PROGRAMME NOTES 1981-2006
25 years of Programmes, volume 1
ALWYN - HARPER: Part 1
HEALEY - WOOLFENDEN: Part 2

Below I list works which I have programmed or conducted, with references to Program Notes for Band by Norman Smith for biography and programme notes where available, and a link to programme notes, often by the composer. Apologies to anyone whose copyrights I have unwittingly infringed.

INDEX: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

INDEX

Concerto for Flute and Nine Instruments                                    -William Alwyn

It is all too easy to dismiss this small-scale work as a miniature - by the standards of other works written  in the late 20^th century, it is conventional and does not strive for great originality. But to dismiss it is to ignore its craftsmanship, the subtlety of the harmonic language and the very effective virtuoso solo writing.  As a flautist himself, Alwyn is able to produce a dazzling display without resorting to tricks and special effects.  There are passages of great lyrical beauty, especially in the third movement, while the other faster movements all contain cadenza sections which make daunting demands on the soloist.

Water Music (1964)            -Malcolm Arnold

Water Music Op.82 was commissioned by the National Trust for the opening of the Stratford Canal on ll June l964.  The music disappeared after the first performance and remained unplayed until it was rediscovered twenty years later and performed by the RNCM Wind Orchestra at the Third Conference of the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles.  The Allegro maestoso opens with a brass fanfare which introduces the interval of a minor seventh from which much of the melodic material springs; the movement has a lyrical middle section featuring pairs of oboes and bassoons.  The second movement, Andantino, has a tune played five times, each a minor third higher so that the final statement is in the key of the beginning.  The Vivace finale has exciting brass tunes and virtuoso woodwind writing to bring the piece to a rousing conclusion.

INDEX

Concerto for Alto Saxophone (1994)      -Michael Ball

Allegro con brio – Moderato sostenuto – Cadenza Vivace

Commissioned by BASBWE and Timothy Reynish, premiered at BASBWE Conference on 17^th September 1994, Huddersfield University, by Robert Buckland and the Northampton County Youth Concert Band, conducted by Alan Suttie.

Four bars of thrusting whole-tone scales usher in a restless triple time allegro, the saxophone alternating between brilliant leaping figures and occasional lyricism, the orchestral writing equally brilliant with flashes of jazz perhaps reminiscent of William Walton. A poco meno mosso leads to the moderato sostenuto, a fully fledged albeit brief ballad for the soloist over gently moving ostinati.

The mood changes into a spritely 4/4 almost alla Marcia, but this serves merely as another bridge, this time to the cadenza, beginning reflectively, becoming more intense and linking directly to the final section.  This begins with a simple eight bar theme which refers to Michael Ball’s “pastiche medieval music”, the incidental music for a radio version of Canterbury Tales and the school wind orchestra piece Chaucer’s Tales. A contrasting episode characterised by rhythms and scalic passages acts as a contrast before a return to the Chaucerian element which builds into a larges cale peroration and a further nod at the Waltonesque with successive 5/8 and 7/8 bars before an exciting coda section based on the opening wholetone scales.

INDEX

Midnight Music -                                                                                  Irwin Bazelon

Midnight Music was commissioned by the RNCM School of Wind and Percussion and was conceived as a tribute to the composer's New York colleague Richard Rodney Bennett and as a companion piece or a foil for Bennett's Morning Music.

The composer writes:

It was my attempt to conjure up all the possibilities implicit in the title Midnight Music.  Part I evokes a wild dream sequence, Part II explores the mysterious element and Part III is an all out dance of ghosts.  Jazz elements are contained in my work not formally but rather in the spirit of the phrasing and dynamics.  My music is not descriptive but evocative.  I tried to use the different choirs of instruments in the symphonic wind band (brass, winds, saxophones and percussion) both as protagonists and antagonists, sometimes playing with the orchestra and sometimes against it.  Prominence of musical line is determined by dynamics, impact accents, phrasing, rhythmic propulsion, colour and contrast.

