Review

Various
Seven Famous Symphonic Themes:

Arranged by Ran Whitley

Brass quartet: 2 B-flat trumpets (sub horn for trumpet 2), 2 trombones (sub horn for trombone 3, sub tuba for trombone 4). Baritone treble clef parts also included.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2021
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 4 brass

Instrumentation of this arrangement is flexible, first part is for B-flat trumpet, second for B-flat trumpet or F horn, third for trombone, F horn, euphonium  or baritone T.C (sic) and fourth for trombone, baritone T.C (sic), euphonium or tuba. Overall ranges for parts III and IV, which are given in bass clef throughout, are c-g¹ and F-c¹ respectively. First part tops out at a². The baritone parts are in bass clef and in C in both score and parts, and should be identified as Baritone BC. Baritone TC would indicate that they are in treble clef and in B-flat transposition.

The Themes:
I. from Brahms’ Symphony No.1. This is in its original keys of F and G.
II. Theme from Brahms’ Symphony No.3. This is in its original key of C minor.
III. Theme from St Anthony’s Chorale by Joseph Haydn in F and G.
IV. Theme from The New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák. This is the familiar melody played by the Cor Anglais in the Largo movement. It’s first played by first and second parts and then by third. Its original key is D-flat; here it is in E-flat.
V. Theme from Finlandia by Jean Sibelius. Its original key is A-flat; here it is in E-flat.
VI. Theme from Beethoven’s Symphony No.3. This is from the second movement, Marcia Funebrae, and is given in G minor, originally in C minor.
VII. Theme from Carmen by Georges Bizet. The outer sections in B-flat enclose the Toreador Song which is in D-flat. The final chord is an enigmatic open fifth, ff and staccato/marcato.

This is an imaginative compilation of stylistically diverse excerpts from pieces composed between 1804 and 1900 and will call on some agile shape-shifting by the players. The authorship of the St Anthony Chorale is disputed by some scholars, and it should perhaps be attributed to Anon.

Ran Whitley is Professor of Music at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC where he also holds the Alma Dark Howard Endowed Chair. He has over 35 years of experience in music including public school teaching, theory instruction, teacher education, church music ministry and professional jazz performance. A note on the publisher’s website indicates that this arrangement is ‘suitable for Intermediate performers.’