ADAM GORB

Born Cardiff 1958Adam Gorb was born in Cardiff and started composing at the age of ten. His first work broadcast on national radio was written when he was fifteen. He studied at Cambridge University (1977-1980) and the Royal Academy of Music (1991-1993) where he graduated with the highest honours including the Principal's Prize. He has been on the staff at the London College of Music and Media, the junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music and, since 2000 he has been the Head of School of Composition and Contemporary Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester .

International recognition came in 1994 with the US Walter Beeler Prize for his work Metropolis. With it began what has developed into probably the most important wind ensemble catalogue by a contemporary composer, ranging from extremely challenging to the most accessible, at all technical levels, seized on by players internationally, widely recorded and now absolutely central to the world's wind repertoire. Equally important though are his works for dance, and concert pieces like the chamber orchestral Weimar , the Violin Sonata , a Clarinet Concerto for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Diaspora for strings (for the Goldberg Ensemble). Deceptively mainstream at first glance, they display the same inventive brilliance, pulsating sound world, striking use of rhythm and an undogmatic absence of stylistic hang-ups to embrace jazz and serialism in works where power, poetry, irony and pathos, often underlaid by a theatrical and deeply subversive element, coalesce in an integrated, highly individual musical voice. Gorb is also not afraid to draw on the vivid musical heritage of his Jewish roots, sometimes directly, often in a more subsumed or radically creative way. The crucial and consistent feature of Gorb's work though is that it communicates strongly without patronising players or audiences. He firmly believes that if contemporary music - any music - does not impact on listeners then its message is irrelevant; it is lost.

Giles Easterbrook 2004

Adam Gorb’s steady stream of works for wind ensemble and wind band run the gamut from the sheer virtuoso high spirits of  his brilliant “post-Bernstein” Overture, Awayday, (1996, Maecenas), to the cool restrained colours and the gentler sound-world of Ascent, commissioned by Felix Hauswirth for the lamented Uster Festival, and Towards Nirvana, which begins as a hedonistic whirl, reminiscent of the language of Metropolis, but ends in a Buddhist trance of chanting, recorders, repetitive motifs, dying away to nothing. “Too long and too quiet” was the criticism leveled by one eminent wind orchestra aficionado! Despite that, it won the award from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for the best wind work of 2004.

His Yiddish Dances (1998 Maecenas) is a contemporary classic, with hundreds of performances world-wide, a marvelous five-movement work based on the Klezmer tradition. His most substantial work for wind orchestra to date is a concerto for percussion, written for Evelyn Glennie, Elements (1998, Maecenas), premiered at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester.

Gorb has often nailed his colours to the mast over “light” music, and in a WASBE lecture he stated  I am of the belief that I cannot ignore over the last hundred years what has happened in popular music, and I think for the wind band or ensemble, there are obvious elements in some pieces that I write of the big band, the jazz ensemble, even to a slight extent the rock band. I like to have piano, bass and drumkit and have used this in three or four of my pieces. Popular music elements are sometimes there, sometimes they are not there, but again they offer an opportunity for contrast

The hilarious trombone concerto, Downtown Diversions (2001, Maecenas) demonstrates the ease with which he skates near the thin edge of popular cliché without ever falling into that easiest of ruts. In his most recent work he returns to the populist mode of Yiddish Dances; Dances from Crete, (2003, Maecenas) is a four movement rumbustious suite of dances in which the spirit of Cretan dance is captured with effortless ease despite the pervading presence of the ghost of the Minotaur.

He is now Head of Composition and Contemporary Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music , but wears his learning lightly as demonstrated by a number of charming pieces at Grade 2/3 level. Candlelight Procession (G&M Brand) is a moving introduction to 5/4 metre, Eine kleine Yiddische Ragmusik is another hilarious essay in Klezmer, while he explores teasing aleatoric textures in his most recent school wind band work, Sunrise and Safari, written for the 2007 Singapore Festival Contest. Also commissioned for school bands but more taxing are Bermuda Triangle (1995, Maecenas), and a Euphonium Concerto (1997, Maecenas).

He is an essentially practical composer, and his works for school band have a spontaneity and  sensitivity rare at this level. I especially enjoy Bridgewater Breeze (Maecenas), five good tunes with teasing turns of phrasing, orchestration and metre, and again the witty melodic quirks of  Parade of the Wooden Warriors (G&M Brand), both at about Grade 3 level.

