Review

Reinhold Glière
Intermezzo and Tarantella:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Born in Kiev, Reinhold Glière both studied and taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory and studied conducting in Berlin. Glière’s portfolio includes symphonic poems, symphonies, and ballets. While Intermezzo and Tarantella is frequently performed on double bass, it can also be performed by the advanced trombonist. The first movement, is slow and lyrical. It sings on the trombone and works to showcase the player’s musicality. The Tarantella, with its quick tempi, triplets and sextuplets, highlights the player’s virtuosity. Yet even as this section is marked Allegro vivace and is dominated by triple rhythms, it retains much of the legato expressivity of the first movement, especially in the high register. While the majority of the movement hovers in the mid-to high-range culminating at high c1, it dips down to G on occasion. This transcription is  a great showpiece for the college trombonist and beyond. It allows work in the high register even as it encourages effortless sound production.

-Matthew Driscoll
Cornell and Central College (Iowa)