Review

Reinhold Gliere
Concerto for Alto trombone, Opus 82: (originally for coloratura soprano)

Arranged by Gordon Cherry

Alto trombone and piano

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 1943 / 2019
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Alto Trombone - with piano

Glière was born in 1875 in Kiev, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a German-born instrument-maker and his mother was Polish. From 1920 to 1941 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory where his students included Prokofiev and Khachaturian. He died in Moscow in 1956.

This unique piece was written in 1943 and was dedicated to Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, a ‘cellist who had been appointed professor that year at the Moscow Conservatory; his wife Natalia was a soprano with the Bolshoi Opera. It is a quite lovely and wholly tonal vocalise in two movements, Andante in F minor, and Allegro in F major. It has some stylistic similarities to ‘Bell Song’ from Lakmé. This transcription preserves the original key. The solo part is virtuosic and demanding, especially the extended passages of triplet 16ths from mm77 to 99, with large upward intervals of up to a 12th, and without rest measures from mm70 to 105. Overall range is d-sharp-d² (optional f²). This is an excellent showpiece for the virtuoso possibilities of the alto trombone and for its lyrical impulses. The piano part is mostly of average difficulty, but contains left-hand chords spanning a 10th, with no spread indicated.