After all, simply transferring the final chord, seven notes, most of them below middle C, from the piano to the low instruments of the orchestra just seems kind of lazy. But the precipitato passage quoted above, very shortly before the final chord, also presented problems.
I decided I had to keep it in the orchestration. My first instinct, rather than just assign it all to the harp, was to have several instruments sustain notes of the passage after staggered entries. Instead, I just split it up between the flutes, clarinets and bassoons.
It sounded good in the computer playback, except it seemed way too fast. I've never been one to put too much stock in computer playback when it comes to orchestral balance (it is a very poor indication of how actual instruments will actually balance).
Tempo is a different matter. If it sounds too rushed in the computer playback, it will either sound rushed in actual performance or the musicians might play it in an uncomfortable manner. So that's something an arranger needs to do something about.
Maybe it needs more notes at the beginning of the passage, to ease into it. I tried a few variations of that idea. They all sounded even worse. It wasn't until yesterday that I hit upon the solution: it needs more notes at the end.
Specifically, one long note at the end. Bassoons and cellos hold on to that low D for the rest of the measure and a little bit into the next measure. That way the listener can perceive that a fall has occurred before moving on to the next musical event.
I might still tweak that, but that's the basic idea I'm going with for that passage.
