On the occasion of the artist's 50th birthday, a CD with concertos for trombone and symphony orchestra was released by Claves a few years ago. Today we would like to commemorate with a Claves Key Recording an earlier recording of the trombonist, which was also released in 1984 under the title Trombone Concertos - but with chamber orchestra. It contains works by composers spanning three centuries. Christoph Wagenseil's Trombone Concerto unfolds the charm of gallant style, while Ferdinand David's Concertino has been called the trombonists' classical concerto. In Henri Tomasi's colorful and racy trombone opus, the art of Branimir Slokar is fascinating, and Frank Martin's masterpiece, the Ballade for trombone and orchestra, may well be considered the most demanding concerto for trombone and orchestra of all, because it enriches the expressive scale of an instrument that has hardly changed in playing technique and form in five hundred years with surprising inner values. Recorded 16 years ago in the church of Lutry, this recording has lost none of its freshness and spontaneity and is now given its proper place among the Key Recordings.

About the recording with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne conducted by Jean-Marie Auberson, a critic wrote at the time: "An unusual solo instrument, an unusual repertoire, an exceptionally complex interpretation: a record whose charm lies not only in its "rarity", but above all in the works. One can listen to it many times, and again and again one discovers new sounds, harmonies, melodies, which lie beyond the well-trodden paths of the 19th and 20th centuries and surprise. Musically exciting perspectives that the concert hall unfortunately excludes."

And what do the critics say about Branimir Slokar today? "Der Bund" wrote after the master cycle concert of the Slokar Quartet in the Bern Casino in 2000: "Branimir Slokar - probably the trombonist of our days par excellence... Simply stupendous, what was conjured up in the room."

Translated from German by www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)