Review

J. Bruun de Neergaard
Romance Op. 13:

Arranged by Niels-Ole Bo Johansen


Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2024
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Neergaard, 1877-1920, was born into a wealthy family. He took a Law Degree but did not practice. His passion was music, which he composed extensively, but few of his pieces were published and his work is only now becoming known. He is best known at the present time for a string quartet, written 1908-1910. A brief recorded excerpt of this piece reveals a pleasant lyrical and romantic style, but no strong musical personality or originality, and the same may be said of Romance Op. 13, which was written in 1915 for the great Danish trombonist Anton Hansen (1877-1947), and originally scored for trombone and orchestra.

This arrangement is in E-flat. It is marked Andante Sostenuto and is in 4/4 time. The solo part is given in bass clef. The piece begins with three measures of consecutive 5ths in the piano part, and there are many more found later in the piece; no fewer than seven in measures 80 and 81. The soloist’s first entry is on a doubled mediant, and this is clearly a composer who made his own rules, here possibly looking back at the earlier practice of organum.

Overall range for the trombone is G - a-flat1. At mm. 14 and 73 the part is marked ‘solo’, but there is no indication that more than one player might have been intended in other sections. The publisher’s website indicates this piece as ‘suitable for advanced intermediate performers’.