Finale from Serenade for Strings
This transcription of the masterful Tchaikovsky work was written for Distinctly Bronze and will thus prove to be a challenge for even the most daring advanced choir. The slow and subdued opening, based on a Russian folk song, gives way to a fast and frolicking main theme. This theme, based on a Russian dance tune, features sixteenth-note runs in the treble and malleted bells in the bass that mimic the strings of the original work and dominates much of the work. Just as the piece seems to end, however, a much slower passage takes over before the piece returns to its hurried pace and rushes to its true end, with ringers triumphant and the audience on its feet!