This arrangement for English horn with piano accompaniment uses the first theme from the third movement of Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D commonly referred to as “Notturno” meaning night piece. It is a very melodic movement and like much of Borodin’s music is very adaptable to being played by a number of different instrument combinations. Some octave transpositions have been applied to the parts, in fact the solo player may want to adjust the position of the octave transposition in bar 72. A tempo of 70 quarter note beats to the minute is used in the realisation. There are 4 sections in the arrangement – theme, repeat of the theme repeated with a varied and fuller accompaniment, the theme played in canon and a closing section which can best be be described as a coda. Wherever possible material from the original work, which dates from 1881, has been incorporated into the arrangement although the appoggiaturas that appear in the original string quartet version have been omitted. A solo English horn part appropriately transposed is appended to a copy of the full score.
