Review

Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti
Bel Canto Studies for Trombone :

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2012
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Ralph Sauer has selected and edited this set of fourteen pieces by the most famous composers of the Italian bel canto vocal style. The pieces are not identified by name so it is unclear if they are arias, songs, or vocalises. The music is easily accessible to a moderately advanced high school student, is printed in bass clef and ranges from E to a-flat1, with the tessitura primarily in the middle and upper middle registers. The music covers keys from four flats to four sharps; key changes within etudes are common. All of the selections are in simple and compound meters with the most complex rhythm being the double dotting of quarter or eighth notes.  
 
These etudes are musically and technically similar to the familiar Bordogni/Rochut vocalises, although a bit shorter and not as difficult: i.e. sixteenth note scales move at a tempo of quarter note equals 120 and scalar and arpeggiated 32nd note runs at a tempo of eighth note equals 108. Like Bordogni there are ornaments including grace notes, appoggiaturas, turns, and trills. Etude No.1 is more heavily edited than the rest; in addition to normal dynamic and rubato suggestions there are extensive dynamic markings in almost every phrase to serve as a guide to interpreting the rest of the book. The piano parts are relatively simple with many repeated chords and patterns.
 
Musically, these selections are of the highest quality and are more melodically satisfying than some of the better-known vocalises. They are appropriate for audition or performance in a studio recital; a set of them could even be programmed on a more formal recital.

-Frank Gazda
Delaware State University