Review

Robert Schumann
Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood) Op.15:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer

Trombone and piano

Vancouver, British Columbia, United States
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2008

Score and solo part.

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Scenes from Childhood is a collection of thirteen pieces, ranging from 0:50 to 3:00 minutes in length originally written for piano and voice. In my opinion, transcriptions of works for other instruments do have a place in the trombone repertoire. Works for voice can be some of the most challenging however, due to the loss of the text from performance.  This is one negative I see with the Sauer collection. I would prefer if the text had remained either in the piano or trombone part so the performer could work to interpret the story. Having said that the songs themselves are as interesting and beautiful as one might expect from Schumann. Most of the thirteen are in tenor clef with ranges up to d2 in the 3rd song but only to a1 in the remaining twelve. However, don’t let that range description mislead; the song tessituras stay predominantly between d1 and a1 so performing more than a few will certainly bring endurance issues. Another interesting feature is that ten of the thirteen are in sharp keys. The tone of these keys is quite pleasing to my ear and they also serve as excellent learning tools for younger players.  A group of four or five songs will make an excellent addition to most recitals.  Movements two, five and especially seven are my choices, enjoyable both to perform and hear. I recommend this work as a good addition to the voice/piano transcription genre, and of course, encourage anyone learning these works to consult the text to adequately attempt to convey the story, as the composer would have wished.

-Thomas Zugger
Capital University