The Many Faces of God Michael Buchanan, Kasia Wieczorek, Eroica Berlin & Jakob Lehmann

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30:
• 1 Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30: I. Andante 02:02
• 2 Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30: II. Poco Adagio 01:37
• 3 Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30: III. Poco Sostenuto 01:05
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008:
• 4 Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 (Version for Trombone Solo) 04:23
• Max Bruch (1838 - 1920): Kol Nidrei, Op. 47:
• 5 Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 (Version for Trombone and Piano) 09:19
• Iannis Xenakis (1922 - 2011): Keren for Solo Trombone:
• 6 Keren for Solo Trombone 07:31
• Stjepan Šulek (1914 - 1986): Sonata 'Vox Gabrieli' for Trombone and Piano:
• 7 Sonata 'Vox Gabrieli' for Trombone and Piano 08:15
• Anonymous: Qawwali Sufi Folk Song:
• 8 Qawwali Sufi Folk Song 04:38
• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935): Spiegel Im Spiegel:
• 9 Spiegel Im Spiegel (Version for Trombone and Piano) 10:05
• Tōru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996): Cantos II and Fantasma for Trombone and Orchestra:
• 10 Cantos II and Fantasma for Trombone and Orchestra 14:37
• Total Runtime 01:03:32

Info for The Many Faces of God

The British trombonist and inaugural winner of the 2015 ARD Music Competition, Michael Buchanan, releases his first album The Many Faces of God on the Hamburg label Es-Dur.

On his debut release, Michael Buchanan dedicates himself to the various facets of the divine. The key element of his spiritual journey is the trombone, with its broad spectrum of tonal expression. “Despite all our differences, we all look upwards into the same sky” notes Buchanan, focusing on the commonalities between the world’s heterogeneous faiths.

The sound of the trombone in the tradition of Western “classical” art music is associated, possibly more than for any other instrument, with the divine, the beyond and the “otherworldly”. This is proven not only by the Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO30 - which Ludwig van Beethoven composed at the request of the Linz Cathedral capellmeister Glöggl as funeral music for All Souls’ Day. In Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, the trombones brilliantly represent the underworld to which Orpheus travels; in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the instrument is used suddenly, in the final minutes of the opera, to accompany Don Giovanni’s descent into hell. Many other examples can also be found in compositions by Wagner, Mahler, Brahms and Schumann.

This tonal content of his instrument is reflected by Michael Buchanan both in original compositions - such as Keren for Solo Trombone by Iannis Xenakis, the Sonata “Vox Gabrieli” for Trombone and Piano by Stjepan Sulek: and the Cantos II and Fantasma for Trombone and Orchestra by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu - but also in adaptations such as the composition Kol Nidrei, op.47, by Max Bruch, which is based on two themes of Jewish origin, and the Qawwali Sufi Folk Song, which originates in the islamic Sufi mystic movement.

Michael Buchanan, trombone
Kasia Wieczorek, piano
Eroica Berlin
Jakob Lehmann, conductor

Michael Buchanan
multi award-winning trombone player, is 26 years old (25 at the time of recording) and based in London. At the age of 22 he was awarded the first prize and audience prize at the 2015 Munich ARD International Music Competition. This launched a solo career that lead to accolades such as the 2017 BMW-Publikumspreis at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Northern Germany and an official “debut” concert - together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin - in the Berlin Philharmonie.

This album contains no booklet.