He is serious about writing for less experienced students, passionate even.

The final work I want to talk about is a recent five minute piece called Candlelight Procession which this is a work which has been actually aimed for schools and junior wind ensembles; I am very very passionate about writing music for people who are starting out or who have reached a certain level. Of course some of my music, Metropolis, Ascent, would normally only be played by college bands and professional ensembles, but I  think one of the greatest thrills is when people I don't know say "Oh yes, we played your piece in a summer course last year", and I think it's a great challenge to try and write pieces that while in no way are sort of writing down, being patronising toward children, younger players, and indeed older amateur players as well. I like to think that even  a piece like this could be played by a professional ensemble.

This is a passacaglia with a little motif that runs through the whole piece. I had a vision of the whole band playing that together, each group of instruments trying it out, I thought of the sense of perspective, the bassoons are very much closer to you than, say, the trumpet, the muted horn is even further away so there a sense of it being passed around. This is quite a simple piece but I'd like to think it is as much of a personal statement as Metropolis.

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In 2006 he was commissioned by a consortium of American military bands to write a short virtuoso work. Adrenaline City is a six-and-a-half-minute concert overture, inspired by both the stress and vibrancy of twenty-first century city life.   In the coming year he will write a further work for this consortium, and a work to be conducted in April 2007 in the town of his birth, Cardiff, by Tim Reynish with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales.

PROGRAMME NOTES

By Adam Gorb

All works are for Wind Orchestra or Ensemble except where specified

   Metropolis (1992)

First Performance:
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music Wind Ensemble conductor Edward Gregson
8th March 1993

I have long wanted to write a work reflecting the hectic pace of modern-day living. The invitation to compose a piece for the very urban combination of woodwind, saxophones, brass, piano and extensive percussion gave me this opportunity. The initial idea for Metropolis came from a radio play which was set in the near future and where the entire population of the country lived in their vehicles, driving forever round a circular motorway day and night, stopping only for food and petrol. In this piece I have tried to capture a mood of extreme tension together with the desperate exhilaration that the play conveyed to me.

The work is in one movement falling into four sections and lasting about fourteen minutes. The first section is by far the longest and is fast and agitated with much of the material deriving from the nervous opening figure on low clarinets. After a cacophonous climax the 'human' voice of the solo alto saxophone tries to introduce a mood of greater tranquility before music from the opening section returns, this time in a brash and vulgar style. The final section follows a doom-laden climax and features a soft chorale for all the winds over percussion playing in cross-rhythms. The work ends starkly and simply.

Metropolis is dedicated to Paul Patterson and was first performed by the Royal Academy of Music Wind Ensemble, conducted by Edward Gregson in 1993. It subsequently won the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize in the USA .

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Scenes from Bruegel (1994)

Commissioned by the National Youth Wind Orchestra.
1(picc),1,E flat Cl, 2 (Bcl.) 2, 2 tpt, 3 tbn, 2 perc.
16 mins. (pub. Maecenas)

First Performance:
Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
National Youth Wind Orchestra conductor David Campbell
5th April 1994

Children's Games - Vivace Leggiero
Two Monkeys - Lento
The Peasant Dance - Presto con Fuoco
The Wedding Banquet - Moderato Pesante - Allegro Molto

In this suite of four short movements, I have been drawn to the wonderfully detailed and multi-layered depictions of village life by the sixteenth century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel. There is a strong element of satire in his paintings; what comes across most strongly is Bruegel's pinpointing of human folly and hypocrisy. Man's lust, cruelty and greed is repeatedly shown, sometimes in a wild, garish light, at other times beneath the surface.

His painting Children's Games at a cursory glance may seem full of life and gaiety, on closer inspection the hundreds of children depicted seem to be manipulated by an invisible hand, there are no expressions of joy here, and the games being acted out have very little of the spontaneous. In this first piece I have tried to capture the mood of the painting in three and a half minutes of robotic six/eight time from a deceptively innocent beginning to a brutal conclusion. At one point in the movement a very well known medieval song is quoted.

