Solo Trombone

Author(s): Trevor Herbert

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1722 (Sep., 1986), p. 502
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/964601 .
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one of the worksthatachievedgreatestpopularity in Bottesini's time, as witness the many

autographcopies he made and two or more
piano arrangements under the title Emma
Gavottethat survivedseveraleditions.The Alla
Mendelssohnconcertois perhapsbest confined
to the practiceroom:it is a useful study piece,
but has neither the variety nor the interest of
some of the otherextendedconcertomovements
Bottesini wrote. Sadly, the cover of my review
copy only just survived the investigation, but
at ?12 who should complain?
All these editions point to the continued
renaissanceof the doublebass which was an instrumentwhose mere purchasewas sufficient
to ensure employmentin 1945. Today it is not
unheardof for prospectivestudentsto audition
at the music colleges with a Bottesini concerto;
he would have been delighted to know that he
survived as one of our most important composers.

RODNEY SLATFORD

panimentversion is reviewedhere)is the most

imaginative of a number of works recently
publishedby Frenchcomposer(Leduc/United,
?12.20). It is technicallydemanding,blending
conventionalnotationwith aleatorypassages,the
whole being musically coherent.
The more radicalworks emanatingfrom the
influence cast by Berio's Sequenza V (1966)
seldom match Berio's achievement in presenting something more than a disparateseries of
experimentalpatterns.This is the casein Ronald
Caltabiano's Sonata for solo trombone
(Meirion,?4.30) which is carefullynotatedand
extremelydifficult. It displays plenty of compositionalcraftbut one wondersif the effortof
preparing for the nine minutes of technical
acrobaticsis justifiedby the result. GerardVictory's Centaur for trombone and piano
(Vanderbeek& Imrie, ?5) benefits from a more
traditionalapproach.It is eminently playable
and its lackof pretentiousnessdoes not disguise
a sound, fluent technique and sensitivityto the
idiom.

TREVORHERBERT

Solo trombone
The reissue of two of the more popularworks
for solo trombone,Serocki'sSonatinafor trombone and piano of 1955 (Moeck/Universal,
?3.70) and Bernstein'sbrief but effectiveElegy
for Mippy II of 1950 (Boosey, ?1.25), together
with a responsible arrangement(by Michael
D.Clack) of Wagenseil's Trombone Concerto
(Boosey,?3.25) for tenortrombone(the original
calls for an alto) and piano, highlightsthe comparativepaucity of recent works in the genre
of any substance.The trombonehas been used
in a wide variety of functions and idioms in
Western music since the 16th century but the
number of solo works of any real quality is
relativelylow. Serocki'strombonemusicfigures
prominently in the repertoryin a way which
that of many of the vaguely modernistwriters
of the past 30 yearshas failedto do. Jean-Michel
Defaye'sTromboneConcerto(the pianoaccom-

19th-centuryguitar
In the early 19th century, when the laws of
copyrighthardlyexisted,versioncould succeed
version of works for the guitar from rival
publishers.Today's editor is faced with much
researchanddifficultdecisions.Now that Brian
Jefferyhas issued the complete Sor and is issuing the completeGiuliani,bothin facsimile,who
will tacklethe lesser-knownguitarcomposers?
Mertz and Coste, among others, seem to have
found a home with Chanterelle/Fentone,edited
by Simon Wynberg,who gives us the complete
worksof interestof each.Generallyhis editorial
policy is sound: he gives us one of the original
versionsbut addsa criticalcommentarywith the
variantreadingsfoundin otherMSSandeditions
ofthe time, at the sametime sensiblyaddingany
necessaryfingeringin brackets.The result is a

Oneof the U.K.'smost prestigiousfestivalshas a

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rhereare two Festivalcafes and meetingplaces
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scholarlyedition which can be used for performing - andcarehasbeentakenoverpage-turns.

Bothcomposerspresentanadditionalproblem,
in thattheywroteforinstrumentswith morethan
six strings - Costefor a seven-stringone, Mertz
for a ten-string.Wynbergtransposesall impossible notes up an octavebut addsthe octave sign
in bracketsratherthan relyingon latereditions
with theirsilentcorrections.Eachcomposerruns
to severalvolumes(nineforCoste,includingduos
and guitarand oboe works,ten for Mertz, with
duos and Schubertsong arrangements),which
need not be fully itemizedhere;suffice it to say
that the price is extremelyreasonable,varying
from ?3.25 for a slendervolume of 15 pages to
?7.75 for a hefty book of duets, each parttotalling 40 pages. The music is variablebut on the
whole well worth while. Both composerswere
activein the years 1830- 50 when guitarmusic
wasat its mostexcitingandbeforeits inexplicable
decline. Also inexplicableis Wynberg'sdating:
Mertz died in October 1856, yet apparently
played before Ludwig of Bavariawho was said
to be 'incredulous'.So he might be if the date
given here, 1885, is correct.
Like his friend Sor, the Spanish guitarist
Dionisio Aguado left his homelandand settled
in Paris as a recitalistand composer.Wynberg
haspreparedfacsimilesof a selectionof his works
(Chanterelle/Fentone,?5) with a note on his life
anda criticalcommentary;the workschosen include a Fandangoin imitationof that in one of
the Boccherini quintets and Aguado's own
editing of Sor's GranSolo. Apartfrom the fact
that the facsimileis for the most partvery clear,
andthatthe anthologyis extremelyinexpensive,
this publicationserveswell to evaluateothernew
editionsand editors.For instance,the Troisrondos brillantscan be had from Moeck/Universal
(?8.75), editedby PeterLeube,who gives a note
on the composerbut none on his editorialpolicy
(which appears to be simply to add his own
fingeringandto modernizethe notation);whereas
RuggeroChiesa,editingthe sameworkforSuvini
Zerboni/Elkin(n.p.), makessurewe arewarned
of every editorialchangeor addition.Aguado's
own fingeringwas sparse;Chiesa distinguishes
it from his own by adding little dots above the
numbers,whichseema goodideathoughit looks
horriblystaccato.An unpretentiouscontribution
to our stockof Aguadois GiuseppeGazzelloni's
editingof the Fandangoop. 16 (Berben/Fentone,
?3.50), where editorialpolicy is set out in very
small print in Italian:too modest, for the edition standsup to scrutiny,with originalreading
given in footnotes.
Footnotes, editorial policy and critical commentaryare,however,dispensedwith in the new
Karl Scheit DIY editions, for ProfessorScheit
simply includes a reducedfacsimileof an early
edition with his own modern one. Giuliani's
op. 107, Variationson a Theme of Handel(Universal,?2.60), is the latestadditionto this series.
Scheitclaimsthatthe facsimile(reducedbut legible) is of the firstedition(Hofmeister,1828)but
Thomas Heck predatesthis with a Ricordiedition of 1827. This apart,the solution does seem
to be one that will please most people most of
the time.

502

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MARY CRISWICK