Chamber Concerto: Churchill Downs (1970)     -           Irwin Bazelon

The composer writes:

I have called my Chamber Concerto Churchill Downs not because I have consciously attempted in any way to describe the sights and sounds of the race track, (although I hoped to catch in my music the pulse and the rhythmic beat of this mass spectator sport) but rather to accent the fact that it is a “fun” piece, and contains something to be enjoyed aside from whatever other aesthetic values it may contain.  The piece contains jazz elements and certain serial techniques, without strict serial interpretations. The jazz spirit inherent in the score is mostly characterised by rhythmic vitality rather than by formalised jazz inovations. Certain passages contain improvised material under, over and through written notation. I have attempted to combine the elements of the electronic group with the colours of the brass and percussion, and at the same time to use these rock-jazz instruments to express my own musical thoughts.

The concerto can be divided into three sections; the opening bars, utilising both jazz and rock passages, leads into thematic material, ending with an elaborate percussion solo and followed by a development of the preceding musical statements. The middle section is lyrical, featuring the blending and mixing of phrases and ideas into a weaving flow of colours and textures…the final section is a fast-paced, driving piece interpolating brass, percussion and electronic groups into a constantly alternating rhythmic circle, finally crystallising into an expanded design, featuring an ad lib saxophone solo over a pounding rhythmic bass. How long this free section continues is up to the conductor; he calls a halt on the final chord sequence at his own discretion.

The work is scored for flute, clarinet doubling saxophone, horn, three trumpets, two trombones, three percussion string bass, and electric guitar, bass, piano and organ.

INDEX

Sea and Sky and Golden Hill (1985)        -David Bedford

Commissioned by Avon Schools Symphonic Wind Band, premiered at BASBWE Conference in Bristol 20 September 1985, conducted by the composer

The piece falls into sections as follows:

1. Slow introduction using fragments of themes to be developed later

2. A rhythmic chord progression which features alternating bars of 6 beats and 5 beats, which then become the accompaniment to the main melody of the piece

3. A chorale sequence of 6 chords

4. A second melody in triple time, unrelated to the melody of 2 except that the bass line is a variation of its second phrase.  Every so often the alternating 6 beat – 5 beat chord sequence is superimposed

5. The chorale from 3, brass only, leading to

6. shortened repeat of 2

7. The chorale from 3, woodwind only (with a brief appearance of the triple melody from 4)

8. Very quiet, very peaceful slow section with solo fragments of all the main themes sometimes played by instruments which would not normally expect to play a solo.

9. Finale, a massive “build up” using the chorale-like chord progression repeated over and over. Later the main melody of 2 is heard, followed by the 6 and 5 chords of 2, so that by the end, all the main material of the piece is being played together. After a huge climax, everything dies away and the piece ends softly with a shortened repetition of 8.

The title comes from a poem by Kenneth Patchen, the imagery of which seemed to fit the sound of the music very closely.

INDEX

Praeludium (1990)  -David Bedford

Although Manchester failed in its bid for the 1996 Olympics, the city used the event as an excuse for a superb Festival of the Arts. One of the RNCM events was a concert by the wind band with works representing the last 8 Olympic Cities, culminating in an especially commissioned Olympic Praeludium from David Bedford.  Scored for four antiphonal bands stationed around the auditorium, each group is small and is drawn from a normal sized concert band; the main body of players remains on stage. Bedford's experience in the popular field is excellently illustrated in this simple yet effective concert opener.

INDEX

The Four Seasons                                                           -Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett is one of the leading composers of his generation. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in Paris with Pierre Boulez and his output includes opera, orchestral, chamber and vocal music and four works for wind ensemble. The first Morning Music was commissioned by Timothy Reynish and premiered at the WASBE Conference in Boston in 1987; this was followed by The Four Seasons, (1991) and the Trumpet Concerto, (1993), in which he successfully melds jazz and post-Schoenberg compositional techniques. He is perhaps best known internationally for his film music, and his credits included Murder on the Orient Express, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and over forty other titles. He is also a renowned cabaret artist, working with a number of jazz singers and also accompanying himself in songs from the middle of the last century.

