Score in preparation

Francisco Coll was seduced by the concept of the partita as a virtuoso work showcasing all the technical and expressive possibilities of an instrument. Coll - himself a trombone player - wrote Partita I as a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It is the first in a cycle of solo works (with future instalments planned for trumpet, horn, and flute) that will explore this form.

In Partita I Coll gives a compressed survey of familiar aspects of the trombone - its raw power and swooping glissandi - as well as its less-explored potential: lyrical delicacy in a brief cantabile sarabande; nimble passagework in fast-moving highly-virtuosic toccata. A multi-part work cast in a single span, its sections recall the baroque movements that are the foundation of the form: Intrada-Fanfare, Scherzo, Sarabande and Toccata. Unlike Bach's more sustained examples, which last around 20 minutes, Coll's Partitas will be 3-5 minutes in length - a reflection of the fast-moving, compressed, and energised character of the social media age (TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts), seizing the opportunity to engage with the audience in a visceral and immediate way.