Review

Gabriel Fauré
Pavane, Opus 50:

Arranged by Vikentios Gionanidis

B-flat trumpet, B-flat trumpet/flugelhorn, horn in F, trombone, tuba

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

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Originally written for piano and chorus in 1887, Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane (Opus 50) remains popular over 130 years after it was written. Fauré himself made various arrangements of this piece, first creating an orchestral version, then adding chorus. As with many pieces before and after, the Pavane has as its genesis an older form: a Renaissance dance. The Renaissance pavane was one of the period’s slower dance forms, elegant and stately, and Fauré captured that feeling in this piece. Tubist Vikentios Gionanidis of the Deutsche Oper Berlin has taken Faure’s work, minus the choral parts, and set it for brass quintet. It should be noted that Gionanidis marks the tempo at 108 beats per minute. Fauré himself was known to prefer tempi in this range, but many modern performances are much slower. Playing the marked tempo yields a performance time close to four minutes rather than one around or exceeding six minutes.

This arrangement is scored for a typical brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. The trumpet parts are both in B-flat; the second trumpet doubling on flugelhorn. Gionanidis makes use of Fauré’s entire work unabridged, spreading the melody throughout the upper four parts. His arrangement requires a group with skill and sensitivity in handling the lyricism of the melody, the trading off of parts, and effectively translating the pizzicati of the original string accompaniment into brass articulations; players familiar with the orchestral version will be able to do this easily. The trumpet 1 and horn parts also require players with strong upper registers.

Cherry Classics’ publications generally exhibit the highest standards in terms of layout and clarity of score and parts. Largely, this edition follows suit: the parts are all easy to read and the score is easy to follow. If one were to quibble, there are places in the score where dynamic markings in the tuba part run into text at the bottom of the page. The arranger’s intentions are still easily understood. All in all, this is quite a nice arrangement of a well-known piece, one that should find a home in the repertoires of many brass quintets.