The painting Two Monkeys is in marked contrast to the other three. Here the crowd is not crowded with frenetic activity. Two gloomy-looking monkeys, portrayed in the movement by two bassoons playing in their highest registers are chained to a windowsill under a deep dungeon-like arch. They have been chained down for their greed for a hazelnut. Behind them is Antwerp covered in a thick mist.

The third movement The Peasant Dance is wild, uncouth and very brief - and includes another quotation, this time from a bi-tonal sixteenth century dance by the German composer Hans Neusidler.

In The Wedding Banquet Bruegel's characters are completely ruled by their lust for instant gratification - something that hasn't changed very much in the last five hundred years. Any sense of the spirituality of the occasion is swept aside by the constant demand for food and drink. The music is intentionally two dimensional, never leaving the tonal area of B flat.

Scenes From Bruegel was commissioned by the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain with financial assistance from the John Lewis Partnership.

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Bermuda Triangle (1994)

Commissioned by the Northampton Schools Wind Ensemble.
 6 mins. (pub. Maecenas)

First Performance:
Northampton Schools Wind Ensemble conductor Martin Sutton
28th October 1995

The Bermuda Triangle is a legendary area of ocean celebrated for mysterious happenings, nautical disappearances and other baffling phenomena. It is also the name of an equally legendary Caribbean waterside bar - a meeting place for sporting characters of many races, renowned for the warmth of its welcome, the potency of its beverages and the high-spirits of some of the goings-on there. Taken seperately, the words conjure up pictures of their own which the composer reflects in his work - a piece of serious confectionary not without its sinister side: the Bermudans with their informal, fun-loving approach to life, and Triangles, darkly suggestive of mathematics, percussion instruments, compound time and marital infidelity. If you can imagine the great Pythagoras on a holiday cruise (aboard the SS Hypotenuse ) stopping off to let his hair down with a highly mixed bunch of sporting locals at an impromptu musical barbecue, and never being seen again, then you will bet the picture.

Giles Easterbrook

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Ascent (1996)

First Performance:
Uster Festival , Switzerland
28th September 1996

Commissioned by Liche Musik Tage Uster and first performed by the Uster Festival Wind Orchestra, conducted by Franz Schaffer, Staathofsaal Uster , Switzerland in 1996.

For a Briton responding to a Swiss commission to draw on images of mountains for inspiration may seem a little obvious, but it was in my mind for a long time to make a musical response to Cezanne's series of paintings of Mont St. Victoire in southern France near Aix-En-Provence . I feel that the cool detachment of Cezanne's vision, the quiet grandeur, could be expressed well through the sounds of a wind ensemble.

Ascent is mainly calm and impersonal. It begins with off-stage trumpets, and gradually various groups of instruments enter with their own musical ideas. Melodies repeat and overlap in layers without development. After a desolate middle section, with passages for solo instruments, a soft brass chorale marks the final part, where the whole ensemble is heard together for the first time. The ending attempts a musical impression of reaching out, from a great height, towards order, clarity, tonality.

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Awayday

Commissioned by the Royal Northern College of Music

First Performance:
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester conductor Timothy Reynish
17th November 1996

 In this six-minute curtain raiser my inspiration has come from the great days of the American Musical Comedy. I have tried to express in a brief sonata form movement the exhilaration of 'getting away from it all' for a few short hours on a festive Bank Holiday. Musically the piece is a homage to the great days of the Broadway musical with its irresistable brashness and irrepressible high spirits. If you can envisage George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky and James Bond travelling together at a hundred miles per hour in an open-top sports car, I think you'll get the idea.

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Euphonium Concerto (1996-7)

Commissioned by Richmond School

First Performance:
Richmond School Wind Ensemble conductor Richard Jones

Soloist Ian Whitwham
Richmond School , N. Yorkshire
10th May 1997

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Yiddish Dances (1997 rev. 2003-4)

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish

First Performance:
Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble conductor Timothy Reynish
Royal Northern College of Music, 9th March 1998

Yiddish Dances, written for Timothy Reynish's 60th birthday in 1998, is very much a party piece. It brings together two of my abiding passions: the Symphonic Wind Orchestra and Klezmer - the folk music of the Yiddish-speaking people.

The five movements are all based on set Klezmer dances:

Khosidl - a medium tempo 2/4 in which the music moves between satire, sentimentality and pathos.

Terkishe - an up-tempo Jewish tango.

Doina - a free recitative in which various instruments in the band get a chance to show off.

Hora - slow 3/8 time with a characteristic rocking rhythm.

Freylachs - very fast 2/4 time in which themes from the previous movements are recalled, ending in a riotous 'booze-up' for all concerned.

Le Chaim! (To Life!)

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Elements (1997-1998)

Suite for Percussion and Wind Ensemble

For percussion solo and Wind Ensemble
Commissioned by the Royal Northern College of Music

First Performance:
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Soloist Evelyn Glennie
RNCM Wind Ensemble conductor Clark Rundell
6th April 1998

EARTH - Allegro Moderato
WATER - Andante
FIRE - Prestissimo
AIR - Largo - Presto

The origins of the four elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air ate back to the Greek philosopher, physician, poet and high priest Empedocles (c. 490 - 430 BC) who allegedly committed suicide by throwing himself into the crater of Mount Etna . Empedocles analysed the universe into the four elements, fire being the essence of life, the other elements forming the basis of matter. His system is founded on the theory together with another, which supposes two opposing forces, Love and Strife. The world began when the elements, which had been torn asunder by the forces of Strife, tended to come together again under the influence of Love. The different species arose out of the different mingling of the elements.

In this work I have drawn upon motifs from that great elemental epic: Wagner's 'Der Ring Des Nibelungen.' While there is little direct quotation I have been inspired by the extraordinarily forward-looking harmony and the magical sense of atmosphere found in Wagner's great masterpiece. The first movement: Earth begins with ominous rumblings for the soloist, which soon erupt into a mood of intense fury. The harmonic language is harsh in the extreme, the rhythms are angular, and the texture is dominated by drums of various timbres, with an occasional grotesque interjection from the xylophone. At the climax of the movement any sense of order is lost and the players in the band play independently of the conductor, over whom the soloist improvises on octobans, (a particularly cruel and piercing-sounding set of drums.) Things eventually calm down, and the second movement: Water begins with an extended saxophone duet over murky chromatic semiquavers for wind and brass. Through this movement I have attempted to guide the emotional direction from Strife towards Love. The dominant instrument here is the marimba, which plays rhapsodically around fluid woodwind solos, like a deep-sea diver travelling amongst various strange tropical fish. Twice in the course of the movement a brass chorale (with melodic contours from Wagner's Rhine maidens) cuts through the texture, leading in its second appearance to the tonal centre of A major before the saxophones are heard once again.

With the sound of a match being struck Fire steals in, at first with a flicker, but soon gathering momentum and becoming wild and uncontrolled. The soloist switches from marimba to various metal percussion instruments, including thunder sheet and junk metal. At the climax of the movement a joyful bell-like theme is heard in the horns before the fire quickly burns itself out. The final movement Air expands this bell-like melody in music that is very slow, very quiet and very simple with silence an important factor. The dominant sound now is the cool, calm timbre of the vibraphone, and a great peace descends upon the scene. There is a final statement of the bell-like theme in the full band before the piece evaporates in a quicksilver A major codetta.

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Symphony No. 1 in C (2000)

Commissioned by Tom Hill for a private party
2,(picc 2) 2, 2, 2, 4, DB

First Performance:
First public performance Royal Northern College of Music
RNCM Wind Ensemble conductor Clark Rundell~
28th June 2000

Allegro molto
Andante cantabile (con moto)
Allegro molto e vivace
Allegro molto e vivace

For most composers the prospect of writing their first symphony is a daunting one. The thought of conceiving a large-scale work following the example of one of the great traditions in western music offers a challenge that many put off indefinitely, and others never attempt. I have ignored this colossal weight of expectancy and written a party piece, which, I think is appropriate as it was written for a fortieth birthday party. The mood is light and effervescent, appropriate for an accompaniment to champagne and strawberries on a summer evening. The structural and thematic model of the piece is that of a very famous Symphony no. 1 in C by a certain L. Van Beethoven. Towards the end of the fourth and final movement of this fifteen-minute work there are quotations from other famous symphonies in C. Your answers, on a postcard please, to….

