Review

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Sea Drift:

Arranged by Richard Decker

6 tenors (opt. alto) (1 in alto clef, 2 in tenor clef), 2 basses (opt. contrabass)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2023
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

Living only 37 years until his death from pneumonia in 1912, Coleridge-Taylor composed this piece for choir in 1908. Setting the words of Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the libretto paints a vivid picture of a young woman standing on the shore through a stormy night. The second stanza reads:

What does she there, in the lightning’s glare,

 What does she there, I wonder?

What dread demon drags her forth

 In the night and wind and thunder?

As morning arrives and the storm abates, “...the corpse of a sailor gleams on the rocks – What if it were her lover?” Coleridge-Taylor provides an energetic setting through much of the piece, often lending the gusto of a sea shanty. Just as the storm abates, the music ends in a more peaceful way. 

Richard Decker’s setting for trombone octet faces the usual challenges of setting choral music given the natural soprano tessitura. This arrangement moves the piece down a fifth from G minor to C minor. Still, the top part is written in alto clef ranging mostly up to c2 (with one brief c-sharp2). The publisher also provides a tenor clef version of this part. This voice has a fairly narrow range but plenty of rests. If performed on tenor trombone, a small-bore instrument would be a wise choice. 

Given the one recording I was able to locate (The London Chorale Sinfonia), the singing style is more energetic and detached than one might expect looking at the score. It would be wise for performers to listen to a recording since this transcription doesn’t follow the usual largely legato playbook for choral transcriptions.

The second and third parts use tenor clef at times. There isn’t any thick counterpoint in the piece and there are quite a few homorhythmic moments. The trombone 8 part is labeled optional contrabass trombone but the part isn’t terribly low, not going below GG and mostly staying around C. Overall, the harmonic movement is satisfying. I enjoyed listening to the recording of the piece.

As is usually the case with material from Cherry Classics, the piece arrives as a PDF. Score and parts are clean and quite readable. This piece is definitely worth a look.