Review

Giuseppi Verdi
Prelude to Act One from Rigoletto:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer

6 tenor, 2 bass trombones, optional timpani

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

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

Ralph Sauer is a prolific arranger and intelligent musician and this publication is yet another example of a well-conceived adaptation for trombone ensemble. The “Prelude” foretells the significant and heart-rending events of the opera within a brief thirty-four measure introduction, condensing the opera’s dramatic events into a two- to three-minute musical summation. The original key of C minor is retained and ranges for each of the eight parts are manageable. The trombone 1 part will need someone confident of playing exposed entrances on c² and trombone 8 part will need a double-valve to perform an exposed BB-natural. The upper four parts are notated in tenor clef while the lower four parts remain in bass clef; ranges and tessitura are suitable for an undergraduate level ensemble. The parts are clear, clean, and easy to read.

The optional timpani part is somewhat sparse and limited to two pitches, but should be utilized if only to avoid the lower two parts recreating solo timpani rolls with articulated sixteenth notes during the final few measures. Articulated eighths and sixteenths are also used to replicate the tremolo of the orchestral strings during an ascending chromatic line, but the line is doubled in the lower octave using half- and quarter-note durations to minimize an overly-rhythmic affect. A single, moot alteration from the original notation occurs in measures 19-22, which depicts Rigoletto’s “sobbing.” The orchestral score notates the measures with a slurred eighth to a sixteenth with a sixteenth-note rest. The inclusion of the sixteenth-note rest ensures a clean break between the note pairs and clearly depicts the musical and emotional intent of the phrase. This arrangement notates the section with slurred eighths with a staccato over the second, conceivably to ensure the second note isn’t clipped too short thereby breaking the line. This publication is another fine and suitable arrangement for trombone octet.