As hypothetical idea:

If you would want to put together a program of unaccompanied solo music, what would you play?

I dont think this will ever really happen for myself to be a full concert program, but there could be occasions to play at least a few pieces unaccompanied.

Would be interested in ideas for bass, tenor and alto as well as euphonium.

No limitations in style and/or difficulty. It just shouldn't be too "progressive" so that normal people also enjoy listening.

Some ideas/examples I know and enjoy as a starting point:

- Elegy for Mippy (tenor)

- David Fetter Spain (bass)

- Three Medieval Dances as played by Christian Lindberg (alto)

- Naulais Monologue (bass)

- Some of the Pederson etudes could also work (bass or tenor)

- Alan Raph Rock (bass)

- Crespo Improvisation (tenor)

- Brubeck Stereograms (bass?) Which one is your favorite? Nr 3 seems really nice

- Lynn Doolallynastics (tenor)

As you notice there is no option for euphonium yet, as I am absolutely not in that repertoire. Any ideas welcome!

Bone man walking - Michael Davis

Sonata for unaccompanied alto trombone - John Kenny

Fanfare John Kenny ( a great opener)

[quote="Vegasbound"]Bone man walking - Michael Davis

Sonata for unaccompanied alto trombone - John Kenny

Fanfare John Kenny ( a great opener)[/quote]

Good suggestions, thanks!

The entire BoneKill book, Michael Davis

Bolter, Rabe, Gulino, and Brad Edwards all have great stuff for trombone.

Frackenpohl wrote a nifty suite for euph

Malcolm Arnold's "Fantasy for Trombone" is a good one to include for tenor trombone

A couple of unaccompanied bass trombone items are "Confliction" by Adrian Morris and "McCrorie's Glory" by Chris Stearn (aka Blast/Fossil)-a super, light-hearted piece which would make a good encore at the end of a 1 hour unaccompanied recital!!

Cheers

Stewbones43

Sequenza V - Berio (and you get to dress up)

Lucifer - Simon Wills

Blue wolf - Brad Edwards

There are now so many choices

Please don't dress up for Berio...it's decidedly not supposed to be a part of that piece. It would be nice if it went away (tbh I think the piece itself is pretty tired and old at this point so I'd be fine with it largely going away <EMOJI seq="1f602" tseq="1f602">😂</EMOJI>). The tux suggestion, from Dempster's notes, was from Berio and intended to mean that he should wear his normal attire for playing solos, which was a tux at that time. The Toyoji Tomita wore an oversized tux in a bid to Grock and it somehow spiraled from there. But it's decidedly not part of what that piece is.

The CPE Bach Sonata for solo flute works really well on trombone and euphonium.

Giacinto Scelsi has a Tre Pezzi for solo trombone, but his late work Mantram would work really well on euphonium (there's a tuba version made from the trombone one floating around).

Adriana Hölszky has a flexible piece entitled WeltenEnden that has a movement for 1 or 4 trombones and another for 1 or 4 euphoniums. It's totally strange, but also quite playable and pretty short, about 3 minutes a movement.

The Schumann Fantasy Pieces work well on bass trumpet, I wonder if they'd work on euphonium?

I stumbled across this by chance a couple of days ago. There are five movements but I couldn’t find all five in one link. The title is, “Songs from Silver Lake” by Per Egland. It would be nice to get a copy of the score but I can’t find anything on his website.

Beautiful playing by Joe Alessi.

<YOUTUBE id="MH-_zXE9VlQ">https://youtu.be/MH-_zXE9VlQ?si=x8mFKswyQdKhdlSw</YOUTUBE>

Bach Cello suites, of course. Doesn't have to be a whole suite!

An oldie but goodie: Suite for Unaccompanied Trombone - Leslie Bassett

There's a great recording of it on one of Ralph Sauer's albums.

Ralph also has a great recording of a couple of the Telemann - Flute Fantasies (I believe he used the Alan Raph versions). Beautiful playing, and music. They may translate even better than the Bach Suites for Trombone.

Jim Scott

So for most of my solo/recital career I've given unaccompanied programs, it's a thing I believe in a lot, and I think it's a really fun format to engage in.

Here are a few recent unaccompanied programs I've given, with ** for more "progressive pieces" which imho work great for audiences if you can talk with them for a minute and give them a place to hang their hat, listening wise.

There's some overlaps for sure, but it also gives an idea of playing to the audience - university kids, concert series for general audiences, and even an unaccompanied kids concert that goes into how the trombone works and a few of the cool things it can do.

I also have a few pieces here with tape - I have a couple of other unaccompanied programs with more tape parts, but the ones here from Zoe Cutler and Eve Beglarian are really great for all audiences and fairly easy to put together.

