Eugene Zador

The first movement is in a modified sonata form with a very much reduced recapitulation.  It is somewhat atonal but the distinct profiles of the melodies make the progress of the movement perfectly clear.  The second movement is a scherzo and the last movement a dance, both clearly influenced by the jazz idiom.  Throughout the concerto, the emphasis is on the capabilities of the solo instrument and most of its possibilities are explored, including the slide and the use of the mute.

I wrote the Trombone Concerto at the suggestion of my publisher, Arthur Cohn, of MCA Music.  It seemed to him that the literature for this instrument small and that innumerable colleges where trombone is taught could use a new and not too difficult concerto.  Luckily I studied trombone in my early youth, so I am aware not only of the possibilities of this instrument but of its limitations as well.

- Eugene Zador