Review

George Enseco
Romanian Rhapsody No. 2, Op.11:

Arranged by Robert P. Holland


Chicago, IL, United States
Publisher: Briar Music Press
Date of Publication: 2003

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 9+ trombones (choir)

Enesco’s 2nd Rhapsody (1901), considerably less familiar than Opus 11 No.1, is based on a Moldavian ballad telling of some long-ago heroic deed, presented ab initio in richly harmonized divisi strings above glowing, sustained brass chords, and lends itself well to transcription for the brass choir medium. Most of the piece is written in a slow tempo, concluding with a short vivace section ending pianissimo on an open 5th. The middle section, where the theme is presented in a minor key variant, features plaintive cor anglais, assigned by this arranger to solo bass trombone, playing above soft, rumbling timpani and tremolando strings; some colour is inevitably lost here. However, sinewy intertwining solos for flute and clarinet give opportunity for some expressive playing in 1st and 2nd parts.

This youthful and somewhat over-sentimentalised conception isn’t great music, but it does somewhat presciently anticipate a later generation of Hollywood film-composers.  Despite some unavoidable problems in translation of its idiom into this medium, I think it is effective as a trombone choir piece, and being quite different in style from anything else in the repertoire, it is an imaginative choice. The arrangement is suitable for a university level ensemble, requirements are 6 tenor and 4 bass trombones. The original key is preserved and ranges extend from AA in the lowest part to b1 in 1st and 2nd. Score and parts are produced to a high standard of clarity. Robert Holland studied at Eastman where his teachers included John Marcellus; currently he works as a free-lance trombonist in Chicago and is proprietor of Briar Press.

-Keith Davies Jones
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada