Review

Gustav Holst
The Evening Watch, Op.43, No.1: for eight trombones

Arranged by Ronald Barron


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2014
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

Gustav Holst’s motet The Evening Watch is a work tailor-made for the medium of trombone choir, and Ron Barron’s transcription is a meaningful contribution to our repertoire. Holst sets a poem by 17th Century Welsh metaphysical poet, Henry Vaughn. The poem is a dialogue between a feeble, temporal body and its eternal soul. In 1924, Holst, whose constitution was chronically frail, faced illness and exhaustion. This is the context in which he penned The Evening Watch.

The music is solemn and austere. The harmonies are often dissonant and in the words of one writer, “based on the superimposition of the interval of a fourth, often moving in ‘forbidden’ consecutives and parallel motion.” The work begins quietly, and Holst instructs that “there be no variation in the sempre pp until near the end.” Instead, the musical progress comes from the inventive harmonies and inerrant voice leading. A chant-like tenor solo (the body) opens the work and is followed by a choral response (the soul). An unmeasured mezzo-soprano solo (the body) commences the second dialogue and initiates the final choral response (the soul). Holst finally abandons the pianissimo dynamic and the choir crescendos to a thrilling fortissimo climax.
 
Barron transcribes this work for trombone octet—six tenor trombones and two bass trombones. It would certainly work for larger forces and even for a mass trombone choir. The parts are accessible to the average collegiate player. The 1st tenor trombone part requires great control and eventually great power in the upper register, culminating in a closing fortissimo c2. The 1st bass trombone part can be negotiated with just an F attachment; the 2nd requires a double valve. The solo lines representing the body reside in the 3rd tenor trombone part. In the introductory notes Barron writes that this arrangement “seems altogether appropriate given the instrument’s vocal character, its frequent use for music at funerals and Holst’s other passion, his short career as a trombonist.” Indeed this arrangement seems perfectly suited for the solemn and heroic qualities of a trombone choir.

-Paul Overly
Bob Jones University