The pianist Susan Bradshaw writes:

No composer of his generation has done more to develop the stylistic middle ground of 20^th century music. Amiably persuasive rather than confrontational, his work attracts performers at every level – whether for his virtuoso concertos, his sensitive and eminently singable  vocal music, or his outstanding chamber music.

The Four Seasons is  dedicated to Stephen Day, world premiere at the Cheltenham Town Hall on 16^th July, 1991, by the RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell.

Commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the School of Wind and Percussion of the Royal Northern College of Music.

Bennett’s first work for wind ensemble, Morning Music, was commissioned by BASBWE, the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, for the third international conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands & Ensembles, and premiered in Boston in 1987. The scoring of The Four Seasons is similar, full orchestral wind, brass and percussion, with the addition of a quartet of saxophones, piano and harp, but omitting double bass and euphonium. It is cast in four movements

Spring                                                                                              -Vivo

An energetic syncopated motif provides the main material, alternating with and later accompanying a gentler chorale. A short link of fluttering single reeds ends in a rapid descending scale for bass clarinet and leads into

Summer                                                                                    -Allegretto

The colours here are more restrained, the energy of Spring is dissipated by the heat. Gently rocking thematic fragments become more extended, the pulse is increased, the brass begin to dominate until a unison link for the horns dies away into a reprise of the opening, differently scored and shortened.

Autumn                                                                                -Andante lento

A long lyrical solo for cor anglais, built mainly on shifting fourths, accompanied by clarinets and harp, gives a little space for reflection. On analysis (anathema to Bennett) the theme proves to be a tone row or note series, which has been present throughout the work, perhaps un-noticed

Bb C F D G E B C# F# A Ab Eb

Winter - Molto vivo

As with the other three movements, the feel is that of ternary form, a sparkling rising motif with brilliant trumpet double tonguing, a more serene central section and a triumphant return.

Such is Bennett’s sure handling of his materials and the idiom that we have no need to be aware other than sub-consciously that this crackling scherzando is derived from the same materials as is verdant Spring and golden Summer. The rising fourths and dropping thirds give the row, stated most clearly in Autumn, a strong tonal feel, and as with Morning Music, Bennett’s sure ear for sonorities, his sense of architecture and his passionate lyricism and energy make a clear statement that there is certainly a very vital life after the Second Viennese School.

INDEX

Trumpet Concerto (1993)                                             -Richard Rodney Bennett

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish for Martin Winter and the RNCM Wind Orchestra, world premiere at BASBWE  Conference 17^th September 1993

Declamato – Allegro – Presto

Elegy for Miles Davis – Lento - Vivo

Schoenberg was born two years after Vaughan Williams; while VW used folk-song as an antidote to 19^th century chromaticism, Schoenberg took the language of the romantics and refined it even further, developing his system of equality of the semitones, so-called "twelve-tone" or serial music. His Theme and Variations for Band of 1943 reverts to tonality, perhaps as a sop to band tradition. Half a century later, the three works of Richard Rodney Bennett written for the Royal Northern College of Music are serial, but in a way which combines post-Schoenberg technique with tonality, and in the Trumpet Concerto with jazz.

Bennett immediately states eleven of the twelve notes, but with a strong sense of key; A minor for the opening rising second and fifth, a triad of C minor, a G minor triad in first inversion and a Db triad in first inversion, descending to E, the dominant of A minor. The missing note, a Gb is introduced in the second phrase, an extension of the first. Happily, the inversion of this tone row turns out to be a version of "The Maid of Cadiz", and can develop into the moving Elegy for Miles Davis.

The initial noble cadenza leads directly to a brisk, spiky allegro at twice the speed and later to a faster 6/8.  The cadenza material reappears several times and even finishes the movement before linking it with the second.  Subtitled Elegy for Miles Davis, the movement takes the form of a jazz ballad and draws inspiration (and the occasional melody) from the luscious but gentle textures of the Davis/Gil Evans collaborations.  A bold trumpet statement starts the final vivo, with cross rhythms reminiscent of the first movement.  The development of this material is interrupted by a further appearance of the cadenza now supported by the orchestra and leads to an energetic vivo coda.  The scoring is for Wind Ensemble with piano, harp and amplified string bass.

The Wind Orchestra of the Royal Northern College of Music, directed by Timothy Reynish, has done much to create a living repertoire. Its commissions are legion…his (Richard Rodney Bennett's) Concerto for Trumpet and winds, written for the college in 1993, and here played by Martin Winter, goes deeper; its slow middle movement is a beautiful homage to Miles Davis and Gil Evans, at the same time holding on to Bennett's version of the 12-tone technique. When he inhabits this sort of cross-over territory, Bennett really has something to say.

The Sunday Times, 23^rd June 1996.

INDEX

Reflections on a 16^th Century Tune - Richard Rodney Bennett

Reflections on a 16^th Century Tune is based on the 16^th century French popular song, A l’ombre d’un buissonet, first printed in La Couronne et Fleur (1536), and was originally commissioned for string orchestra and premiered at an ESTA Conference in 2001. The composer later transcribed it for double wind quintet. Like Morning Music, it is a set of variations (or reflections).

Prelude: Lento  -  Variation I: Allegretto – Variation II: Allegro Vivo

Variation III Andante (Homage to Peter Warlock) –

Variation IV: Con brio e ritmico: Finale

The theme is stated immediately, the first two strains on the high woodwind quartet over sonorous shifting chords in the low sextet, the last four phrases shared between horns and the woods.

Variation I is a fleet allegretto in triple time over a rocking accompaniment; it winds gently down to Variation II, an extensive allegro vivo of considerable energy and wit.

Variation III is dedicated to the composer and author, Peter Warlock, a pen-name for Philip Heseltine. In his writings he did much to re-establish interest in Elizabethan music, he championed many composers especially Delius, and he left a handful of compositions, the best known being the Capriol Suite. He was born in 1894, and committed suicide in 1930.

Bennett’s Hommage is a gentle andante in triple time, building in intensity before dying away with the so-called “English cadence” caused by false relations, here, a flattened 3^rd and 7^th resolving on to a major Bb. Variation IV is lively and energetic in 6/8 time alternating with three, with a section in 5/8 and 7/8 providing a link straight into the finale. Here the theme is restated, maestoso and loud, broken up by little syncopated canons, gradually moving seamlessly into the dolce cantabile version which we heard in the Prelude, dying away to a unison G.

INDEX

Slow Dawn (2005) - Michael Berkeley

World Premiere Barbican October 24^th 2005

Guildhall School of Music & Drama Wind Ensemble/Tim Reynish

Timothy Reynish has been asking me to write for Wind Band for a quarter of a century and Slow Dawn, which is dedicated to the memory of his son, William, is, finally, the result. It depicts the gradual appearance of the sun (in the form of the tuba) as it climbs into the sky. Shafts of light and playful reflections accompany the increasing warmth of day. Although in this hemisphere we have tended to think of, as Wilfred Owen put it, 'the kind old sun', the music of midday in this piece suggests more the savage anger of heat in foreign climes with stabbing beams of light. Though the sun winds down as ever, it is its endless power that informs the music's closing bars.

INDEX

Shooting Stars (2005)                    -Michael Berkeley

World Premiere Barbican October 24^th 2005

Guildhall School of Music & Drama Wind Ensemble/Tim Reynish

Shooting Stars is a complete re-write of a short piece called Hunt that I wrote for Tim Reynish and Sir John Manduell some ten years ago. I initially thought of calling it Dodgems since it has a feel of the fair ground, of bright lights and of being jostled. Near the end there is even that empty sensation of putting your foot down in a dodgem and finding the power has been momentarily cut off by all the pushing and shoving. I also recall childhood days in the shooting gallery when the targets where placed at the centre of a star. However as I was working on the music I witnessed the brief spark and flash of a shooting star flying across the night sky and, since this short piece for symphonic wind can act as a prelude to the more substantial Slow Dawn, I opted for the ambiguous, though related, title.

