Peter Moore will give the UK premiere of James MacMillan's 'Trombone Concerto' with the London Symphony Orchestra in a concert at the Barbican Hall in London on Thursday evening.

Ghostly theme

Written in 2016, the 30-minute work was given its world premiere by soloist Jorgen van Rijen accompanied by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 2017, and is based on a 'ghostly' theme of seven notes (and three pitches) which is heard at the start and repeats in many different guises throughout the opening slow section.

Counter balance

The haunting aspects of the music are counterbalanced by frenetic energy; at its fastest point dominated by the sound of a siren as well as extended dialogues between the soloist, solo horn and two cellos.

The virtuosic final section climaxes in a cadenza where four trombones have a final semi-improvised conversation before a brief codetta, dominated by the hymn-like expressivity that opened the work.

Vintage MacMillan

At its world premiere it was described by critics as being "vintage MacMillan"- and "a wonderful mixture of timbres, sacral glowing melodies, rich chording and ear-splitting eruptions of sound."

It will form part of a programme under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda featuring Shostakovich's monumental Fourth Symphony and Zoltan Kodaly's 'Dances of Galanta'

At its world premiere it was described by critics as being "vintage MacMillan" — and "a wonderful mixture of timbres, sacral glowing melodies, rich chording and ear-splitting eruptions of sound."4BR

Time and place

Thursday 1st November: (7.30pm)
Barbican Hall
London