Review

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy:

Arranged by Gordon Cherry

Brass quintet and celeste

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2007
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass
Secondary Genre: Chamber Music

Gordon Cherry’s name is as familiar to trombonists as that of Tchaikovsky for his outstanding Cherry Classics cd-rom of orchestral trombone parts in .pdf format and for anyone who has looked through the Remington Warm-Up Studies, edited by Donald Hunsberger and has seen his name mentioned toward the end of the book. Gordon offers a nice adaptation of the Christmas-time classic that works well for brass and celesta. In fact, a perusal of the score shows that the most difficult part is in the celesta! Brass ranges are supremely comfortable and no part presents technical difficulty. Range in the trombone part extends only from low B to f-sharp; the part uses tenor clef for only two bars, but there is no warning of the clef change as it goes from bass clef on one line to tenor at the beginning of the next. So from that point of view, Cherry has a real winner here. I find myself questioning the purpose of such a work. As a stand-alone piece for a recital or some such venue, I don’t see a reason for this. The brass play quite a minor role in the arrangement and the likelihood of a combination celesta/brass quintet recital seems remote. But if this is just the first selection from Gordon of, say, all of the Characteristic Dances from the Nutcracker, I heartily endorse this effort.

-David Johansen
Southeastern Louisiana University