Review

Dmitri Shostakovich
Waltz No.2:

Arranged by Eliezer Aharoni


Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2008
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Former bass trombonist with the Jerusalem Symphony and author of a pair of method books for bass trombone, Eliezer Aharoni has arranged this charming waltz from the Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra No.1 for brass quintet. Also known as the Jazz Suite No.2, it was composed in 1938 for the newly formed State Orchestra for Jazz. The piece sounds like a lovely Strauss waltz with a bit of Shostakovich’s dark wit thrown in for good measure.

Although a relatively short piece, there is precious little rest in any of the five parts. This is not an issue for tuba as that part requires little more than playing on the downbeat of each measure. Trombone and horn are asked to play upbeats for nearly half the piece but there are melodic passages for both. The horn part in particular contains a sixteen measure obbligato that is the most difficult passage in the entire piece. Finally, the trumpets play the melody most often with a few upbeat passages when the melody is passed to horn or trombone.

This is a great piece of music nicely arranged for brass quintet. Ranges fit a good collegiate group as long as the horn player can negotiate the difficult obbligato passage. This arrangement can sound great by itself, as a light selection on a program of heavier works, or as an encore.
  
-Eric High
St. Norbert College