This work was written especially for the Belgian trombonist Ben Haemhouts and was created on Dec. 29, 1998 in Ravels.

 

The starting point of Colors is bipartite. On the one hand I wanted to create a solo piece based upon the colors yellow, blue, red and green. I wanted to express the characteristics, associations and emotions related to these colors in a subtle manner.

This way, every movement was named after a color:

1) Yellow: inspiring and stimulating, (also: wisdom and light)
2) Rood: dynamic, passionate developing into dramatic, furious and fighting (also:  courage and will-power)
3) Blue: melancholic, dreamy and introvert (also: truth and peace)
4) Green: hopeful and full of expectation (also: balanced power and harmony)

A second important source of inspiration was the death of an uncle who was a trombone player in his free time. The heavy struggle that this man went through at the end of his life might be symbolized in the second movement of the concerto, which sounds like a battle at the end of this movement.

The unity in the piece is reached by the use of a three tone motif (c-d-g) which constantly returns in various ways throughout the composition and which is the basis of every important theme.

Finally I tried to use the coloristic pallet of the trombone in the best possible way, making use of the complete range of the instrument and the different timbres of the instrument.