Scott Good

Dzunukwa's Aria    - 2011                        

7min+-

 

Trombone and Organ  

 

Composed for and commissioned by Alain Trudel.

 

• Premiere: January 16, 2011, Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto/Ontario, Alain Trudel - Trombone, Patrick Webb - Organ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  Dzunkwa's Aria for Trombone and Organ was composed for Alain Trudel and Patrick Webb.  The music is derived from a theatrical work for solo trombone/actor and trombone choir.  The aria is the cry of the Dzunukwa - something that is both savage and ogre-like, but also emotional and filled with yearning.

 

                The organ plays the part of the dark forest - of both its beauty and terror.

 

Review:

 

Globe and Mail - January 18, 2011 - Robert-Evert Green

Alain Trudel, trombone a heavenly pair

 

Dzunukwa’s Aria, a new piece by Scott Good, announced something else entirely, a kind of majestic bestial reality that the composer, speaking just before the premiere, linked to a “powerful ogress” of native legend. Good swiftly transformed the church’s mighty Casavant organ into a mysterious generator of tones that at times might as well have been something from an electronic music studio. A very deep pedal tone introduced some murky chromatic rumblings in the bass end of the keyboard, followed by a broad fortissimo bark that seemed designed to scatter all the minor creatures in the forest. Trudel, armed with a plunger mute, entered with a truly primeval sound, like that of an animal calling from the deepest part of the woods. Even as the music became more angular, its feral quality remained fascinatingly strong.