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Downtown Diversions (2000-2001)

A trombone concerto

Commissioned by a Consortium of university bands in the USA
 First Performance:
CBDNA Conference, University of North Texas , USA , 24th February 2001
Soloist Don Lucas
Texas Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble conductor John Cody Birdwell

The character of this work is that of a serenade or divertimento but with Jazz and Latin influences. I have attempted to explore the mercurial aspects of the solo trombone, avoiding more commonplace characteristics of the instrument (there is not a single glissando for the soloist.) The piece is in three movements: fast - slow - fast that alternate dance-like and more lyrical passages. The first movement is swift and light footed and contains the two main themes that form the basis for the whole work, the first at the start by the lone soloist, and a more singing second subject that becomes the main theme for the laid-back second movement. Here the band consists of saxophones, brass and rhythm section only. The woodwind and horns return for the finale, which is a variation of the first movement in 10/8 time. The writing for the soloist becomes more virtuosic as the movement progresses and leads to an abrupt conclusion.

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Towards Nirvana (2002)

Commissioned by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra

First Performance:
Tokyo Metropolitan Arts Space, Tokyo , Japan
Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra conductor Douglas Bostock
18th October 2002

Winner of British Composer Award, Wind and Brass Category, 2004

I am constantly drawn towards the idea of conflict in my works. The invitation to write a substantial piece for the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra gave me the opportunity to explore the conflict between the stress of living in today's frenetic world and the search for something far more transcendental. During the writing of this work I became drawn to the story of the Buddha: Siddhartha Gautama whose life and teachings over two thousand years ago paved the way to one of the world's great religions.

The Buddha's early life was spent in comfort and naive self-indulgence and his father made sure that he would not experience any of the harsh realities of the world at first hand. After a while the Buddha did encounter old age, sickness and death on three forbidden visits from his father's palace. On his fourth visit he came across a religious ascetic dressed in rags who seemed content despite his suffering; from this moment on Siddartha decided to devote the rest of his life to seeking the truth of human existence.

At the age of twenty-nine the Buddha left his life of luxury to become a wanderer himself. He spent six years in complete self-denial fasting and meditating, before, emaciated and starving, he realised that he was no closer to finding the answers he sought. After several days of prolonged meditation he opted to try a moderate, middle way which would bring an end to suffering. He spent the remaining forty-five years of his life travelling the North East of India teaching, answering questions and engaging in debates with audiences in the towns and villages. He died from natural causes aged about eighty.

Nirvana is the highest possible state of tranquillity and the realisation of no-self and freedom from cravings and attachment. The experience of nirvana gives release from suffering and rebirth. The thirty-one levels of the Buddhist universe ascend from Hell to 'Neither perception nor non-perception.' In this twenty-minute work I have attempted to follow a musical route from depicting base self-seeking human existence through harsh austerity leading eventually to the promise of complete detachment and calm. In the first part of this work, man's striving for pleasure and self-gratification is expressed in harsh, dissonant music that veers between the expression of hollow triumph and despair. The sleazy worlds of jazz and music hall make their appearances before a complex and desperate climax is reached and then cut off by cataclysmic drum rolls.

The second section of the piece is a long extended diminuendo over thirty-one strokes of the tam tam. A sombre brass chorale offset against the piercing sound of unison woodwinds in their highest registers gradually descends into the murky depths of the band. There is a brief restatement of the stabbing chords of the start of the piece before a tense calm is broken by the sound of offstage saxophones impersonating Tibetan horns. Now the colours become more transparent and the harmonic language softens, and the third section introduces a vaguely pentatonic theme that is also derived from the opening. The saxophones are heard again, as well as new, more exotic sounds. In the final moments of the work I was drawn to the Buddha's own description of the end of a person's life likening it to 'A flame that has been blown out. The flame does not go anywhere. Where would it have been before it was here and where would it go to next?'

'Towards Nirvana' is dedicated to the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and their principal conductor Douglas Bostock who gave the first performance in Tokyo in October 2002.

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Dances From Crete (2003)

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish

First Performance:
Royal College of Music, London
Royal College of Music Wind Orchestra conductor Timothy Reynish
14th November 2003

This work was commissioned by Timothy Reynish as part of a series of commissions to commemorate his son William Reynish who tragically died in a mountaineering accident in 2001. The world premiere took place at the Royal College of Music in London in November 2003.

