Review

Axel Jørgensen
Melodie:

Arranged by Niels-Ole Bo Johansen

Trombone and piano

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

Score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

A staple in the trombone repertoire, Axel Jørgensen's Romance is performed by trombonists of all skill levels. Though not technically difficult, Romance has a warm harmonic language with a sudden shift into less familiar tonal territory, providing an approachable challenge for the student and a chance for masterful musicianship from the professional. Melodie follows this simple, yet effective, formula.

Danish trombonist, Niels-Ole Bo Johansen, has brought this work back after it was “forgotten for quite a while.” The full title of the work, Melodie le soir (curiously shortened in the edition to Melodie), translates to “Evening Melody.” Impressionistic in character, Melodie weaves a dreamy tapestry that personifies the peaceful calm of evening.

With a range between A-flat and b-flat1, optional d-flat2 as the final note, as well as its exclusive use of tenor clef, Melodie can serve nicely as a jury or recital piece for intermediate-undergraduate level students, while also providing ample emotive opportunity for the professional. With his individual and prominent treatment of the piano, Jørgensen favors collaboration over subordination between soloist and accompanist.

With all the music’s beauty come the many editorial flaws and inconsistencies in this edition. Most of these flaws are purely cosmetic and may be of little consequence to the performer. Occurrences such as the difference in eighth note beaming between the final three eighth notes in measures 21 and 25 (trombone part) are representative of this. However, other moments are less irrelevant and may create confusion on style and phrasing. Missing slurs between parallel sections like measures 9-10 versus 14-15, measures 23-24 versus 27-28, or missing articulations on the final eighth notes of measure 43 illustrate this concern.

The most glaring example of this could potentially be in measure 26. This melody is previously heard in measures 21-24, before sequencing down in measure 25. In measure 21, the final sixteenth note of the first beat maintains the major second relationship heard in the previous measure. While the expectation would be to maintain this pattern in measure 26, a minor second is notated instead. With so many other editorial mistakes it is understandable to question this note choice.

Melodie is a work of beautiful, and often straightforward, simplicity. Even with this edition’s many editorial flaws, the musical inflection prevails. It is worth mentioning that, as of this writing, a sample recording exists on the Cherry Classics website, recorded on “The French Connection” album by the editor, available on Spotify.