News

Really happy, couldn’t believe it, excited.

These were the words from 12-year old trombonist Peter Moore on hearing he’d been selected to represent brass in this weekend’s grand final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008 competition.

Following the front-page article in The Trombonist which included commentary from David Childs and Andrew Berryman, BTS members will no doubt be interested to watch Peter perform in the prestigious final this weekend. For those able to get to Cardiff, there will be performances on both days this weekend. On Saturday night, Peter and the other finalists will perform a concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and on Sunday afternoon they will each perform “a piece that is particularly personal to them”.

To see highlights of the final, watch BBC 2 on Sunday 6pm-8pm. The full event will be on BBC Radio 3 on Monday from 7.00pm. Full details at the BBC website.

You can also watch ‘YouTube’-style videos of Peter Moore playing in the brass final and in interview.

Peaslee - Arrows of time 1st mvmt: Jazz Feeling
Sandström - Sång til Lotta
Rota - Concerto for Trombone & Orchestra, 1st mvmt

Europe’s main trombone festival last year is featured in a series of video clips, recently released on YouTube. Slide Factory took place last May in Rotterdam and the these official video clips feature live performances from the likes of Mark Nightingale, Michel Becquet, New Trombone Collective, Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse and Jiggs Whigham. To watch on-line, go to this YouTube page.

Next year’s Slide Factory is looking particularly exciting with artists already booked include Joe Alessi, Christian Lindberg, Michel Becquet and Jörgen van Rijen.

Byron Fulcher and Christian Jones now appear on a video Christmas Card. The Philharmonia Orchestra trombonists perform in three brass carols, viewable by all on the Internet. Festive trombonists are encouraged to check them out on the Philharmonia website.

This weekend sees a very special radio broadcast called Global Bones, available to listen to live on the Internet. Chats with top trombonists Ian Bousfield, Dennis Rollins, Denis Wick, Simon Wills, Chris Houlding, Sheila Tracey and Andrew Berryman will cover a wide range of topics. There will be coverage of the BTS October event at Oundle, and Suffolk-based trombone ensemble Diss-Located Bones will be playing live in the studio. The event is hosted by Norfolk-based bass trombonist and Wayland Radio presenter Dave Scragg.

Topics for studio discussion include Focal Dystonia (a condition which has troubled and in some cases ended the careers of many great players), the use of the alto trombone as a teaching aid for younger players and reflections on the standard of today’s students. There will also be a few surprises!

The broadcast takes place this Sunday, December 9th at 1200 GMT and again at 1900 hrs GMT (1400 EST US). You can send messages to the team using the website during broadcast. It will also be available to download shortly after the event.

Full details at the Global Bones website.

First Hour 12:00 - 13:00 GMT

Ian Bousfield, on how he took up the trombone and entering the profession.
Chris Houlding - taking up a teaching post in Germany.
Simon Wills - Serendipitous beginnings.
Diss-Located Bones - live performance (if they’ve finished the milking!!).
Denis Wick - Early days in the business.
Studio discussion - use of the alto trombone in teaching.

Second Hour 13:00 - 14:00 GMT

30-minute feature on Focal Dystonia, with Andy Berryman, Bob Hughes, Denis Wick and Chris Houlding.
Studio discussion on Focal Dystonia. Denis Wick - The “Star Wars phenomenon” and working with the LSO.
Diss-Located Bones - live performance.
Denis Wick - on styles of playing.

Third Hour 14:00 - 15:00 GMT

Dennis Rollins - Jazz influences and his collaboration with Rath Trombones.
Simon Wills - giving good advice to Christian Lindberg, or not as the case may be!!
British Trombone Society Day at Oundle.
Chris Houlding - on the standard of today’s students.
Ian Bousfield - relaxation & leisure pursuits (What’s he doing to that chicken?!).
Denis Wick - on the lighter side of things.

Global Bones is a radio programme going out worldwide on 9 December 2007 on the Internet, live from a cowshed in the heart of Norfolk, the home of Wayland Radio. There’ll be three hours of chat, interviews and live performance broadcast across the world. Contributors include Denis Wick, Ian Bousfield, Dennis Rollins, Andy Berryman, Simon Wills, Chris Houlding, Tony Parsons, and many others who are yet to be press-ganged into revealing all!

Global Bones is the brainchild of Norfolk-based bass trombonist Dave Scragg, who is also a presenter and producer for the Wayland Community Station, who writes:

By advertising Global Bones through trombone societies across the world, I thought it would be great to unite trombonists worldwide.

We’ll have coverage of the BTS October event at Oundle, and Diss-Located Bones will be playing live in the Wayland studio. Topics for studio discussion include Focal Dystonia (a condition which has troubled and in some cases ended the careers of many great players), the use of the alto trombone as a teaching aid to younger players and reflections on the standard of today’s students. There will also be a few surprises!

You will be able to hear the programme live through the Wayland Radio website and there will be links and up-to-date information on the Diss-Located Bones website.

Listeners will be encouraged to call the programme on the day with any comments or e-mail through the website: Studio@waylandradio.com/Tel. 01760 441161.

