Gabrielli: Ricercare

Domenico Gabrielli (1651? - 1690), a cellist from Bologna, promoted the cello with many of his compositions and made a major contribution to the popularity of the instrument. The arranger wants to do the same for the trombone with the New Trombone Collective: making the possibilities of the instrument more known and popular in our time. Ricercare was one of the first solo works for cello and can be considered as a forerunner to the famous Johann Sebastian Bach cello suites. Ricercare means literally "to research" in Italian which can be interpreted in many different ways.

The Ricercare is characterized by a motif that is repeatedly played in a different sequence (one tone higher or lower), The composer is "researching" where one theme stops and a new theme begins. From a trombonistic point of view it is a search for the right phrasing, because unlike the cellist a trombonist has to stop to breathe. Furthermore, it is a search to bring forward from many notes the most important ones so that some sort of melody is created.

This piece is also suitable as musical and technical study material for the trombone.

The arranger has recorded the piece on the New Trombone Collective CD Trombone, available from Warwick Music

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Sound clip [mp3]

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Gabrielli: Ricercare