The sound of a brass instrument in an outside environment is a special one, particularly if that outside setting enhances the quality by the character of the landscape. I remember hearing that in a Welsh valley many years ago, and I was always aware of it in the countryside in Italy where I often visited and wrote. Here, the clearest example was the sound of the bells, sometimes threatening when standing very close, calming and peaceful from distance (Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli).

 

A fine example of landscape on sound is in Barga in Italy which is set in the mountains of the Garfagnana region. Here there is a magnificent view from the duomo where the effect  can be clearly heard, distant sounds become gentle, have different timbres and emotions, even the obsessive strimming becomes bearable! Interestingly, the weather and the time of day also play a role, and so this gentle fanfare is envisaged as played from the duomo early in the morning or at the time of the setting sun.