Don Immel’s haunting trombone opens Stuart Greenbaum’s Sonata for Trombone and Piano. In the first movement, Travelling, Immel is playful and curious, unfolding a strong sense of narrative once Konrad Olszewski’s piano settles in. The mellow timbre of the trombone is fittingly matched to a movement title like the second, Floating before (perhaps with some irony), the concluding Energised lifts us high above the dreamlike.
Greenbaum’s Sonata for Guitar was dedicated in 2013 to Ken Murray, who premiered it in 2014. It echoes with a confidence that only a performer who truly understands the work can portray. The first movement hints ever-so-mildly at contemporary constructs of rock and jazz, with Murray never shying from the wildly varying articulations demanded of him (or expressed through his own initiative). The result is a piece of music at once bursting with character and calm.
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (performed by Joel Brennan) echoes the trombone work in its ‘floating’ and ‘travelling’ feel, but this work explicitly represents the Mars One mission. The first movement, Journey to Mars: 6 to 8 months, uses a mute to produce lengthy tones – a device representing the dual empty and majestic feelings of the universe itself. Scattered piano notes evoke the stars, while space becomes a thematic metaphor as well as a musical device throughout the work.
Composer: Greenbaum
Composition: Sonatas
Performer: Ensemble Three
Catalogue Number: Lyrebird Productions LB061116
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