Here are three movements, a set of pieces firmly based on 7 well-known bass trombone orchestral excerpts.

The idea was to create pieces that were fun to play, of course, but also educational in that they might increase familiarity and appreciation of the original excerpts. Ive explored and exploited the material of the excerpts, but without ever detracting from them; at times its almost like playing the excerpts inside out.

So the three movements are 1. Seven Days, based on the excerpts from Mahlers 7th symphony, and the famous bass line within the Haydn Creation; 2. Chorale, Pageant and Hop, based around Schumann 3 and the intro to Bartoks The Miraculous Mandarin, and 3. The Cosmic Choir, in which the featured excerpts are a sort of melange of Beethovens Choral symphony, the low tune in the Janacek Sinfonietta, and the theme, in octaves with tuba, towards the end of Jupiter, in Holsts The Planets.

The movements run at approximately six minutes, then three, then four, so with breaks its roughly a 14-minute suite, though of course the movements sit quite happily on their own as solo pieces.

Dan Jenkins
2019