If you would like any other information, contact Dave Scragg in advance: scragg@sackbutt.fsnet.co.uk.

Global Bones will go out twice on Sunday 9 December at 12:00 GMT and again at 19:00 hrs to accommodate various world time zones. After the event, the programme will be available for download from the Diss-Located Bones website.

Simon Wills spoke about the early trombone on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show last June. For those that missed it, due to a rebroadcast today, it will be available to hear on-line for the next seven days.

Lucie Skeaping looks at the history of the sackbut and its use as an ensemble instrument in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Music includes pieces by Monteverdi, Gabrieli, Lassus, Scheidt and Locke. Andrew Gourlay visits the home of trombonist and sackbut player Simon Wills for a potted history and demonstration of the instrument.

BBC Radio 3 is featuring the trombone in its morning programmes this week. Tune in live with your radio, via the Internet or in the next seven days with the Play it Again feature. There is plenty of orchestral music as well as choices from the chamber and solo repertoire. Here are some of the highlights:

Monday 24 April
Poulenc: Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone (10.37am)
Alan Civil (horn), John Wilbraham (trumpet), John Iveson (trombone)

Tuesday 25 April
Bruckner: Three motets (10.54am)
Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Serocki: Suite for Four Trombones (11.09am)
Westfalian Trombone Quartet

Schütz: Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? (11.52am)
Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Wednesday 26 April
Stravinsky: Pulcinella (10.21am)
St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff (conductor)

Larsson: Concertino for Trombone and Strings, Op 45 No 7 (11.12am)
Christian Lindberg (trombone), New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Okko Kamu (conductor)

Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries (concert version) (11.51am)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine (conductor)

Thursday 27 April
Beethoven: Equale for Four Trombones (10.00am)
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

Mozart: Requiem (excerpt) (11.15am)
Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir
Karl Richter (conductor)

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 (11.35am)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle (conductor)

Friday 28 April
Verdi: Overture “La forza del destino” (10.00am)
London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati (conductor)

Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (10.20am)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Charles Mackerras (conductor)

Massaino: Canzon Trigesimaterza for eight trombones (11.21am)
London Brass, Philip Pickett (conductor)

Brett Baker invites all trombone players in the Manchester area to play on a recording of trombone music on Wednesday 11 April 2007. The most ambitious part of the project is to record the last movement from Saints-Saëns’ Organ Symphony and the Twelfth Street Rag with as many trombone players as possible. This forms part of a CD including pieces by the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet and solos by Paul Woodward and Brett Baker accompanied by Howard J. Evans on piano.

After the recording the Black Dyke trombone quartet will present a workshop from 8.00pm sponsored by Michael Rath Brass Instruments. Any British Trombone Society members get to take part in the workshop for free; non-members that are part of the recording have the option to join the BTS or pay £5.00. This is all part of an initiative to encourage brass band players to start up trombone choirs in the North of England and take a more active role in BTS events up and down the country.

The rehearsal for the recording of the two works is at 5.00pm and the recording takes place at 6.00pm at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in the Lord Rhodes Room.

Leading players that have confirmed to play so far in the trombone choir include Richard Brown (Principal Trombone of Grimethorpe), Lisa Sarasini (Principal Trombone of Fairey), Kevin Holdgate (Carlton Main Band), Chris Houlding (Opera North), the Leyland trombone section, the Black Dyke trombone section and the Foden trombone section.

In a rush of seasonal goodwill, two brass ensembles have released Christmas records freely on the Internet.

The esteemed LSO Brass Ensemble expanded their ‘horn’ section with car horns from five Chevrolet cars in a Christmas medley entitled “Honk-a-tonk Christmas”. The orchestra’s Principal Tuba, Patrick Harrild, says:

“Our musicians are more used to playing the likes of Beethoven and Mozart, so Car-mony has been an exciting challenge for us to bring some Christmas cheer in the most entertaining way possible.”

Hear the full seven minutes of car-olling on the Chevrolet website.

A more traditional 10-piece brass ensemble line-up Clarion Brass from Washington have released a cartoon animation Christmas card featuring a recording of A Partridge in a Pear Tree by William Berry. Viewable with the Macromedia Flash Player on the Figaro Tunes website.

The soft sound of baroque trombones can be heard this week in a series of BBC radio broadcasts entitled A German Christmas. The BBC Singers have teamed up with His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts to perform three festive programmes including music by Schein, Praetorius, Pezel, Scheidt, Marini and Hammerschmidt.

A German Christmas
BBC Radio 3
Tuesday 12 December 2006 - 21:10-21:30 (details)
Thursday 14 December 2006 - 21:05-21:30 (details)
Friday 15 December 2006 - 21:10-21:30 (details)

HMSC have also recently recorded two CDs for release in 2007 on their new label sfz plus a disc of Guerrero with Michael Noone and Ensemble Plus Ultra.

UPDATE:
HMSC’s summer BBC Prom of Renaissance Venetian music is being rebroadcast on New Years Day on BBC Radio 3:
1 January 2007: 2215-2400 full details