Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony contains a theme called LARGO that is familiar and unmistakable, though possibly most people couldn't name it if they had to.

This piece seems at first glance to be too simple. Each part is only a page, there are only 26 measures in the piece, it seems to be in a simple key.... Ah, but this is precisely the sort of piece that is only simple if you don't mind doing it badly.

Doing it well will require excellent breath support from all players, agreement as to expression (since there are so many long notes that shouldn't be played same volume throughout), and every player will use the full dynamic range of his/her horn. As a romantic piece, there is also ample opportunity for ebb and flow of tempo.

It will also provide a watering hole of smooth sound in a concert program, and should be useful to ensembles of all skill levels.

MP3 sound sample: entire piece (synthesizer/midi).



THEME FROM THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY, by Antonin Dvorak, arranged by Tom Kirkland for brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, F horn, trombone, and tuba, comes in a pdf file of 445K, with a three-page score, five one-page parts, and a license page, nine pages in all. Performance time should be just over two minutes, to maybe as long as three minutes depending on interpretation.