Voor Welmoet
Instruments: Trombone-choir, complete with alto- and contrabass-trombone.
‘Voor Welmoet’ is a ‘growing’ piece of music, starting with two musical DNA’s, and it will develop into a fully grown composition over coming the years.
Read more on about this special project: ‘Voor Welmoet’
Elijah
The story of Elijah inspired me to write a composition that combines the brute forces of the low brass, representing crashing mountains and destructing fires with the story of hope, represented by the higher pitched melody lines of the organ. You will find a comforting lullaby hidden in the bass-line.
After the premiere, I found that the composition might work better with just trombones. To test this, I rewrote the composition for a complete trombone-choir, replacing the organ by alto- and contrabass-trombone.
Instruments:
- Version A: (level 3-4) Trombone-choir (tenor and bass) and church-organ.
- Version B: (level 3 – 5) Trombone-choir (2 x 6) complete with alto and contrabass.
Elijah, Version A
(Trombone-choir and church-organ)
Premiere 12 januari 2020, Hoek van Holland. This composition was written for trombone choir ‘The Greenport Bones’, who wanted to play with the organ of their local church.
Elijah Version B
(Double Choir (2×6) including alto- and contrabass-trombone)
This composition is made for 12 voices. Some voices are level 2, some level 5 -6, so you can join players of all levels together and still have fun.
The story of Elijah
1 Kings 19 Then the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Behold, the Lord is about to pass by.”
And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a whisper.
Last Rose of Summer
Instruments: Trombone choir, alt-trombone and contrabas-trombone.
The lyrics of the famous folk song were an inspiration for these variations of the original melody. The contrabas-trombone ends ‘This bleak world alone’, with a soft caring solo.
Lyrics of ‘Last rose of summer’
‘Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh
I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o’er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead
So soon may I follow when friendships decay
And from love’s shining circle the gems drop away
When true hearts lie withered and fond ones are flown
Oh who would inhabit this bleak world alone?
This bleak world alone
Willem de Zwijger
Instruments: Trombone choir (Low Brass ensemble)
In december 2018 I visited the Lätzch Trombone Festival. I brought my newest piece ‘Willem de Zwijger’ (William the Silent) and hoped for a recording of a trombone choir rehearsing the piece so I could learn. It turned out even better: The piece was played at the last concert of the festival.
The piece describes the life of William of Orange, a native hero mentioned in our anthem. Because of his diplomatic attitude he was called William the Silent.
Sleepy Trombones
Instruments: Trombone choir
The piece ‘Zerschmetterling’ for wind-orchestra ends with this passage. But during the rehearsal it didn’t work, I was wondering why. After the rehearsal the trombone players were so kind to play it again.
The difficulty of this piece is that various players hold the rhythm together, but when it works the effect is wonderful. Sleepy trombones proved that it can be done: a nice quiet lullaby for trombone choir.
