CD: Shift

For those of us that have followed Peter Moore’s career from the start, it still seems hardly credible that he was just 12 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2008. Seventeen years on and still just 29, Peter has already achieved more than most can dream of in a performing lifetime, and has a list of honours to his name that includes ten years as principal trombone with London Symphony Orchestra before pursuing the solo career that he now enjoys. 

This new recording with Tredegar Band is, however, more than simply a vehicle for Peter Moore’s remarkable talent. It also serves as a welcome reminder of Chandos’ reawakened commitment to brass bands, as well as pays homage to some of the great trombonists of the past, amongst them Arthur Pryor, Tommy Dorsey and Don Lusher, all of whom are recalled or, perhaps, more accurately refracted through the prism of Peter Moore’s inimitable musicianship in pieces such as Annie Laurie, Gordon Langford’s gloriously sunny Rhapsody, and I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You. 

The centrepiece is undoubtedly Simon Dobson’s vividly imaginative Trombone Concerto No.1, SHIFT, written for Peter Moore as a 2012 commission from Paul Hindmarsh. In three movements, it progresses through a fascinating array of colours, textures and soloistic techniques: Aggressive verging on dissonant in the grimly dogged first movement, On Frustration and Confusion; beguilingly luminous in the central On Solitude and Longing; and tinged with hints of John Adams-like minimalism in the final On Hope and Momentum. 

For a work that makes such demands on stamina as well as technique, Moore’s playing throughout is masterful, mesmerising and breathtakingly effortless, particularly in the central movement, in which the solitude and longing are given an aching sense of yearning played out with long, lyrical melodic lines subtly shaded and nuanced by the soloist. 

For air-varie perfection, Peter Moore’s clarity of articulation in Annie Laurie is a thing of wonder, whilst the glorious control displayed in Blessed Assurance is a masterclass in lyrical playing. 

Maisie Ringham is the trombonist recalled in an effervescent account of Erik Leizden’s evergreen Concertino. Here imbued with memorable pathos, it is a perfect foil to the laid-back lushness demonstrated in I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You and the full-toned silken lyricism of Nobody Knows the Trouble I See. 

The sparkling, rhythmic high jinks of Philip Sparke’s Sambezi are dispatched with intoxicating facility, making for an uplifting finale, but for me the highlight of the disc is Peter Moore’s wonderfully lucid and effortlessly stylish playing of Gordon Langford’s Rhapsody for Trombone, in which he traverses the equally effortless shifts of mood masterfully employed by Langford in a performance that is not only utterly joyous, but also highlights what a talented tunesmith Langford was. 

Tredegar’s accompaniment under Ian Porthouse is perfectly pitched – bold where it needs to be, yet demonstrating clear awareness of the soloist and with a palpable aura of respect coursing through the players. It all makes for a wonderfully satisfying listening experience and is a demonstration of trombone perfection that is up there with the very best. 

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS