QUINN MASON: Trombone Concerto “Sonorous”

In 2020, the then-principal trombone of the Utah Symphony commissioned me to compose my brass fanfare ‘Changes/Transitions’ to commemorate the protests of the summer of that year. Because it was so early in the pandemic, in-person performances were suspended, so he took on the Herculean task of going to each brass player and percussionist individually to record their parts, then enlisting an audio engineer to edit it all together. The video, a fantastic result even four years later, is still available to view online.

From there, a fruitful collaboration with the Utah Symphony started. Maestro Thierry Fischer ended up conducting the orchestra in the first live performances of the piece during the 2020-2021 season. Former associate conductor Conner Gray Covington (tonight’s Maestro) and I have a mutual friend in common who introduced Conner to my music. Mr. Covington subsequently performed two pieces of mine with the orchestra — ‘A Joyous Trilogy’ and ‘Toast of the Town Overture’. Last summer, the orchestra toured my ‘Toast of the Town’ again, this time under current associate conductor Ben Manis. And this season, everything comes full circle with the Trombone Concerto ‘Sonorous,’ written for the very person who started my association with this fantastic orchestra.

When we began talking about this piece nearly three years ago, the first thing mentioned was a desire for a new piece of music in which the trombone’s singing quality was emphasized. The more expressive side of the trombone is something I’ve always been interested in and explored before; in my composition ‘A Joyous Trilogy’, composed in 2019, the second movement is a slow ballad-like showpiece featuring a trombone solo, in which the player stands up from their seat to perform it. Inspired by this, and the suggestion of the nickname ‘Sonorous’, I set off to work.

The concerto is set in three movements. The first, Rhapsodic, is primarily focused on this singing quality that was requested. In it, a pastoral theme is introduced by the trombone, played in dialogue with the orchestra. The middle theme is slower and more flowing, sustained and expressive. Throughout this movement one will hear the orchestra and trombone in conversation — sometimes lively and spirited, other times serious or innocent.

The second movement, Mysterious, is intended to show off the mystical side of the trombone’s tone. As a result, I employ the use of mutes to alter the trombone’s sound. In the middle of this movement, the solo trombone and three trombones in the orchestra perform a four-voice chorale, signifying the soloist’s enduring connection with his colleagues.

The finale, Awaken, finally gives us the virtuoso fire. The soloist is an artisan of the trombone and can literally do anything, so in this movement, the super cool technical side of the instrument’s capabilities is on full display. A technique featured throughout is double tonguing, in which the trombonist plays multiple fast notes in a row — making the instrument feel less like a trombone and more like a heavy metal guitar.