Review

Wilhelm Stenhammar
Finale from Symphony No.2 :

Arranged by Ross Holcombe

Brass Choir: 5 C trumpets, 4 F horns, 3 trombones, bass trombone, euphonium, tuba, timpani, organ

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

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

Swedish composer, conductor, and pianist Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) wrote his Symphony No.2 between 1911 and 1915. The compositional style of this symphony marks a significant departure from his earlier works, which had been heavily influenced by the Germanic music of Wagner and Bruckner. With Symphony No.2, Stenhammar achieves a lush, expansive “Nordic” sound in the symphonic tradition of works by Carl Nielson and Jean Sibelius, but is also rooted specifically in Swedish folk music, which helps define the work as uniquely Scandinavian.

This virtuosic and expansive arrangement of the Finale from Symphony No.2 is a significant and welcome addition to our brass ensemble repertoire. Arranger Ross Holcombe captures the vast soundscape of the original orchestration by scoring the arrangement for four horns, five C trumpets (note that trumpet 1 doubles on B-flat piccolo trumpet), four trombones (three tenors and a bass), euphonium, tuba, timpani, and organ. The arranger takes great care to preserve the original character of the composition through thoughtful and extensive performance notes as well as careful explanation and notation of the significant amount of trilled material, which helps to define and retain the Nordic flavor of the work.

The Finale from Symphony No.2 features extensive, challenging, and rewarding playing for all the members of the brass ensemble. The work begins with a brief Sostenuto introduction followed by an intensely playful Allegro vivace with abundant contrapuntal brass writing. The beautiful internal Tranquilamente section of the work highlights the organ and includes only brief, sparse solo lines for individual brass players and thus creates both a nice change of texture and gives the majority of the brass players a much-needed moment of rest.

The brass reenters at the onset of the 6/4 Allegro ma non troppo section, which gradually accelerates to a brilliantly exciting Vivace conclusion to the work. The Finale is at once heroic and epic in scope, yet it is also replete with moments of tender lyricism. Ross Holcombe’s attentive arrangement yields a wonderful arrangement that merits placement as a centerpiece of programming by any accomplished collegiate or professional level brass ensemble.

Brass scoring here requires a significant amount of playing, which creates the principal demands of the arrangement as versus extreme range. However, the horn 1 part contains a brief passage that ascends to f²; trumpet 1 contains several passages that ascend to c³ on C trumpet and e³ on B-flat piccolo trumpet. Tenor trombones are notated mainly in tenor clef yet the highest passage ascends only to c² in the trombone 1 part. Bass trombone stays mostly in the staff but a few passages descend to BB-flat and GG. The euphonium is scored comfortably in the bass clef staff; the extensive and active tuba part descends to FF several times.

Arranger Ross Holcombe is currently Assistant Principal Trombone with The Florida Orchestra in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Holcombe studied at the New England Conservatory and went on to perform with the Vermont Symphony and Spokane Symphony for many seasons before joining the TFO in 2018. The arrangement was commissioned by William Drury for the NEC Symphonic Winds and is dedicated to the memory of James E. Pritchett, Sr. (1924-2020).