Review

Giuseppe Verdi
La Forza del Destino :

Arranged by Neal Bennett

Trumpet in C, trombone, and piano

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher:
Date of Publication: 2018
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Chamber Music

Giuseppe Verdi’s dramatic and intense overture La Forza del Destino is perhaps more well-known than the opera it was written to precede. From its opening unisons/octaves to the more sweeping and haunting melodies later in the piece, Verdi’s overture remains a staple of the orchestral repertoire. By adapting this orchestral work for a trio comprised of trumpet, trombone, and piano, Canadian trombonist and arranger Neal Bennett adds a significant work to the repertoire for this combination of instruments.

Condensing an orchestral score down to a handful of parts seems an arduous and complex task. In his version, Bennett has kept all of the great melodies for which Verdi is known. The result is a piece requiring a high level of technical prowess and musical ability from all the players. An accomplished player himself, Bennett arranged this work for a trio in which he performs. The trombone part includes a number of technical passages that span registers, and require a skilled trombonist to navigate them. The trombone part ranges from E to e2. The C trumpet part is similarly virtuosic, requiring a player with a strong high range and technical fluency.

For many years, I’ve been a fan of Cherry Classics publications. In addition to bringing new pieces and arrangements to market, they have set a high bar for the cleanliness and readability of their scores and parts. Generally, this piece fits that expectation, though there are a few issues in the rendering of this score and its parts. In a small number of cases, triplet brackets don’t extend the correct distance (being too short or too long); this makes the rhythm hard to decipher. There are also a small number of places where the range of the part above the staff causes it to run into a musical direction or tempo marking. In both the trumpet and trombone parts, there are notes at the first tempo change which I can only assume are unmarked cues for the piano part’s pickup notes into the second measure of the section. If they are not cues, they require both players to play more than one note on the downbeat of that second measure. Cues make the most sense as the downbeat of the first measure of the section is empty followed by pickup notes into the second measure. This is not clear in the parts, however.

Minor issues in the parts aside, this is a noteworthy and worthwhile addition to this trio repertoire. Advanced players will enjoy having the orchestral melodies all to themselves and Verdi’s great music will continue to delight audiences.