James Meador, Reciprocity James Meador

Titel / Title: Reciprocity
Herausgeber / Publisher: Warwick Music
Instrumentation: Trombone and Tuba Duet
EAN: 5060172028238

Reciprocity is a duet for tenor trombone and contrabass tuba (or bass trombone), and was written for and dedicated to Tim and Jessica Buzbee. Tim is the Principal Tuba of Iceland Symphony, and Jessica Buzbee is an internationally recognized soloist and former member of Christian Lindberg's group Unit 2000. During the collaboration, Tim and Jessica stressed the importance of a "new" sound, but they also wanted a piece that really pushed the limits of each instrument and challenged the performers. As a result, the tessitura of the trombone part is extremely high while the tuba part is extremely low, and in some places the difference between the two voices is as much as four octaves. Endurance is also tested, as there is very little rest for either instrument. Another characteristic of the piece, as suggested in the title, is the reciprocal relationship between the two voices, at times acting separately, while at other times actually sharing the same line one or two octaves apart.

The piece opens with a somewhat angular fanfare before settling into a sinister sounding march-like passage. The two voices then come together and transition to a disjunct rhythmic figure in unison octaves. This section segues into a hard funk rock section that morphs back to the rhythmic octaves again before leading into a dark chorale where both voices battle for the melody. As things get more intense we come back to a slightly more aggravated octave figure, then on to an elaborated version of the opening fanfare. One more time the octave figure returns briefly, then the piece closes with an explosive continuation of the fanfare section.