Review

Franz Liszt
Five Men's Choruses:

Arranged by David Fetter

5 trombones (possible bass)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

Five Men’s Choruses is a multimovement work featuring vocal works by Franz Liszt arranged for trombone quintet by David Fetter. The movements are as follows: Nothing Said!, Green Fields, Calm Over the Rooftops, Serenade, and Student Song. The work can be played as an entire unit, but the brief length of each individual character piece provides a programming opportunity to play one or two to round out a recital. The range goes from C-sharp in the fifth part and soars up to b1 in the first part. All of the parts are written in bass clef and the meters are simple, making it a wonderful composition for intermediate students to learn. The third movement is written in E major which is arguably not used frequently in trombone ensembles and could pose an issue for sightreading and tuning, especially for younger musicians.

Fetter’s curation of these specific five Liszt works presents a character exercise for the performers. There are moments for expressive, lyrical playing countered by instances of comical “drunk” phrases. Rhythmically there is nothing more complex than a dotted-eight note followed by a sixteenth note and the occasional syncopated entrance. If the group is not performing with a conductor, there are ample opportunities for musical maturity via the ability to navigate tempo changes and entrances after fermatas. This work is a fresh addition to the trombone choir repertoire and I would highly recommend it.