OSM | Yericho, a Biblical Evocation of a Trombone Concerto by Samy Moussa

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According to the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament, Jericho was the first city in the land of Canaan to be conquered by Joshua and the Hebrews. On the seventh day after the siege began, the walls of Jericho were said to have collapsed by the will of God, following the procession of the Ark of the Covenant and seven priests blowing seven shofars (trumpets). The procession is said to have paraded around the city seven times over seven days, after which Jericho was completely destroyed and its inhabitants exterminated.

This is the source of the title and form of a concerto for trombone and orchestra composed by Samy Moussa, originally from Montreal and living in Berlin, where PAN M 360 contacted him a few days before the performance of his work by the OSM, his principal trombone James Box, under the direction of his principal conductor Rafael Payare.

The viewing (below) of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Yericho, Trombone Concerto, allows us to virtually experience what will happen on the stage of the Maison symphonique, on Wednesday 22 and Saturday 25 October.

Samy Moussa offers us several other keys here to help us understand his work.

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PAN M 360: How did you construct this work around the trombone?

Samy Moussa: I’m going to start with the instrumentation angle because that’s where I started.

PAN M 360: Already, the trombone is an instrument that is rarely used as a soloist in a symphonic context.

Samy Moussa: The trombone as a solo instrument does indeed pose certain problems. One of them is its history and repertoire. Indeed, there are very few trombone concertos. In general, the way the trombone is used doesn’t always convince me. I tried to do something different with the trombone, that is, to restore all its facets, that is, its strength. Also, it is an instrument capable of vulnerability. It is also an instrument that can be extremely virtuosic.

PAN M 360: Absolutely. It’s precisely an element that is very little exploited in the classical world, whereas in jazz, solo virtuosity has been so for the trombone for a long time.

Samy Moussa: Naturally, I speak from my expertise.

PAN M 360: You are absolutely right to say that in the classical, modern or contemporary repertoire, there are very few solo works for trombone.

Samy Moussa: That’s an important element for me. Obviously, there’s the heroic aspect of the instrument that also manifests itself. That’s for the trombone. Then, it had to be given a setting. And there, the usual orchestra, whether classical or romantic, didn’t suit me either for questions of timbre, questions of color, to be more precise. I didn’t want an orchestra that was too colorful. I wanted an orchestra that had fewer colors. I told myself that it wouldn’t be more monochromatic overall, but I didn’t want extremely distinct, extremely particular timbres. I wanted a sound mainly in brass and strings. There are also percussions (timpani) and the organ, an organ that isn’t a soloist but is very much part of the orchestra. Obviously, there’s a certain depth.

PAN M 360: So, an organ that blends into the orchestra. How many players are required in total, behind the trombone?

Samy Mousa: It depends. There are strings. It varies. There are two trumpets, four horns, the organ, two timpanists, and a solo trombone. It’s small but very powerful.

PAN M 360: It’s not an intimate work at all, indeed. And how many strings?

Samy Moussa: Strings vary. It depends on the orchestra. It depends on what we can do where we are. For example, we can play a Mozart symphony with eight first violins, but we can also play the same symphony with six, or with 12, or with 14. That’s what varies. Obviously, it won’t be tiny either, but what I mean is, it’s not a huge orchestra.

It’s a fairly small orchestra, but very powerful. Especially since the soloist plays a powerful instrument in its own right.

PAN M 360: It’s an instrument that has long been used to give power to the orchestra. And now, it becomes a soloist. And increasingly, it will become more so because you won’t be the last to compose for solo trombonists, I imagine.

Samy Moussa: In any case, there are several concertos that have been created before me, and there will be more after, for sure. But I still insist on the fact that it is an instrument capable of vulnerability and inner feelings. So, the trombone is not simply a fanfare instrument.

PAN M 360: The way you use it, we’re far from that! That is to say, you have nevertheless developed a complex melodic discourse. The motifs that the trombonist has to execute are difficult, very demanding.

Samy Moussa: I would like to point out that when I write this piece, regardless of the works I consume, virtuosity is not such an important element for me. It’s not an element I think about. Obviously, it’s a virtuoso work, but it’s not an end in itself.

PAN M 360: Of course, it’s not the spectacular aspect of a work or composition that guarantees its quality. Virtuosity, technical efficiency, and the acrobatics of a great musician are certainly no guarantees of good music.

Samy Moussa: Yes, that’s it. There is virtuosity, but this virtuosity is born, let’s say, from the necessity of expression. I hope it’s quite organic.

PAN M 360: It is. There are many elements in this speech, it’s very varied. In this regard, how did you script your own compositional speech for trombone and orchestra?

Samy Moussa: In terms of its overall form, there are seven movements that follow one another. There is, however, a moment in the middle of the work where there is a pause. So, it’s a work that is in two parts divided into seven movements. This is important because the seven movements are inspired by biblical symbolism. What the orchestra does at the beginning is transformed throughout the work.

PAN M 360: I’d like you to quickly go over how the trombone work was done specifically. Because there are some extremely interesting note clusters that are served up. But you could explain it much better than I can.

That is to say, motifs return and are expressed in an upward spiral. And we arrive at a certain apotheosis towards the end.