© 2005 Michael Berkeley

reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

 INDEX

Bright Spirit                                                                                      -Judith Bingham

This piece is dedicated to Tim and Hilary Reynish and is in memory of their son Will who died in a climbing accident in 2001

Commissioned by Timothy and Hilary Reynish

World premiere at Baylor University, Texas, 5^th February 2002

Baylor University Wind Ensemble conducted by Timothy Reynish

My lost William, thou in whom

Some bright spirit lived, and did

That decaying robe consume

Which its luster faintly hid,

Here its ashes find a tomb.

But beneath this pyramid

Thou art not – if a thing divine

Like thee can die, thy funeral shrine

Is thy mother’s grief and mine.

Where art thou gentle child?

Let me think thy spirit feeds,

Within its life intense and mild,

The love of living leaves and weeds

Among these tombs and ruins wild;

Let me think that through low seeds

Of the sweet flowers and sunny grass,

Into their lives and scents may pass

A portion  ----

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Judith Bingham in introducing this piece, once spoke of the problem of writing a memorial for someone whom she did not know. The direct inspiration came when browsing in a bookshop through a volume by Shelley, which fell open at an exquisite poem that he had written in memory of his own son, William, who had died at the age of five. Shelley’s poem does not finish, but breaks off in mid-phrase; he contemplates the flowers and grasses growing on the grave, and the seeds blowing in the wind. Poignantly he reflects that although William is no longer here, yet his bright spirit lives on.

The shape of the piece follows loosely the shape of the poem. It begins with a slow, bluesy funeral march which eventually gives way to a more dogged march, building to a massive climax  - the message is that the bereaved have to come through grief and continue onwards. The four note twisting phrase is the word “Will” in musical terms. The work was written in the aftermath of 9/11 so the composer felt it was curiously apt to write a memorial piece at that time.

Judith Bingham studied oboe and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, but the most lasting influence upon her as a composer came from Hans Keller of the BBC, who was then slowly shaping that venerable institution to champion and programme contemporary music. For some years she supplemented her income by singing professionally with the BBC Singers. Her first major success came with the orchestral work Chartres and this was followed by a series of important commissions.

In an interview with Christopher Thomas, she talks of a number of her works exhibiting what she describes as a "painful kind of beauty". The music itself, whilst often chromatic with a strictly controlled use of dissonance where it serves the music, does so within a framework that always exhibits structural unity through a strong sense of melodic, harmonic and often rhythmic direction.  This is certainly true of her first work for wind ensemble, Three American Icons, painting a vivid picture of cruel episodes in contemporary American history, while in Bright Spirit, the anger and grief is more muted and controlled, sadness without sentimentality.

INDEX

Three American Icons                                                                   -Judith Bingham

The Musettes (a country dance with bagpipes originally) are punningly meant to be little musings on the nature of power, seen through glass darkly.  All the movements feature names and famous quotes ('I'm just a patsy') transliterated into notes using a method apparently loved by Elgar.

The first movement takes the famous moment when Jack Ruby shot Oswald, with the Texan policeman at his side recoiling in horror. Courante suggests time racing down in Oswald's life to this one moment when he became the patsy for the assassination. The music evokes an American College band sound. The first Musette, after the opening, has a rather grubby 'swing' sound.  In the third movement, a quartet of clarinets set the tone for a rondeau about Marilyn. I was thinking of the photograph of her jumping over waves on the beach at Malibu. The opening mood migrates on each repeat from a child-like quality to a more disturbing screwiness. One of the sounds I tried to capture was the cult TV 'Mission Impossible' sound. The second Musette, with its film noir quality leads into the second Courante, a photograph of people running up the Grassy Knoll immediately after Kennedy's assassination. The mood is of raucous panic, with traffic noises and a primitive Latino section in the middle.

