Review

Friederich August Belcke
Six Duos for Trombones Op. 50:

Arranged by Niels-Ole Bo Johanssen

Trombone duet

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2022
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 2 trombones

Whether for pedagogy or performance, many trombonists find the playing of duets to be interesting, educational, and yes, even fun. Though the modern trombonist is blessed to have access to a myriad of wonderful options for two trombones, many people still use venerable sources like the volumes of Selected Duets for Trombone edited by H. Voxman and published decades ago by Rubank. For those interested in duets in that style and difficulty range, but who are looking for new pieces to play, Danish trombonist and pedagogue Niels-Ole Bo Johansen (of the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark) has published modern versions of six duets by Friedrich August Belcke through Cherry Classics.

Cherry Classics’ publication includes a facsimile of the original title page and a second page with Belcke’s introduction (with a helpful translation from German to English). Following that are six duets in easily-readable score format. Each of the six is tonal and in the key of B-flat. The expected related key areas (dominant and/or relative minor) are typically visited in the course of each piece. The collection contains a nice mix of independent parts of a quasi-canonic nature and parts that move together. The range will work well for advanced high school players, with no parts higher than b-flat1 (high b-flat) and nothing lower than F at the bottom of the bass clef staff.

Those familiar with the oft-used Rubank duets will find many similarities between these duets and the ones we have all played for decades. The composition of these pieces fit and compliment the stylistic and harmonic traits seen in the Voxman-edited duets. It’s easy to see these as a welcome appendix to the Rubank duets, but they are nice pieces independent of those. As pieces for performance, these are relatively simple, but pleasant and effective. Their use as pedagogical tools will give students a chance to work on both independence of parts and ensemble elements like blend, balance, rhythm, and tuning. I look forward to integrating these into my own teaching.