We can never know for sure who will be the celebrated heroes, great composers of music history. Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphony originally dedicated to Napoleon, then to the „memory of a great man” seems to be completely logically organised and well-structured composition.  His contemporaries, however, weren’t really sure what to make of it: at the premiere, the work of a composer now in oblivion garnered great success, while Beethoven’s piece, which later proved to be immortal, was a flop. The works of the first internationally acclaimed American composer, Charles Ives, were ignored in his lifetime as well; their value was discovered only later. The modernist Ives was much ahead of his time by fusing experimental techniques with traditional hymns and pieces normally played by urban brass bands, which was rediscovered by the innovative musicians of the 20th century. The short piece performed at the concert strikes us as so novel that the Swedish trombonist Christian Lindberg’s quite recently premiered highly inventive, movie soundtrack-like and greatly celebrated trombone concerto almost makes an old-fashioned impression in comparison.

GOLDEN EAGLE
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra:

It was a true revelation for me when I heard that Gilbert Varga had become principal conductor for Taipei Symphony Orchestra! Gilbert is one of my top favorite conductors, so when he asked me to come and work with his orchestra in a new trombone concerto to be premiered at these concerts I got so excited and enthusiastic. Gilbert is one of the really brave conductors in the business today, who dares to demand rehearsal time, and also dares to challenge the musicians to the absolute limit. Therefore he gets extraordinary results from all orchestras that he works with.

I often think about human beings and their characters as if they were an animal. Looking at the conductor Gilbert Varga there is no doubt that his bold and strong character reminds me of a Golden Eagle. I have therefore decided to call my new trombone concerto Golden Eagle and dedicated it to my dear friend Gilbert. The shape of the piece is very similar to my Clarinet Concerto The Erratic Oreams of Mr Grönstedt, Tuba Concerto Panda in Love Euphonium Concerto Olle and the Steamboat Jetty and my Flute Concerto The World of Montuagretta : There are 6 different sections(two of them being cadenzas) that goes attacca.

The names of the different sections are :

1.  Earth Fanfare
2.  Eagle Dance
3.  Cadenza: Broken Sky
4.   High Attitude
5. Cadenza: Loneliness
6. Wings on Fire

Christian Lindberg