Samy Moussa: Obviously, there’s a trajectory. It’s a piece that I unified and didn’t separate. It’s still, let’s say, a single piece. Let’s say that the purpose of this work manifests itself in several ways. And that’s important to me. So, from that point of view, it’s not a classical work. Generally, there are very contrasting things in a classical work, whereas, in this case, it only stops once in the center and then starts again in a slow movement, which very quickly picks up the elements from the beginning. So, we find ourselves in the same movement, in the same space.

The work begins with a descending semitone, quite violent, quite insistent. And this motif metamorphoses throughout the piece, adopting different facets. Even in the slow movement, we find it again, it loses its aggressive side, becomes insistent, becomes supplicatory, becomes something else in any case.

And at the end, this descending semitone element that slides, we find it a little faster. And it seems new in a certain way. It’s very technical, I don’t know if it’s interesting.

PAN M 360: Yes, it’s interesting! We’re fed up with cultural journalism that says nothing about forms.

Samy Moussa: Okay! (laughs) The first movement, or the first two, I don’t remember, well the beginning to be sure I’m telling the truth, is based only on chords that are neither major nor minor, and which are still chords with thirds, but the thirds are neutral. Which means that these thirds are between major and minor, it’s really between the two. It’s a quarter tone lower than a major third, or a quarter tone higher than a minor third.

PAN M 360: Could we say that this choice is close to the scales of oriental music?

Samy Moussa: No, I have no expertise in these things. Quarter tones are found all over the world, and they are found here too. I’m currently studying American folklore, and if you listen to children singing nursery rhymes, for example, they will often use neutral thirds. So, there will be quarter tones by instinct as well. So, it’s not something exotic at all.

PAN M 360: But why are they neutral thirds?

Samy Moussa: Because there’s a trajectory where we go from neutral thirds at the beginning of the work and become major or minor, and major at the end. So, it’s a completely neutral color, to arrive at an affirmative color at the end. We’re in C-sharp major. And at the beginning, we’re in D-flat E-major/minor, let’s say. So, it’s a bit of a parallel we can make with pre-romantic composers like Beethoven, whose Fifth Symphony in C minor makes the progression between a C minor and a C major, the triumph at the end. It’s a bit of that kind of trajectory.

PAN M 360: You speak of seven movements inspired by biblical writings. Could you explain this structure inspired by the number seven, and which bears an absolutely biblical title. Yericho recalls the famous trumpets of Jericho, mentioned in the Old Testament, which bring down the city’s palisades.

Samy Moussa: It inspired me a lot. Inspired isn’t the right word, actually. It allowed me to activate my imagination, let’s put it that way, because inspiration isn’t a word I normally use. And what interested me was the idea of ritual.

PAN M 360: And how does this idea resonate in your music?

Samy Moussa: Ritual is an integral part of classical music anyway. It’s always a ritual, the concert, but mass is certainly a ritual, and theater is also a ritual. Yes, there are all kinds of rituals. Some are sacred, some are not. And so, that’s very interesting, very important to me, the idea of ritual. And of intensification.

PAN M 360: And in the context of this work?

Samy Moussa: So, it’s this ritual where we surround the city of Jericho for 7 days. So, it’s a 7-day ritual, hence the 7 movements. And so, on the first day, we surround the city once, with the army, second time… On the 7th day, we surround the city 7 times, with a horn and a shout. And this shout brings down the city. And what’s interesting is that there are 7 horns, so I also have 7 horns: solo trombone, 2 trumpets and 4 horns, that makes 7.

PAN M 360: The Maison symphonique will resist, all the same!

Samy Moussa: We hope so! (laughs) And there’s an optional chorus that I wrote. At the very end, it’s 8 notes, it’s almost nothing. It’s symbolic, it’s not at all necessary, but it’s still in the score, if we want to do it eventually. That won’t be the case in Montreal, but it’s an option for other performances.

PAN M 360: Do you have any spiritual convictions regarding the Old Testament, or is it strictly a choice that lends itself well to this evocation of ritual?

Samy Moussa: I don’t really know how to answer this question, it’s a bit private… yes.

PAN M 360: It’s your choice, it’s everyone’s choice.

Samy Moussa: Let’s just say that what interests me is the idea of ritual and everything that comes from it. Symbolically, it’s a form of obedience too. Ultimately, why does the wall fall? It’s not the ritual that brings the wall down, it’s obedience to God. But here, we’re moving a little outside the musical realm…

PAN M 360: Your aesthetic refers to several overlapping eras. You’re not concerned with the era of references. It comes out, and you’ve chosen to combine different stylistic references.

Samy Moussa: I don’t work at all with what you might call references or referents; I don’t have that post-modernist approach. I don’t think about it. One of my teachers, José Evangelista, told me, “We write the music we can.” At the time, I found it quite simple. I finally understood. Obviously, there’s always the question of decision, because the artist is constantly deciding. That’s what’s exhausting about this work. The bases on which we rely to make these decisions can only be aesthetic, in my opinion. They are not political decisions or historical questions.

PAN M 360: You are nevertheless part of a historical continuity.

Samy Moussa: Yes, what’s important is continuity. It’s about continuing the tradition, doing your bit as best you can. And that’s it.

PROGRAM

Rafael Payare, conductor

James Box, solo trombone of OSM

Brian Manker, solo cello of the OSM