INDEX

Awake, You Sleepers!                                                              -Laurence Bitensky

World premiere July 2, 2002 at the 2002 International Trumpet Guild Conference, Manchester, England

Soloist John Hagstrom
Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra, conductor Timothy Reynish

The composer writes:

Awake, You Sleepers! is one of a series of recent Jewish-inspired pieces.  In these works, I attempted to draw from the rich wellspring of Jewish musical tradition to explore a musical language that was rooted in an ancient and deeply spiritual culture but that was still contemporary, fresh, and engaging to the listener.  In Awake, You Sleepers! in particular, I hope to convey the intensity and urgency that is the emotional core of the Jewish High Holiday experience.

Awale, You Sleepers! is based on the free and supple improvisation of traditional Jewish chant, and some of its spirit of metrically-free improvisation should be maintained. The soloist and conductor should strive for a very fluid and flexible sense of tempo throughout using mushc rubato.

The work is in three movements which are linked together:

I Tekiah -“…as morning dawned there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain; there was a loud shofar blast and all the people in the camp trembled.”
(Exodus 19:16)

II Shevarim -“The great shofar is sounded and a still small voice is heard”
(excerpt of the Unataneh tokef prayer, attributed to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz)

III Teruah - “Awake, You Sleepers! Awake from your sleep! You slumberers, awake from your slumber!”
(Maimonides, Hilkhot Teshuvah III.4)

The ancient instrument known as the shofar, or ram’s horn, has a special place in the Jewish tradition. Legend recounts that its sound was heard at the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, the tumbling walls of Jericho, as a call for battle, and that its sound will be heard to herald a messianic era. The instrument has survived through post-Biblical and contemporary times and features prominently in the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Each of the three movements of Awake, You Sleepers! is based  on one of the three calls associated with the blowing of the shofar. Tekiah is a long note rising in  pitch; Shevarim is three shorter notes; and Teruah is a long repeated staccato blast. Each movement is also preceded by well-known verses from the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Much of the music for Awake, You Sleepers! is based on Rosh Hashannah motives and melodies that occur in the German/East European musical tradition.

Laurence S Bitensky is a composer and pianist, at present Assistant Professor of music at Centre College, Kentucky, specializing in teaching composition, music theory, world music and piano. He received his undergraduate training at New England Conservatory, and his Masters and Doctorate at Ithaca College and Cornell University respectively. He is the recipient of numerous commissions and awards throughout the United States, and has no less than four special awards from ASCAP. His piano work, Shouts and murmurs was the winning work in the 1997 Friends and Enemies of New Music Composition Competition.

INDEX

Divertimento - Boris Blacher

Intrada

March

Boris Blacher was born in China, studied in Berlin, worked there as a composer and arranger and from 1938 was director of the composition class in the Dresden Conservatory, a job he was forced to give up because his teaching did not fit in with Nazi policies. After the war, he returned to Berlin and was later Director of the Hochschule. His music ranges over most forms including electronic, but his style is largely terse, informed by French anti-romantic wit rather than the German romantic tradition. Described by Henze as the diminutive and wittlily anti-dodecaphonic Boris Blacher, it is perhaps time that we re-assessed his work and that of his colleagues in post-Nazi Germany.

His Divertimento op 7 for Wind Orchestra dates from 1937.

The Intrada looks back to the Towermusic Renaissance and Baroque Germany, a little fugato begins on trumpet, imitated by the rest of the orchestra, with one contrasting theme marked espressivo which appears twice. The March is in typical ABA form, a jaunty theme, to be played leggiero, a trio section which is reminiscent of similar sections by Eric Coates, and a return to the main march.

INDEX

Symphony for William op 212                                                     Derek Bourgeois

World Premiere Tennessee Tech Wind Orchestra Wednesday 13^th October 2004

Will-o’-the-Wisp
Dianthus Barbatus (Sweet William)
Will Power

It is now twenty-five years since I first commissioned a wind band piece. Planning in the late seventies for the First International Conference for Wind Band Composers, Conductors and Publishers which I hosted in Manchester, England, we included a major commission from a British composer, and from the list of possibilities, I selected Derek Bourgeois who had already written me a very successful overture for orchestra called Green Dragon, now arranged for wind band as opus 32a and published by Derek’s main publisher, Louis Martinuus of HaFaBra.

