Review

Franz Liszt
Les Preludes:

Arranged by Randall Malmstrom

6 tenor, 2 bass trombones

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

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

This orchestral work written between 1849 and 1855 was the third of Liszt’s 13 ‘Symphonic Poems,’ a form that was original to him. Based on a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine, it represents life as a series of ‘preludes to that unknown hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by death.’ At the time of its composition, Liszt was employed as Kapellmeister to the Grand Duke of Weimar and was living with the Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein. During this period, he also wrote his Piano Sonata in B minor (1853), to which this piece has some thematic similarities.

The arrangement for six tenor trombones and two bass trombones is in the original key of C major. It is an ‘abridged version’ of 147 measures; the full score has 419 measures. In my opinion the cut is entirely justified; the excised section of the work is somewhat repetitious and has little variation or development in it. In this arrangement, interest is maintained throughout, and all players have interesting and quite challenging parts.

The central section is in E major, with a return to C major in m86. Triplet figures in mm88-94 remind me of the 18th century English nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock.’ The writing then becomes increasingly chromatic, leading to a section in 12/8 marked Allegro tempestoso, followed by Allegro marziale in alla breve meter. The tempo relaxes in the final sections of the piece, and it ends with a plagal IV/1 ‘A-men’ cadence onto a C major chord spread over 3 octaves, and marked fff.

All the tenor trombone parts except first contain many groups of 16th notes. Parts for trombones 1-2 and 5-6 are given in tenor clef; both tenor and bass are used in third part; trombone 7 is in bass clef. first, second, fifth and sixth top out on c², third and seventh at g¹. Bass trombones (4 & 8) go down to GG. I think this is a successful and imaginative arrangement drawn from a somewhat unlikely source.

Randall Malmstrom lives in Portland, Oregon. 83 pieces for 8-part trombone ensemble are currently available from this publisher, 26 of them are the work of this arranger.