Review

Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky
"Gloomy land, Misty land" : from Symphony No.1, 2nd movement "Winter Dreams"

Arranged by Justin Bland

B-flat trumpet/piccolo, B-flat trumpet, 2 flugelhorns, 4 horns in F, 3 trombones, tuba

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 6+ brass (choir)

Scored for two B-flat trumpets, first doubling on B-flat piccolo trumpet, two flugelhorns, four horns in F, three trombones and tuba, this arrangement is set in its original key of E-flat major.

Tchaikovsky wrote his Symphony No.1 in G minor in 1866 when he was 26. At that time he was teaching harmony at the Moscow Conservatory and this was his first major work. It was first performed in Moscow in 1868. In this Symphony, the composer is looking for the way forward, and finding it in an embryonic form of the horn solo that will eventually find its way into his 5th Symphony. This solo is heard at the beginning of this movement in Symphony No.1. At mm 29-31 and 35-37, there are pre-echoes of the beginning of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Symphony (1907).

This movement offers little in the way of development; it depends on the imaginative use of orchestral colour to maintain interest, and this arrangement also succeeds quite well in this respect. The tutti ensemble is used in only 15 of 168 measures, and available combinations are skillfully exploited. The melodic line is carried mostly by trumpets and flugelhorns, and as in the original score, by horns in mm125-149.

Second and third trombone parts are given in bass clef. Bass and tenor clefs are used in the first trombone part, range A-flat-c², which is quite demanding in the melodic line it plays from mm 64 to 84; there are 11 high c²s. Cup mutes are required for trumpets and trombones; and trumpets, including piccolo, also need straight mutes. There are challenges, but if they can be met, everyone has the opportunity to play really beautifully.

Justin Bland is a virtuoso trumpet player, originally from Maryland, USA, now living in Copenhagen. He also performs as a counter-tenor.