Review

Richard Graves
Sarabande:

York, , United Kingdom
Publisher: Emerson Edition LTD
Date of Publication: 2000

Primary Genre: Elementary Material - solo
Secondary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Sarabande by Richard Graves is a beautiful, calm morsel of a piece intended for the young trombonist in the third or fourth year of playing. The 3/2 meter, half-note = 52, and the key of G minor allow for a simple solo line. Rhythms are straight forward, using primarily quarter-notes with occasional eighth-notes. Towards the middle of this short work the tonal center shifts from G minor to E dorian, providing nice harmonic variety and exposure to accidentals for the soloist. In the climatic phrases, the range rises to e-f-g in the awkward sixth and seventh partials, allowing practice with tuning of these notes. The piano part is fairly simple and is written with wide open quartal and quintal voicings. The resulting effect is a flowing and shimmering current under the simple melodic line. The score comes with solo parts in both bass and treble (B-flat transposition) clefs. The score used for this review was donated by selling agent Theodore Presser. Sarabande is a delightful piece for those working on intonation, dynamics, range and lyrical style. Younger students are well served by composers such as Richard Graves who writes music that is easy enough to learn and perform but also expands traditional boundaries of tonality.   

-Bill Mathis
Bowling Green State University