Review

George Frederic Handel
With Pious Hearts:

Arranged by Stan Pethel

tuba or bass trombone and piano

Vancouver, BC, , Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2014
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

Mr. Pethel has made an effective arrangement of this recitative and aria from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabeus. While not technically challenging, it is a good introduction to Baroque style and works well in a recital at almost any level. It would be interesting to consider this as material for the development of stylistically correct ornamentation, either written out or improvised.

One definite challenging aspect of this work is that of performing a vocal recitative on an instrument that by its nature is limited in the variations of tone color available to the performer. The tubist will have to be sensitive to the need for variation in tempo, volume, and attack. The range needed for the piece is not extreme, from G to e-flat, making this arrangement accessible to players near to the start of their studies; say during their second year and beyond.