 90 chamber works. She entitles one noteworthy section of her impressive repertoire list, “Music for Young Performers.” It is in this spirit that she composed The Witness Pixel for six trombones, a commission by The Robinson Secondary School Trombone Choir. The title takes as its inspiration the calibrating pixels on a space telescope. The published score notes that “Raum was taken with the imagery the term conjured up” and compared it “to a group of musicians, each with his own individual part, striving to work together with the other layers.”

The ensuing work is about four minutes long and features rhythmic motives that often overlap. The piece begins with a lively allegro; each part trading figures. The central section is an andante cantabile, still rhythmic but more songful. A dramatic transitional section featuring glissandi ushers in a return to the opening allegro.

This work is written with the young trombonist in mind. The first trombone part is in the upper register for a young player, but rises only to a1, and there are plenty of rests. Trombone two often mirrors the first part but is a step lower. Trombones 3-5 remain in the staff. The bass trombone part descends to a pedal BB-flat and will be much easier on a double-valved instrument. A young ensemble will be challenged to play together and with rhythmic accuracy. Making one’s part into the musical whole will no doubt be a recurring rehearsal theme.

What a welcome addition The Witness Pixel is to our repertoire. It need not be limited to a high school ensemble. More advanced groups, less challenged by its range and rhythmical difficulty, will nonetheless find it a fulfilling music experience.

Paul Overly

Bob Jones University