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Composed: 2011
Medium: solo tenor trombone and trombone octet
Duration: c. 10:00
Dedication: Brian Conklin and Slide Show

Program Notes

Beyond Within was inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s highly influential book Point and Line to Plane, which he wrote to articulate the theoretical concerns of painting, an action he deemed necessary for continued advancement of the art. He discusses the art elements, the point being the “proto-element” of painting through “intense self-contained repose” and the line being “inwardly animated tension created by movement”—essentially the interruption of a point’s repose due to a force causing motion upon it. Kandinsky’s descriptions are dynamic and deeply entwined with both nature and other art forms; his direct and indirect parallels to music are both eloquent and striking.

As Kandinsky describes how all phenomena can be experienced both externally and internally, he states “The work of Art mirrors itself upon the surface of our consciousness. However, its image extends beyond, to vanish from the surface without a trace when the sensation has subsided. A certain transparent, but definite glass-like partition, abolishing direct contact from within, seems to exist here as well. Here, too, exists the possibility of entering art’s message, to participate actively, and to experience its pulsating-life with all one’s senses.”

Composed in the fall of 2011, Beyond Within was written at the request of Brian Conklin to be performed by the Dallas-based trombone ensemble Slide Show. Many thanks also go to my UNT colleagues Jeremiah Stones, Justin Condron, Carl Lundgren, Julie Gray, Chris B. Reaves, Isaac Washam, Greg Moose, Zachary Elliott, Evan Sankey, and Sean Casey for their enthusiasm about the piece and musicianship in reading and preliminary recording sessions.

World Premiere

March 5, 2012 - Spectrum/Collevoxus Concert, University of North Texas (Denton, Texas)
Carl Lundgren, solo tenor trombone; Isaac Washam, Chris B. Reaves, Zachary Steele, Greg Moose, Michelle Flowers, and Evan Sankey, tenor trombones; Jeremiah Stones and Eddie Eby, bass trombones; Justin Condron, conductor