Review

Gustav Holst
Brook Green Suite:

Arranged by Justin Chiang

3 tenors (1 in tenor clef), 2 basses

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2024
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) composed the Brook Green Suite while hospitalized only a year before his death. The work was written for string orchestra as a companion piece to his well-known St. Paul’s Suite. The Brook Green Suite was composed to be technically accessible for a youth orchestra without watering down the musical substance. Arranger Justin Chiang sets the work for 5-part trombone ensemble by lowering the key by a whole step; thus the first movement, Prelude, is set in B-flat Major, while the second movement, the lyrical Air, is in G minor, and the last movement, the light, rhythmic Dance, returns to B-flat Major.

The first trombone part, while being melodically prominent and set in tenor clef throughout, makes modest demands and ascends no higher than a B-flat1. The second trombone part is set in bass clef throughout and ascends no higher than a g1, while being nicely featured melodically at the beginning of the Air, which imitates the serene style of an English folk song, though it is Holst’s original composition. The bass trombone parts (the fourth and fifth parts) feature rich contrapuntal movement in frequent descending scalar passages throughout the first movement. In the lower bass trombone part, the work descends frequently to a pedal B-flat in the Prelude, and the Air includes a pedal G, and the Dance a pedal F.

I highly recommend this tastefully set arrangement for inclusion on your next trombone ensemble recital program. The arrangement would work well with a larger ensemble with doublings on each part; however, it would also work well as a quintet with only five players and help to develop independence of parts in a chamber music program.