Review

Reinhold Glière
Russian Sailor's Dance:

Arranged by Andrew Poirier

4 tenor, 1 bass trombone

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

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

From the iTromboni catalogue comes an arrangement of Reinhold Glière’s “Russian Sailors Dance” from the ballet, The Red Poppy, for trombone quintet. Arranged by Andrew Poirier, the intensity and excitement of the original has been maintained throughout, all while keeping each of the five parts within relatively comfortable melodic ranges. That said, everyone is asked to do their share of heavy lifting as each part has technically demanding episodes along with multiple statements of the theme.

With a length of 3.5 minutes, the piece is short but exciting. It will make an excellent closing work on a recital or chamber music concert. Those playing the first three parts need to be familiar with the tenor clef but none of the parts exceed b-flat¹. The piece is available through cherryclassics.com as either a digital download or hard copy along with many other iTromboni arrangements.