Review

Engelbert Humperdinck
Two Album Leaves:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


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

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Humperdinck is best remembered today for his opera Hänsel und Gretel, but he also wrote a number of smaller works, including several short pieces for violin and piano. The album leaf, or Albumblatt, was a popular nineteenth-century genre: brief, intimate character pieces, often written as personal gifts for friends and family. Ralph Sauer has arranged two of these charming miniatures for trombone and piano.

In this edition the pieces are untitled beyond "No. 1" and "No. 2." Both are set at relaxed tempi, Andante and Andantino respectively, and each is only about forty measures long. The trombone plays long, lyrical Romantic melodies over a flowing accompaniment of piano arpeggios that offsets the slow-moving solo line. The trombone part is written entirely in tenor clef and reaches b-flat1 in the first piece and c2 in the second. Because the solo line sits mostly in the upper register, the pieces can be taxing on endurance, but they are otherwise not especially difficult. Given their brevity and similar character, they are perhaps best performed together as a set.

The parts are well edited with an abundance of expressive markings and suggested breath marks. Sauer's arrangement is well suited to advanced high school and most college-level trombonists, and it offers a wonderful opportunity to perform beautiful Romantic-era melodies that are seldom heard on the trombone. These Album Leaves are accessible and will appeal to most audiences, and they would make an ideal shorter selection to complement a more intense recital program.