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 installments 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 a fast-moving, highly virtuosic toccata. A multipart 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 three to five minutes in length—a reflection of the fast-moving, compressed, and energized 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.

—Francisco Coll/Faber