Jeff Kidwell, trombone.
Breck McGough, piano.
I fell in love with the trombone the first time I heard my friend and classmate, Adam Hanna, play. And it is no wonder. Few performers come close to the musical sensitivity of his interpretations. When he asked me to write him a piece for his graduate recital at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, he told me to remember that the trombone is, “a special instrument. Write for it just like you would write for the voice.” So I set out to write Adam a “song.” It begins slowly with a lyrical and melancholic solo line, which is interrupted by the piano. This music invites the trombone into the mystery and beauty of the night. The trombone then joins his opening theme with the night music, becoming increasingly enraptured. Suddenly, he shakes himself of the piano’s spell, losing sight of its splendidness, and begins a new soliloquy based on the original theme - now hurried and a bit frantic. But the allure of the night song draws him back in, soothes, and overtakes him.