Review

Gustav Holst
St. Paul’s Suite: arranged for ten-part brass ensemble

Arranged by James Haynor


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2010
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 6+ brass (choir)

St. Paul’s Suite is a four-movement work for string orchestra, composed in 1912, and published in 1922. At first glance, this arrangement looks like a double brass quintet. The writing seems to favor equal distribution of the workload, because there is little room to rest. Although the score is ordered with the first quintet followed by the second, it might work well to have the ensemble sit with like instruments next to each other to avoid unwanted antiphonal effects.
 
The four movements of the piece are titled: Jig, Ostinato, Intermezzo and Finale. The Jig is a lively, and somewhat lengthy movement that can be performed as a stand-alone piece. Ostinato is also fast and light. Intermezzo consists of multiple sections contrasting in styles and tempos. The Finale will be familiar to many listeners and is the perfect end to this elegant suite. This movement is Holst’s string orchestra arrangement of the Fantasia on the Dargason from his Second Suite in F for Military Band, so it has made quite a journey from a band piece to strings and now to brass.
 
The entire suite requires the touch of extremely advanced students or professionals. All the movements have changing meters, little or no rests, and complicated rhythms. Attention to detail can be seen in the consideration of ranges of all of the instruments, use of hocket technique to avoid repetitive successions of notes in individual parts, and use of tutti only when musically appropriate. The writing is clear with respect to dynamics, articulations, tempo markings, and hints about whether a section will be conducted in 1 or 2, etc. If there are more players on hand, it might not hurt to have assistants. This is a fine addition to the brass choir repertoire.

-Sean Reed
Arkansas Tech University