Bourgeois has an extraordinary facility; his Symphony no 1 had nearly been selected for a BBC Prom when the composer was in his late teens, and it was followed by a constant flow of works, at first quite “modern” in style, though owing more to composers  like Elgar, Walton, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, early Britten and Stravinsky, than to the Second Viennese School or the denizens of Darmstadt. After Cambridgeand a spell of school teaching, he settled in Bristol, took over the Sun Life Brass Band, discovered a new public and performance medium who wanted more accessible music, and so, with relief, turned towards a more traditional style of composition.

In June 2004, my wife and I spent a week with Derek on Mallorca, nursing his wife Jean who has motor neurone disease, and listening to a huge range of music including many of his seventeen symphonies. He agreed to write a new work in memory of our third son, and the Symphony for William arrived in daily segments by email over the following six days.

The first movement as the title suggests is a fleet scherzo, albeit with strong contrasts. There are two main themes in 6/8 which are thrown between woodwind and brass, occasionally dropping into triple time. Cast in sonata form, the development ends with a mysterious few bars over a pedal bass in pianissimo; this will become in triple forte a terrifying coda to the movement. The recapitulation is shortened, and after an accelerando there is a hectic section in 13/16 ending in the extremely harsh coda.

Derek Bourgeois is not a composer to shirk writing a good tune with recognisable harmonies.  After the intensity of the coda, he starts the second movement with its punning title with a main theme whose saccharine sweetness is a welcome relief. Given to the horn, it covers an extreme range, and is answered by a central section for woodwind, more restrained but equally lyrical. As in the best traditional ternary song movements, the main theme returns in full, this time scored for woodwind.

The third movement begins with a slow abrasive angular theme for brass in 5/4, developed in canon before returning. The tempo quickens dramatically, and the main material is a helter-skelter virtuoso ride, typical of what the composer calls his “Dick Barton” style. There is an abrupt stop, with a brief coda of unbearable pathos

INDEX

Symphony of Winds (1980)                                                       -Derek Bourgeois

Commissioned by the College Band Directors National Association, CBDNA, for the 1^st International Conference for Symphonic Bands & Wind Ensembles in 1981. Premiere by Californian State University, Northridge, conducted by the composer.

Hurricane
Zephyr
March
Winds

Derek Bourgeois’ Symphony of Winds written for the first international Conference is a virtuosic exploration of the wealth of luxurious sound that is the wind orchestra. The Symphony and the subsequent Sinfonietta, commissioned by Harry Legge for what is now the National Youth Wind Orchestra, are both difficult technically but not musically, and in a way I think that many of us were embarrassed at having music which was enjoyable, challenging the players but not the audiences.

It was suggested that the intellectual demands just did not match the technical requirements; now, in a post-modern era, when instrumental technique is far more advanced and composers once again dare to write real tunes and traditional harmonies, it is high time that we revisited both of these pieces. The great virtuoso trombonist Christian Lindberg, for whom Derek wrote his Trombone Concerto, puts the case more positively:

Bourgeois has not worried about the historical necessities and rules, which dictate the Novelty of style regarded as so important by some compositional schools; he keeps instead to traditional musical patterns.

If there is a problem, the slow movement of the Symphony probably represents it most clearly; against an almost Ravellian swathe of woodwind shifting chords and birdsong, the horns play a melody with typical Bourgeois chromatic harmonies and key shifts. Martin Ellerby describes the second movement of his Paris Sketches as being Prokofiev meets Stravinsky; this is a kind of Down a Country Lane Rakhmaninov meets Delius and Richard Strauss. The first and third movements have all of the restless energy of Tchaikovsky and Walton, faultlessly sliding through totally unrelated keys but always returning home safely, and in the finale there is an Elgarian nobilmente tune of great sweep and originality, given full chromatic treatment – what a Master of the Queen’s Music Derek would make!

