Review

Maurice Ravel
The Fairy Garden from Mother Goose Suite:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer

eight trombones and percussion

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2011
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

Maurice Ravel originally wrote the five-movement Mother Goose Suite for piano four-hands to be played by children. He soon orchestrated it and then expanded it into a ballet. The Fairy Garden (Le jardin féerique) is the final movement in all these versions. Its slow tempo, Lent et grave, and its rich, consonant harmonies build steadily from a soft opening to a sonorous climax. Ralph Sauer’s arrangement breaks the octet into a mostly double-quartet arrangement with the 5th and 6th parts requiring strong lead players almost as much as the 1st and 2nd parts. The 1st part ranges up to d2 while the 5th part goes up to b-flat1; these four parts appear in tenor clef. The 4th and 8th parts are indicated as bass trombone parts. They are relatively inactive and do not range below pedal BB-flat. The percussion parts enter only at the end as the piece nears climax and can be easily added in a late rehearsal. The work can be done without these parts but would lose some of its dramatic impact. It seems odd to me that Sauer did not include the fairly prominent glockenspiel and xylophone parts from Ravel’s orchestral version. Of course, leaving these parts out gives more for the trombonists to do while reducing cartage for the percussionists. The version I reviewed is in .pdf format; score and parts seem quite clean and readable. This arrangement can serve as a dramatic, slow-moving finale to a concert program. It is available directly from the publisher at www.cherryclassics.com.

-Brad Edwards
University of South Carolina