Catalog

The Insoluble Persists

• Score and part: $8 (only hard copies available at this time)
• Trombone/piano
• 8:00
• Difficulty rating (1-5): 5
• Hear a performance of the work (Maureen Horgan, trombone; Gregg Pauley, piano)
• View a PDF score excerpt
• Purchase, request full review copy or more information, etc.

• Commissioned by the New Hampshire Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association (1999 New Hampshire Composer of the Year Commission)
• Premiered at the MTNA Quad States Convention, October 22, 1999
• Honorable Mention, 2000 Britten-on-the-Bay Composition Competition
• Special Mention, 2002 Brass in Association Contest (co-sponsored by the British Trombone Society and the University of Leeds Department of Music)

(Note: this work was previously published by Gold Branch Music, which has since gone out of business and returned copyright to me.)

I began this piece thinking vaguely of Charles Ives and The Unanswered Question.  Shortly after I started composing, I found out through a friend of mine who is addicted to the Windows computer solitaire game Free Cell that, of the 32,000 preprogrammed opening deals which make up the game, there is only one which cannot be won -- number 11982.  This bit of
information led me to further thoughts on Ives and insolubility in all senses of the word, and contributed directly to the musical material in the piece.  The Insoluble Persists was premiered by, and is dedicated to, husband and wife James (trombone) and Constance (piano) Chesebrough; it’s since been performed by trombonists Maureen Horgan and Haim Avitsur, among others.

From the press:

“The Insoluble Persists is worthy of repeated hearings, yet it is accessible on an initial presentation because of its bold statements and organic progression … Santore poses an impressive, stylized version of the question that remains unresolved.”

-- Joel Elias, International Trombone Association Journal

 

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