Review


Germaine Tailleferre
Berceuse et Pastorale :

Arranged by Ralph Sauer

Trombone and piano

, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2015
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

While studying at the Paris Conservatory, French composer Germaine Tailleferre became the only female member of “Les Six,” a group of six French composers formed in 1919. Composing music for a wide variety of instrumentations and settings, Tailleferre is known for her ballets, piano works, and film scores. Ralph Sauer combines two separate short works by Tailleferre to create Berceuse et Pastorale. Originally written in 1913 for violin and piano, Berceuse consists of a serene and beautiful melody in the trombone that is complimented by the piano’s colorful harmonies. The melody has been transposed down from the original key of E major to D major, thus laying nicely on the trombone and helps to unify the two movements. Dedicated to Darius Milhaud, another member of “Les Six, Pastorale was written for solo piano in 1919 for L’Album des Six, a suite of six piano pieces written by the members of Les Six. Marked “Enjoué,” or playful, Pastorale is given in mixed meter and oscillates between staccato, articulated and legato phrases. Like all of his outstanding arrangements, Sauer takes special care to adapt the original compositions in order to facilitate appropriate rests for the performer and changes registers when appropriate. Even with these adaptations, the quality of the composer’s original work and intention is not diminished. The trombone part is written in a comfortable register, occasionally going as high as b1. Accessible to both college students and professionals, Sauer provides another opportunity for trombonists to dig into wonderful arrangements of repertoire written by renowned composers.

Reviewer: Russell Ballenger
Review Published June 13, 2023