The arrangement is scored for two trumpets, horn in F (French Horn), trombone and bass trombone and uses the first theme from the third movement of Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D. Dating from 1881 the movement is commonly referred to as “Notturno” meaning night piece and 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. There are 4 sections in the arrangement – theme, repeat of the theme with a varied and fuller accompaniment, the theme played in canon and a closing section which can best be be described as a coda. A tempo of 70 quarter note beats to the minute is used in the realisation and there are some octave transposition in the parts whilst the appoggiaturas that appear in the string quartet score have been omitted. Wherever possible the material from the original work has been incorporated into the arrangement. The realisation at times is rather ambient. Individual parts are appended to a copy of the full score. Accompaniments are in place in which one of the brass instruments omitted in what can be described as a minus one approach.
