Review

Camille Saint-Saëns
Cavatine:

Arranged by Benjamin Coy

2 fl, ob, bsn, 3 cl, b cl, a sax, t sax, bari sax, 2, 2, 2, Euph, Tba, Timp, and Perc

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

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with band

Originally written for trombone and piano and long a staple of the solo recital repertoire, Benjamin Coy has orchestrated the Saint-Saëns Cavatine for trombone and wind ensemble. This wind ensemble arrangement of the piano accompaniment stays faithful to the original. The arranger was careful to choose the best combination of instruments for each phrase in the accompaniment. This gives the orchestration a certain richness of color not often found in many wind transcriptions of piano accompaniments.
 
This adaptation is written at about a Grade 4 ability level. However, the slower contrasting section in E Major might exceed the expectations of difficulty for many ensembles that play Grade 4 music or below. The clarinet parts are written in F-sharp Major with multi-octave arpeggios in sextuplets, and the euphonium part contains exposed E major ascending arpeggios in triplets. It also contains prominent bassoon, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, and oboe parts which are not cued in the other parts. This arrangement is not well suited to ensembles that do not have these instruments.
 
Overall, the score and parts are well edited and visually pleasing. This arrangement of the Saint-Saëns Cavatine could provide a great opportunity to feature an outstanding trombonist on any community, school, or professional wind ensemble concert program.

-Greg Strohman
Dickinson College