Review

Béla Bartók
Three Pieces: Slovakian Boy's Dance, Slovakian Folk Song, Jest

Arranged by Erich Schwarz

Three tenor, one bass trombone

Winter Park, Florida, United States
Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.wehrs-music-house.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

Bela Bartók’s attraction to peasant folk songs stemmed from his distaste for the imitation of Western popular culture by the Hungarian upper- and middle-class.  The untainted musical character of the nation was conveyed by the rural peasants and he began trips to collect and preserve folk songs before the traditional music was supplanted by “light music” or “imitation folk songs.”  Two early publications of his piano music after his early musical expeditions were Ten Easy Pieces (1908) and For Children (1908-09) and these two collections provide the source material for Schwarz’ arrangement.  Each of the Three Pieces was originally an easy to intermediate level piano work, incorporating folk music influences. The three selections, “Slovakian Boy’s Dance,” “Slovakian Folk Song,” and “Jest” are each about one-minute in duration and are presented in a fast-slow-fast arrangement. Crisp, clean articulations by the ensemble will better replicate the pianistic style and contribute to a more suitable performance.

All trombone parts utilize bass clef. Pitch ranges for each part are quite manageable. The highest pitch for first trombone is a-flat¹ and the lowest pitch for the bass trombone is BB-flat.  An F-attachment is required for the bass trombone part; low BB occurs once, but may be performed an octave higher if needed. A measure appears to be missing in “Slovakian Boy’s Dance" between measures 42 and 43, when compared to the original, and may or may not be an intentional omission.  The physical quality of the publication is okay, but a higher grade of paper and ink would be appreciated. The notation appears to have been printed with an inkjet printer as opposed to a laser printer and music on the back-side of the paper is perceptible.