Borodin

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period and a leading member of “The Five”. His orchestral writing leans towards dark, blended sonorities with trombones used as harmonic weight with chorale-like textures.

The symphonic poem “In the Steppes of Central Asia” (1880), depicts a caravan crossing the Asian plains. The trombones are used as part of a broader brass choir, adding breadth and structural balast.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period and a leading member of “The Five”. His orchestral writing leans towards dark, blended sonorities with trombones used as harmonic weight with chorale-like textures.

Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances was completed in 1876 for the opera Prince Igor. The troombones provide sustained resonance and weight. The ranges for the 2nd and 3rd trombones are unusually wide, with sustained B-flat pedal tones. The 1st trombone’s range is much narrower.