10029 – Sonatine for Trombone

Kazimerz Serocki (1922-)

Arranged by Roger Harvey

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £27.50

Programme notes:

Kazimerz Serocki was one of the most understanding Polish composers of the mid-century. As with all his generation from Panufnik and Lutoslawski onwards, his true voice was not allowed to flourish under the repressive soviet regime. But his palette is nevertheless colourful and sonorous, perhaps showing, early on, the influence of his period of study with Nadia Boulanger but later became highly adventurous in his harmonic language and exploitation of instrumental sounds. The Sonatine for trombone, originally for trombone and piano, comes from his middle period, 1952-58, in which he also wrote a trombone concerto and for suite for trombone quartet, all in a highly coloured and technically brilliant style. The development of the later style is epitomized in Segmenti, a virtuoso piece for wind and percussion.

Performance notes:

Successful performance of this music requires careful attention to the colourful textures and contrasting rhythms and articulations. Much of the accompaniment is made up of thick, rich chordings; while allowing the texture to tell, make sure the dynamic is controlled to allow the solo trombone to play at a reasonable level without being covered. Keeping the short notes light and very clipped will help. Play the accents, for example from bar 21-29 in the 1st movement, with good front to the notes but well within the dynamic will also avoid too heavy a style. Similarly at figure 3, even in the louder dynamic, make sure the notes are quickly shaped away and the chords well balanced. Likewise, in the 3rd movement, play the alternating chords from 53-90 and at figure 8 as gentle bell attacks.