for amplified trombone
Scoring

amplified trombone

Duration

13 Minutes Recording

Album Title

Solo Works of Daniel Asia

Label

Summit Records [product id: DCD 422]

Performances

MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2005
PARIS, FRANCE
The Music of Daniel Asia:
From Dream Sequences to Sacred and Profane

IRCAM
NOVEMBER 1989
SEATTLE, WA
Marzena
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1988
LONDON, ENGLAND
Lontano
Odaline de la Martinez, Music Director
St. John’s
Smith Square
London, England

1985
AMHERST, MA
Jeremy Berkman, trombone
1985
NEW YORK, NY
Jeremy Berkman, trombone
APRIL 1984
OBERLIN, OH
Scott Lawton, trombone
MARCH 1976
NEW HAVEN, CT
WORLD PREMIERE
William Cross, trombone
Sprague Hall
Yale University
New Haven, CT

Program Notes

Dream Sequence 1 is, as the name implies, about the dream of a fictional trombone player. Many aspects of a trombonists’ life are presented in quick sequential cuts that are almost cinematic in nature. Fragments pulled up out of the unconscious include practice arpeggios, excerpts from Tommy Dorsey tunes, sequencer passages, the American folk song ” I’ve been working on the Railroad”, fog horns, fraudulent radio readings and others.

Besides playing the trombone in the normal manner, the trombonist is asked to breath through the instrument, tap the bell, stamp his foot, and sing while playing. The F-attachment slide is removed for the duration of the piece to achieve greater timbrel possibilities and directionality of sound. Also, the instrument is amplified at a number of places (bell, mouthpiece and back), allowing for spatial placement of sound, and for normally sub-audio sounds to be clearly heard. The structure of the work is rather simple, and the climax is presented as an area of controlled improvisation. This ten minute work is of starkly contrasting emotions, from the most whimsical to nightmarish.

Review

A. CLEMENTS, FINANCIAL TIMES
Daniel Asia’s Dream Sequence I for solo amplified trombone…had the merits of brevity and some wit. The composer describes it as the dream of a fictional trombone player…that could hardly fail to have its humorous moments.