The Flying Boy

The Flying Boy was composed for trombonist Brett Shuster and the Louisville Brass Quintet and features the trombone in a solo role throughout. The movement titles are descriptive in a general sense. The first movement, Soaring, is marked “joyous and dancing,” and the music takes flight with a rapidly shifting triadic pitch structure and frequent alterations of metrical impulse. The mostly lyrical second movement, Floating, slows to half-tempo near the midpoint and again at the conclusion. In the final movement, Aerial Acrobatics, the written tempo and the perceived tempo both fluctuate throughout, and after a central soloistic moment of repose the music builds to a high-energy conclusion.

Brett Shuster and the Louisville Brass (Michael Tunnell, Herbert Koerselman, Bruce Heim, and John Jones) premiered The Flying Boy at the University of Louisville New Music Festival on November 3, 2005.

– Steve Rouse