Far from home

(2010/2021) 23' / for four trombones and orchestra

further versions
- for brass quartet and orchestra
- for trombone quartet, two pianos, and percussion (two players)
- for brass quartet, two pianos, and percussion (two players)

The first version was commissioned by the SWR Sinfonieorchester and premiered as Music for Trombone and Orchestra by them on February 13th, 2011 in Stuttgart, Germany, with Mike Svoboda, solo trombone, under the direction of Peter Rundel. This revised version – now with four trombone soloists and a new title – was premiered on February 13th, 2022 in Mannheim, Germany, with the trombonists Mike Svoboda, Jürgen Schaal, Ilja Danilov, and Jonas Becker and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under the direction of Mario Venzago.

trailer

Composer's Note

Are we not all quietly hopeful for and curiously digressing from and persistently searching for and ambitiously progressing towards and lightly deviating from and insistently striving towards and steadily expanding from and stubbornly confronting with and repeatedly attempting to find a hopefully redeeming place we can call home?

persistently searching, curiously digressing, ambitiously progressing, lightly deviating, insistently striving, repeatedly attempting, quietly hopeful, steadily expanding, stubbornly confronting, hopefully redeeming

Far from home is for those who are quietly hopeful for, curiously digressing from, persistently searching for, ambitiously progressing towards, lightly deviating from, insistently striving towards, steadily expanding, stubbornly confronting with, and repeatedly attempting to find a hopefully redeeming place we can call home.

Instrumentation

Piccolo Flute

2 Flutes

3 Oboes

3 Clarinets in Bb (3rd doubling Bass Clarinet in Bb)

3 Bassoons (3rd doubling Contra Bassoon)

4 Horns

3 Trumpets in Bb

4 Solo Trombones

1 Tuba

Timpani

3 Percussion

Percussion 1

Glockenspiel

Triangle (small)

Clave on a table, dampened with a cloth, and played with hard Xylophone mallets

2 Flexatones, one with and one without knobs and played with a Triangle beater

Megaphone

Percussion 2

Glockenspiel

large Ride Cymbal

Triangle (medium)

Clave on a table dampened with a cloth, and played with hard Xylophone mallets

2 Flexatones, one with and one without knobs and played with a Triangle beater

Megaphone

Percussion 3

Vibraphone

Bass Drum played with beaters, a Rute, and a broad brush with hard bristles

one Clave on a table, dampened with a cloth, and played with hard Xylophone mallets

Strings (10.8.6.6.4)

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