I will also volunteer that every program I make involves representation, I think there's absolutely enough great music out there from historically underrepresented composers to avoid having a program of all white men. Hildegaard wrote beautiful monophonic music that is easy to arrange for oneself, for instance.

Program 1: University of Georgia

David Reminck - ,8,1 (5)

Hildegaard - O Magne Pater (3)

Xenia St. Charles Iris Lyllth - Vase of Gardenias, Overflowing (12)

Beatriz - I Must do What I Cannot (2)

Zoe Cutler - Scribbles for 1 Floppy Fish (9)

Iannis Xenakis - Keren (6.5’)**

Emily Koh - within the inside down (8’)**

Zoe Cutler - It’s not Just a Phase (with tape part - 5’)

Program 2: Appalachian State

Alice Jones - Etudes

Sharon Hurvitz - Stream of Consciousness

Eve Beglarian - Testy Pony (with tape)

Zoe Cutler - It’s Not Just a Phase (with tape)

Iannis Xenakis - Keren **

Timothy McCormick - HEAVY MATTER **

Program 3: Various locations pre-Covid

the Art of the Solo Trombone through the Ages (75’ with intermission)

Anon - Three Medieval Dances (6’)

Claude Debussy - Syrinx (2.5’) 

JS Bach - Partita for Solo Flute (11’) 

David Reminick - ,8,1 (5’)

Iannis Xenakis - Keren (6.5’) **

Sharon Hurwitz - Stream of Conciousness (5’)

Timothy McCormack - HEAVY MATTER (8’) **

Program 4: Montclair State

David Reminick - 8,1 (5’)

D. Gabrielli - Ricercare arr. Davis Schuman (6’)

Abbie Conant/William Osbourne - Pond (5’)

Paul Clift - Radoments avec Citation (10’) **

Iannis Xenakis - Keren (6’)

Reiko Fueting - sound:wonder tuba:mirum (9’) **

Timothy McCormack - HEAVY MATTER (8’) **

Program 5: Kid Concert through Virginia Tech

David Reminick - ,8,1

Leonard Bernstein - Elegy for Mippy II

William Lang - Multiphonic Etude

Abbie Conant - Pond

Sharon Hurwitz - Stream of Consciousness

Bach - 2nd Suite Prelude

Program 6: Suffolk County Community College

Jeremy Howard Beck - Can You Hear Me Now

Jeremy Howard Beck - White Flag

Claude Debussy - Syrinx

Luciano Berio - Sequenza V

Alyssa Reit - where?

Reiko Fueting - sound:wonder tuba:mirum **

JS Bach - Second Suite Prelude

Timothy McCormack - HEAVY MATTER **

Other good unaccompanied pieces that I've performed that didn't make it into these programs:

Brian Lynn - Doolallynastics

Giancinto Scelsi - Three Pieces

Karlheinz Stockhausen - In Freundschaft

Kamala Sankaram - the Hum

Paul Pinto - ...with laser focus, while, maybe, a little syringe...; When I'm done with this one, I'm done fer good.

Yu Kuwubara - Rattling Darkness **

Yoshi Onishi - Spargens **

Quinn Collins - the stammering of voices, the stomping of feet to make waves

Petr Backla - slide, series...

Eli Greenhoe - Etymology

Caleb Burhans – Tuba Mirum

Dai Fujikura - deliquiesce

I. Mitsuoka – II Moments

Folke Rabe – Basta

Frederick Rzewski – Last Judgement

John Cage – Solo for Sliding Trombone

Aaron Cassidy – songs only as sad as their listener **

Timothy McCormack - here is a sequence of signs, each having a sound and a meaning **

Walter Hartley – Sonata Breve for Bass Trombone

Eveline Auger - Nestor et Cactusse

Hildegaard - Ave Generosa

Hildegaard - Ave Maria

Hildegaard - O Cirtus Sapiente

Tiffany Johns - Flashbang

Christian Lindberg - Joe Jack Binglebandit

Erika Raum - the Confessions of St. Augustine

Thank you William, for your generosity in sharing your thoughts and programs.

Humbly grateful,

John

Great inputs from everyone, thank you!

Far too many to reply to every single idea, so just some thoughts:

- Bach Cello Suites: Always nice, but some people literally hate them being played on trombone. I think that includes my wife ;-)

- Telemann Flute Fantasies: I think they are a classic, but I never played them. Should definitely do that

- Michael Davis: Great musician and has done a lot of impressive recordings and created amounts of interesting content in terms of interviews etc. But I personally don't enjoy most of his compositions so much

- @WilliamLang: Great list! Have to take some time to get a better impression. But there is certainly good stuff in there!