I participated in the intensive rehearsals for the Tokyo College of Music Trumpet Ensemble concert

The Tokyo College of Music Trumpet Ensemble concert will be held on Friday, August 2nd.
It is organized independently by students majoring in instrumental music and the Wind Orchestra Academy who are specializing in trumpet.

This performance has been going on since before I enrolled, so it has a history of over 30 years. I am grateful that even after graduating, I have been involved several times as an arranger for large ensemble pieces, and this time I arranged the final movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2.

My previous arrangements, such as Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, were works with many impressive brass sections, so it was easy to visualize them even before arranging. However, this time I wrote it without having any idea how it would turn out, so when I heard it for the first time while participating in the ensemble on the first day of the intensive rehearsals, I had a fresh impression, as if it were someone else's work, thinking, 'So this is what it sounds like!'

I don't know what Rachmaninoff lovers will think, but my honest impression is,

'When you play Rachmaninoff with only brass, it becomes Tchaikovsky.'

I had a new discovery, similar to how putting soy sauce on melon makes it taste like sea urchin. To Rachmaninoff fans and Tchaikovsky fans, I mean no harm, I apologize.

Even so, under the guidance of Mr. Masaki Sugimoto, an associate professor in the instrumental department and a trumpet player, my messy arrangement was already becoming more balanced and three-dimensional on the first day. I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out at the actual performance after several more days of rehearsals.

This concert features small ensemble works in the first half, and a powerful large ensemble performance in the second half with all the trumpets and help from mid-to-low brass and percussion.
Please come and listen to this concert, which the students of Tokyo College of Music have spent time practicing and preparing for!

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Akira Ogiwara