Canadian Solo Trombone Recital Repertoire: An Annotated Bibliography

The first major Canadian compositions for solo trombone were written in the 1950s, a time when Canadian concert music composers began to flourish. Since then, more than 240 Canadian works for solo trombone (including alto, tenor and bass) have been composed. This annotated bibliography is a comprehensive examination of 135 of these works, delimited to include those composed in a 60-year period from 1952 to 2012, in two subsets of the repertoire typically performed in a standard recital: music for unaccompanied trombone, and music for trombone with piano accompaniment. The performance and/or study of Canadian music is a curricular requirement in many Canadian school music programs, and the performance of Canadian works is often mandatory for recitals and solo competitions. An annotated bibliography is an important resource that allows performers, teachers and students to identify and evaluate a body of musical works. The present document responds to the demand for such a resource by musicians searching specifically for Canadian solo trombone music, and significantly expands the scope of such previous research. The works chosen for inclusion in this study are presented in five sections based on instrumentation (divided by alto, tenor or bass trombone, and by unaccompanied solos or works with piano accompaniment – at the time of writing there were no unaccompanied alto trombone solos). The information provided for each work includes point-form details (such as difficulty level, pitch range, etc.), more detailed analyses (of technical and musical characteristics, and pedagogical/performance value), supplementary information (such as premiere details, information on recordings, etc.), and musical examples. Appendices include six indexes of the included repertoire sorted according to anticipated common search parameters, a discography of CD recordings of repertoire included in the study, and publisher and composer contact information to help increase the works’ availability. This research has been undertaken with the goal of providing an indispensable resource that allows students, educators and performers to evaluate any work in the included repertoire, which will ultimately result in more frequent performances of this music, and perhaps even stimulate the composition of new works.D.M.A