"Wagner for Five Bones" by Ben van Dijk

 


"Wagner for Five Bones" is composed by Ben van Dijk, who is currently Professor at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and one of the best, well-known bass trombone players in the world.

I like this piece because it contains the most impressive musical moments in Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen '', which can be a very practical material to introduce Wagner and his composition to freshman year music students, non-music major students, and beginners who love classical music.


Also, it contains some of the bass trombone audition excerpts, such as the Spear motif, Das Rheingold, and Valkyrie, etc. which provides a very good way to help the low brass section ( Two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, and one tuba) to get to know Wagner's music with time, tone, intonation, accuracy and style.




Ben van Dijk recorded this video at home in 2004 on his solo CD, First Song. He used his Thein Bass trombone and Contrabass trombone to finish this recording. I think it is very cool to hear his warm and unified sound in the whole video.


This recording is from a live concert in 2014, from the SliderAsia Trombone Festival in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. This was performed by the Columbus State University Trombone Choir and the Artistic Director Dr. Denson Paul Pollard. I love this recording because Dr. Pollard showed his awesome high range on his bass trombone and the cooperation of the whole group. 



Pangmi is such a big fan of brass music. This is her reaction of listening to the Colburn brass ensemble via livestream.





Comments

  1. KristenApril 5, 2023 at 10:57 AM

    This is such a cool piece! In the horn world we have a similar style piece called the Tristan Fantasy, which is for six horns and is an arrangement by Herman Jeurissen of themes from Tristan und Isolde. I wonder if Pangmi would like it??

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