Trudging Grimly through the Snow
Instrumentation
Duration
Performance Information
Score
Program Notes
What if Shostakovich had written Jingle Bells? Apart from being half an hour long, we certainly wouldn’t be “dashing through the snow…laughing all the way,” we’d be trudging grimly through the snow, lamenting the frailty of the human condition all the way – hence the title. This piece originated after representatives from three different orchestras asked me for a longer version of the Shostakovich Jingle Bells variation that I had written and published online in December 2024.
Happily, this piece doesn’t last for half an hour, but I did divide it into two sections showcasing different sides of Shostakovich’s style. The initial, slower section uses the “dashing through the snow” part of Jingle Bells as its main motivic material, along with the famous DSCH (D E♭ C B♮) motive that Shostakovich so loved. I attempted to treat the motives as he would have, with inversion and occasional augmentation in the accompaniment. And I did try quite hard to capture his unique styles of harmony, counterpoint and orchestration. The latter, faster section uses the famous “Jingle Bells” refrain in an expanded version of the original variation I wrote. It prominently uses the eighth note followed by two sixteenths rhythm that Shostakovich employed in so many works, and there is a fugal section similar to those that Shostakovich included in several of his symphonies. There’s even a fun little section with sleigh bells, xylophone and pizzicato violins, a nod to Shostakovich’s light-hearted works like the Jazz Suites. And finally, the piece ends with a nice satisfying coda in D Major.