Review

George Gershwin
Three Preludes:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2006
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Gershwin’s Three Preludes were published in 1925 and immediately acquired a celebrity status that they have never lost. In these arrangements, No.1 in B-flat (To Bill Daly) and No.2 in C-sharp minor (Blue Lullaby) are presented in the original keys; No.3 in E-flat minor (Spanish Prelude) is transposed to D minor.

These are excellent transcriptions, and the music seems quite at home on the trombone. Stylistically, of course, they occupy a middle ground between classical and jazz, calling for familiarity with both idioms. The first is the most difficult of the set, with a couple of tricky high d2s; numbers 2 & 3 are of only moderate difficulty, though No.3 ends with a glissando to another high d2. Interestingly, this arrangement of ‘Blue Lullaby’ highlights a striking similarity to the Grøndahl Concerto, written in 1917, published 1924. It is unlikely that either composer would have known the other’s work; there was presumably some common influence. A similar theme also appears in Walton’s Façade Suite, composed in 1922. Bill Daly co-composed some of Gershwin’s stage musicals, and conducted the first performance of his Piano Concerto in F. Ralph Sauer recently retired from the first trombone chair in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

-Keith Davies Jones
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada