Review

Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Dance No.4:

Arranged by Craig Kaucher


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Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2008
URL: http://www.wehrs-music-house.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

This arrangement of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances No.4 from opus 46 is a well-conceived and successful arrangement… as far as it goes. The original composition is in minuet-trio form with the addition of codetta. The arrangement presented here consists of only the minuet, without repeats, and the codetta is missing. An overall feeling of dissatisfaction or that something is missing results from the exclusion of the material. Missing are the contrasting melodies from the trio portion of the dance and the codetta which provides a sense of finality contained in the original. The timbre, tessitura, range, and technical challenges are all well within the means of a group of advanced high-school trombonists or undergraduate trombone ensemble. The first part utilizes tenor clef, but a bass clef part is also included on the back side. The first three parts are two pages long but contain only four to eight measures on a single system. While insuring readability of the parts by maintaining music spacing, one may wonder if there might have been a way to include orphaned measures on the first page thus eliminating the necessity to open the page. Overall, much good work is contained in the arrangement but would be more appreciated had portions of the original not been omitted.

-Kevin Chiarizzio
Liberty University