New York Philharmonic Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi, conductor Marin Alsop, and the New York Philharmonic in the U.S. premiere of Chick Corea’s Trombone Concerto last week. Photo by Chris Lee.
“There are not exactly a wealth of great concertos written for the trombone, that largely unheralded stalwart of the brass section,” writes Anastasia Tsioulcas in Friday’s (5/26) New York Times. “If anyone is going to change this state of affairs, it’s Joseph Alessi, the principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic. He’s an idol of legions of brass players for his rich tone, exemplary phrasing and virtuosic precision. In 1992, Alessi premiered Christopher Rouse’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Trombone Concerto. Almost three decades later, Alessi asked the widely loved jazz keyboardist and composer Chick Corea, who was enmeshed with classical music throughout his life, to create a trombone concerto. That work received its U.S. premiere at the Philharmonic on Thursday evening, performed by Alessi under the baton of Marin Alsop, another artist who easily code switches between jazz and classical idioms…. The four-movement work features a huge battery of percussion instruments … that lend a new palette of shimmering colors to the orchestra…. A final tango draws together the soloist and orchestra, before allowing Alessi to finish triumphantly on a series of high F sharps, venturing into trumpet territory.” Also on the program were Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1 and selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” ballet score.
