Review

Jean-Baptiste Lully
Overture to Cadmus and Hermione:

Arranged by Jean-Louis Couturier

2 C trumpets (piccolo in A), F horn, trombone, bass trombone (tuba)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

For many classically oriented brass players, the brass quintet personifies all that is desirable in music. In it, one can experience the homogeny of sound, diversity of range, and musical expressiveness found in the classical string quartet. Touting a diverse repertoire ranging from Renaissance composer Giovanni Gabrieli to the St. Louis Blues of W. C. Handy, the brass quintet eludes classification by genre or even era. The Overture to Cadmus and Hermione expands a growing catalogue celebrating composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687).

The Overture to Cadmus and Hermione follows the traditional “French overture” form established by Lully: slow, homophonic first section featuring dotted rhythms driving toward down beats, with a faster, quasi-fugal second section. Each part is a near direct transcription from its original counterpart, with a few, notable exceptions. For example, the trumpets trade parts between measures 53–58 and the trombone contains a misprint in measure 43, e1 when it should be d1.

Couturier has chosen to pitch both trumpet parts in C (optional piccolo in A), indicating an inclination toward an orchestral configuration. This is mentionable for two reasons: first, this is an arrangement of an orchestral overture, and second, it provides an explanation for the misprint found for “Trumpet 2 in C” within the score. Knowing the optional piccolo part is pitched in A, it is reasonable to surmise that the second part was erroneously transposed into the key of A. I would like to clarify that this misprint appears in the source provided for review, and that further research shows the publisher’s “PDF sample” displays a corrected score. As of now, I am unclear if this error is an old misprint that has since been corrected.

This arrangement can be performed with either bass trombone or tuba and encompasses the “money” register of the bass trombone, D–d1, should that instrumentation be desired. While the tenor trombone extends into the eighth partial, e–a1, the average pitch range is rather narrow, mostly between g–d1. While these parts may not present tessitura difficulties, they do provide other challenges. Aside from being written in tenor clef, the tenor trombonist is required to stylistically play grace notes and lip trills, most of which appear to be added by the arranger, and rapid moving figures in the Vif section while the bass trombonist faces these same issues in the lower partials.

A beautiful Baroque orchestra transcription, the Overture to Cadmus and Hermione is a pleasant addition to the repertoire, joining a growing list of arrangements by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Given the technical challenges posed for each part, of which only the trombone has been discussed above, this piece seems aptly rated by the publisher as “for advanced performers.”