Competition piece with Encore
Alexandre Guilmant rarely wrote for instruments other than the organ. "Morceau symphonique" and "Morceau de lecture" for trombone are extremely successful exceptions.
Who hasn't heard of it: Alexandre Guilmant's brilliant Morceau symphonique. This lusciously composed showpiece - it was written in 1902 for graduation from the Paris Conservatoire - has long been part of the core repertoire of trombone literature. It is wonderful that there is now a carefully prepared Urtext edition of it, which refers both to the autograph and to the first print or edition and thus, in my opinion, qualifies as indispensable "standard material". The quality of the printing as well as the consideration of the technical requirements of the solo and piano parts leave nothing to be desired.
A nice detail: this edition was supplemented by the previously unknown Morceau de lecture à vuea "sight-reading exercise" composed by Alexandre Guilmant as an encore, so to speak, for the same final examination. Incidentally, the composer of the compulsory and sight-reading piece sat at the piano in person in 1902 - a tradition that could certainly be revived at universities today.
Alexandre Guilmant: Morceau symphonique and Morceau de lecture for trombone and piano, edited by Dominik Rahmer, HN 1090, € 12.00, G. Henle, Munich
