Review

Thomas Caustun
Four Pieces from Morning and Evening Prayer:

Arranged by Transcribed by Bradford DeVos and arranged for four trombones by Douglas Yeo


Ithaca, NY, United States
Publisher: Ensemble Publications
Date of Publication: 2014
URL: http://www.enspub.com

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

This is a transcription of Tudor choral music originally published by John Day in London in 1565 and features three pieces by Thomas Caustun plus a work by John Taverner that was adopted by Caustun for his collection of church music: Morning and Evening Prayer. According to the original publisher, this collection contains music in four parts “to be sung in churches, both for men and children, and also to play on instruments.”  All four selections feature imitation of short melodic ideas in all four parts, with occasional homorhythmic sections presumably to emphasize the text. In general this is an effective transcription with reasonable ranges in the parts and can be played as a quartet or trombone choir. However as in any transcription that transposes the original down an octave, Yeo has had to make choices that produce close voicing and bass trombone parts that fall rather low for a vocal model. For example in the first piece “Communion,” the second, third and bass trombone parts cross frequently in a fairly narrow register and the bass trombone routinely plays down to pedal C. The last piece “Exaudiat te Dominus” has the bass trombone playing a number of pedal BB-flats which might create a less than ideal vocal color. Voicing in the other two movements, “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittus” are much better in regard to voicing and spacing, and even the outer movements where the voicing issues have been noted will be effective with proper attention to balance and color. Finally, the slurs in the score do not seem to reflect the text and syllable phrasing. Mr. Yeo notes in his preface that he has chosen to use slurring that reflects the longer overarching phrases to reinforce the flowing melodic lines. This is an understandable editorial choice, though using slurs that reflect the text might produce more clarity and nuance in performance. Clearly this was a labor of love for the arranger and offers a welcome addition of Tudor choral music to the trombone ensemble repertoire.

-Timothy Howe
University of Missouri