Review

J. Brahms
Hungarian Dances 3,5,7. Hungarian Dances 14,15,17.:

Arranged by Ivaylo Hristov

Four trombones

Sofia, , Bulgaria
Publisher: Edition Elm
Date of Publication: 2001

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

These two sets of Hungarian Dances are skillfully arranged and are a challenge to perform. Each selection is replete with range issues, up to d2, and ornaments. The key changes that help elucidate form are many, although they are predictable, as in excursions to the relative minor and resultant parallel major tonalities. Dance No.5 is the most recognizable of the collection; view a performance of it on Youtube. Arranger Hristov does an excellent job in notating the myriad changes in tempo and dynamics necessary for an authentic rendition. Brahms's other Dances receive equal attention but, in addition to being less well-known, they tend toward the heart-on-the-sleeve sentimentality vacuousness we associate with the works of Arthur Pryor. There, we have those two names in the same sentence for perhaps the first and possibly last time. Tenor clef is required in at least two and usually three of the parts, and each part requires enhanced technical facility.

-Joel Elias
California State University, Sacramento