Review

Franz Schubert
Nine Songs: from Die schöne Müllerin

Arranged by Gordon Cherry

Trombone and piano

Vancouver, BC, , Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2018
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Gordon Cherry has added to the growing number of lieder transcriptions with his 9 songs from Die Schöne Müllerin. Based on poems by Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827), Die Schöne Müllerin (The fair miller-maid) tells the story of a young traveler who happens upon a mill. There he falls hopelessly in love with the miller’s daughter, only to have his advances rebuffed. The miller-maid instead develops affections for a hunter dressed in green and the young traveler presumably drowns himself in the brook out of grief. The entire cycle of 20 songs is considered a masterpiece of German Lied and one of Schubert’s most important works.

 

Mr. Cherry’s transcription includes the first nine songs, in their original keys, presented entirely in tenor clef. Four of the nine songs are strophic in form and include repeats, giving the trombonist the opportunity to choose how many “verses” they would like to perform. Being lieder, it should come as no surprise that the songs are predominantly lyrical and the melodic ranges are modest, from c to g-sharp1. A complete performance of all nine songs will run well over 20 minutes and performers may opt to program just a few of their favorites if time is an issue.