Dances From Crete is in four movements and is intended to celebrate the good things in life, drawing much of its material from the dance music from the Greek island of Crete , where many of the ancient Greek myths took place. The first movement, Syrtos is intended to serve as a portrait of the Minotaur, the famous creature that was half bull, half man, and fed upon young men and women that were sacrificed to him every year before being killed by the hero Theseus. The character of this movement is harsh and ruthless.

The second movement, Tik is a more graceful dance based on the sinuous movements of young women, but it is also characterised by a certain roughness; and is in 5/8 time. Tim Reynish writes that 'in this movement the whole orchestra should feel the pulse like a Cretan Peasant on the threshing floor.' Following on from this the third movement in a slow 7/4 time is darker in mood and inspired by a steep and perilous walk down the Samaria Gorge; one of the most spectacular of all walks. The movement eventually rises to a triumphant peroration, depicting a welcome plunge into the Libyan Sea . Following distant offstage fanfares the finale, a modern Greek dance, Syrtaki, which bursts in with the offstage trumpeters swaggering back on stage playing a deliberately vulgar theme. The music soon becomes very fast and eventually ends in total festive anarchy, although before the final apotheosis the ghost of the Minotaur can briefly be heard joining the party.

Dances From Crete lasts about eighteen minutes.

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French Dances Revisited (2003-2004)

Commissioned by a Consortium of USA High Schools
2, (2 Picc.) 2, 2, 2, 2

Premiered in Minneapolis USA in November 2004

French Dances Revisited was conceived during an exercise I set some of my students, which was to write a variation on the Bach keyboard prelude in C BVW 939 for double wind quintet. Subsequently I thought it a good idea to take this same prelude and use it as a basis for a kind of Baroque suite for the same combination. I hope that what I've written doesn't sound too much like a pastiche, but more as an act of reverence for the music of Bach which I have always found so life enhancing.

The six movements of the work follow the model of the Baroque French suite. The first movement is an Overture featuring an angular introduction followed by a fugato in 5/4 time. There follows a stately Allemande led by flute and bassoon, a lively Courante in fast triple time, a mournful Sarabande featuring solo oboe and horn and a Gavotte that also pays homage to Neo-classicism. The piece ends with a Gigue, which makes much use of canonic writing. Towards the end the stern dotted rhythms of the opening of the work reappear before the mood lightens for an exuberant ending.

In this piece I've also tried to follow a procedure of a certain flexibility of instrumentation which has been perhaps the hardest challenge. The two horn parts can be played on saxophones, the music of the second bassoon can be played on a bass clarinet and the oboe 2 part should also work on a clarinet.

French Dances Revisited lasts about fifteen minutes.

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Adrenaline City (2006)

First Performance:
Clarinet Summit , New York , USA
US Military Academy Band conductor Tim Holtan
3rd  March 2006

Adrenaline City is a six-and-a-half-minute concert overture, inspired by both the stress and vibrancy of twenty-first century city life. It is in sonata form and is notable for a time signature in 10/8. The harsh and dissonant opening passage is contrasted by a mellow second subject theme in the saxophones. The percussion comes to the fore in the middle section, and at the close of the work the harmonic tension reaches an exhilarating breaking point before resolving on the tonal centre of A.

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Suite For Winds (1993)

Commissioned by Berkshire Young Musicians Trust
2, (2 Picc.) 2, 3, Bcl. 2, 4 sax.
10 mins. (pub. Maecenas)

First Performance:
Royal Albert Hall
Berkshire Music Wind Ensemble conductor Charles Henwood
31 st March 1994

Bridgewater Breeze (1996)

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish
(Version of Suite for Winds for full Band)

First Performance:
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra
27th November 1996

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Over Hill, Over Dale (1994)

Commissioned by Berkshire Young Musicians Trust
2, (2 Picc.) 2, 3, Bcl. 2, 4 sax.

First Performance:
Leighton Park School , Reading
Berkshire Music Wind Ensemble conductor Charles Henwood
15th July 1994
Version for Wind Band available.

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Battle Symphony (1997)

Commissioned by Berkshire Young Musicians Trust
Picc. 2, 2, 3, Bcl. 2, Cbsn, 4 Sax.

First Performance:
Leighton Park School , Reading
Berkshire Music Wind Ensemble conductor Robert Roscoe