Review

Edward McDowell
Two Duets from Woodland Sketches:

Arranged by Jamie Wehr, transcriber

Cornet and trombone

Winter Park, Florida, United States
Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.wehrs-music-house.com

Two scores

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 2 brass

Originally published in 1896 and written as a suite of ten songs for piano, Jamie Wehr’s transcription sets two of these simple tunes perfectly for cornet and trombone. The first, To a Wild Rose, is a lovely, short song in A major with the melody in the cornet. It has a few accidentals but otherwise contains simplistic tonal and rhythmic content, a lyrical exploit well-suited for intermediate players.

 

The second duet, In Autumn, provides a stark contrast in style. It is presented in a faster, compound meter, and in the relative minor key. The mode calls for frequent accidentals, including double sharps and A-sharps, and the musical lines are technically more challenging than the first duet. The material is more homorhythmic than the first tune with some extra contrapuntal demands in the trombone part. It is written in ABA form with a simpler, lyrical B section, and a return to the active A section with D.C. al fine.

 

The overall tessitura of the set is not demanding, ranging from G-sharp to e-sharp1 for trombone and from b to g2 for cornet. Average high school level students should be able to perform the set, although In Autumn will present more of a challenge at first. It is a great set for intermediate players to not only develop chamber music skills, but also to explore the infrequently-visited keys of A major and F-sharp minor.