Review

Henry Purcell
12 Trio Sonatas :

Arranged by Paul Ferguson


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Publisher: Paul Ferguson Music
Date of Publication: 2014
URL: http://paulfergusonmusic.com

Score and parts. Includes compact disc containing demonstration recordings.

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 3 brass
Secondary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 3 trombones

The catalog of music for trombone trio is slim compared to that for two or four trombones. This is surprising, given that trios would find a ready-made performing ensemble in an orchestra or band trombone section of three players. That the 12 Trio Sonatas by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) had not been arranged for trombones before Paul Ferguson undertook the task – apart from Sonata 1 that had been arranged by George Osbourne 50 years ago – is surprising, but with his new edition in hand, we now have a significant new corpus of music to explore.
 
Composed around 1680 and published in 1683, Purcell's Trio Sonatas were originally written for two violins, gamba and continuo. Purcell’s own introduction to the first published edition mentions that he modeled his set after those of Italian composers. Yet English music of the Renaissance and Baroque has a character that sets it apart, particularly in its cadences and aspects of voice leading. As a result, this music presents a particularly fresh character, and Purcell's Trios are miniatures of compact musical expression that both challenge performers and delight listeners.
 
Trombonist Paul Ferguson, who is director of jazz studies at Case Western Reserve University and associate artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, turned to the Novello edition of Purcell’s collected works as his source material. But given that Purcell himself included little in the way of articulation markings and other expressive instructions, Ferguson has eschewed most of Novello’s editing, essentially leaving performers with a clean slate on which to develop their own interpretation. In this he is following the lead of the Vandersall edition of the Bach Cello Suites, and Mike Hall’s recent Marcello and Galliard Sonatas editions (Cherry Classics), where the music is presented without editorial comment, although Ferguson does provide tempi with suggested metronome markings and his own dynamics. This approach does not spoon-feed an approach to the performers, but given that the Trios have a first part that often rises to b1 and c2, players accomplished enough to negotiate the tessitura and technical demands of the Trios would likely embrace the challenge of adding their own markings. The first and second parts are notated in tenor clef and the music is printed and laid out clearly on high quality paper.
 
Paul Ferguson gave a presentation about the 12 Trio Sonatas at the 43rd International Trombone Festival in 2014 that featured performances of several of the Sonatas by both trombone trios and the 20-plus member Eastman Trombone Choir, John Marcellus, conductor; the music came alive in spectacular fashion. Ferguson's edition comes with a demonstration recording of the Sonatas played by himself, Heather Buchman, Lisa Albrecht, Ed Zadrozny, David Loucky, David Bruestle, Donald Robinson, J.C. Sherman, Nathan Budge, the Cleveland Trombone Collective and the Eastman Trombone Choir. Paul Ferguson has done a great service in making Purcell’s Trios accessible to trombonists, and players who explore them will be richly rewarded. Highly recommended.

-Douglas Yeo
Arizona State University