“The Ballade for trombone and piano was composed in 2016, at the request of Sebastiaan Kemner and Andrea Vasi. The piece has a three-part structure. The loud opening is part of a slow introduction in which the piano plays broken chords as an accompaniment to the trombone’s melodic phrases. This is immediately followed by a fast section, in which the piano part moves to the foreground with a continuous, fast motion. At times, the trombone joins in. The third part is again slow in tempo. The style of this section is derived from the German baroque. The trombone plays a choral melody (O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid) against the figurative motion of the piano.”

– Theo Verbey