Faye-Ellen Silverman
From Sorrow
Year: 2001
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: brass ensemble, brass trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, horn, trombone, trumpet
Publisher: Subito Music Corporation
Description: The instrumentation of this work – trumpet, horn, and bass trombone - is that of Aeropagitica, a brass trio in residence at Mannes College, for whom this work was written. The materials of this piece came to me after attending the IWBC Conference. At that Conference, I had learned that a friend’s brother had cancer, but was thought to be recovering. After I came home, I learned that this brother had died. The first movement, then, originates in the half step motive – a traditional motive of lament since Baroque times. The tempo is soft, and much of the texture is muted. The solo bass trombone interlude, still low and dark, takes the piece to the tempo of the last (second) movement. The last movement starts at a moderate tempo, and gradually increases speed to a rapid coda as the trio emerges “from sorrow”.