The first movement is almost a moto perpetuo, a swirling gale howls through the woodwind, punctuated by syncopated chords and a jazzy far-ranging theme for brass. In contrast, the second movement paints an English idyll, gently moving chords and trills of bird-song are set against an almost Delian melody for brass, with a little scherzando middle section. The finale is an unashamed summing up of every Pomp and Circumstance march ever penned, with several outrageous jokes, and a trio to end all trios.

INDEX

Where the wind blows (1989)                                                                       -John Buckley

Where the wind blows was commissioned by the Irish Wind Ensemble with the financial assistance of the Irish Arts Council.  The piece, which was first performed in August 1989, is dedicated to the JYWE and their conductor, James Cavanagh.  It is in one continuous movement falling into two contrasting sections.  The opening section is fast and vigorous and is characterised by a strong rhythmic drive and constantly varied orchestral textures and colouring.  The second section is more in the nature of a slow meditation.  Lyrical and flowing melodic lines are highlighted against sustained chords in the brass and lower woodwinds.  Fanfares, recalling the opening section usher in a calm reflective ending.

INDEX

Still Breathing                                                                                                   -Martin Butler

Commissioned by the School of Wind and Percussion, RNCM

Essentially in one steady speed, with the exception of a slightly slower coda, Butler uses the gentle sounding "E" of the opening as a starting point for four texturally based episodes.  This is not to say the work is unmelodic or unharmonic, for the initial near-serial tune is a beautiful one, and the harmonic shifts which result in statements of "D#" in one episode and "Bb" in another are highly dramatic.  However, Butler seems most fascinated by the gradual emergence and juxtaposition of the colours of the wind orchestra - we hear dynamic pulses (breaths?) rising from beautiful and unexpected places.  The rhythmic pace of these juxtapositions gives the work an evolutionary momentum, with events that are dramatic but never disjointed.

INDEX

Borean Suite, Tundra (1984)                                                -Arthur Butterworth

Aurora Borealis (Winter)
The Melting of the Ice (Spring)
Midnight Sun (Summer)
Reindeer Run (Autumn)

Arthur Butterworth’s Borean Suite, Tundra was commissioned by BASBWE and first performed at the RNCM on 4^th November, 1984, by the ILEA Youth Symphonic Band conductor Christopher Morgan.

It is scored for a large wind ensemble. Dark colours are all pervasive, the programmatic element is strongly present. Remote and mysterious, secretive and forbidding lie the vast impenetrable forests of the far northlands; the Taiga, silent and uninhabited, the legendary domain of Tapio, the ancient forest deity. Further still, even more remote, the secret haunt of arctic foxes, the lair of wolves, wandering reindeer and the fearsome snowy owl, a hostile land of chilling desolation and permafrost stretches the tundra, where for some short weeks in summer the sun brings perpetual daylight and the earth brings forth a riotous abandon of colour and frenzied life until the relentless and inexorable return of the snow, the darkness and the cold.

The language is unashamedly that of the early twentieth century symphonists, more particularly of Sibelius. Pithy phrases build energetically over long pedal points, massive blocks of harmony sidestep and overlap, all with a powerful grasp of tonality underlying the texture. The result is a serious addition to the neglected symphonic repertoire for wind ensemble.

INDEX

Children's Overture (1964)                                                                                               -Eugene Bozza

Born in Nice, Bozza went on to study violin, conducting and composition at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won the Prix de Rome in 1934.  He conducted at the Opera Comique for many years and was appointed Director of the Ecole National de Musique, Valenciennes. Though his three operas, two ballets and four symphonies are reasonably well known in France, his international reputation rests on his large output of wind chamber music.  The Children's Overture was commissioned by Robert Boudreau for the American Wind Symphony and first performed in 1964; it is scored for orchestral wind and brass (no euphonium or saxophones) with percussion, harp and piano.  The work opens with a rousing rendition of 11 Court, il court le fu'ret, followed by Marlbrough Sen va-t-en guerre and Nous nirons plus au bois.  The lullaby, Dors mon petit quinquin combines with a folk song from Brittany to provide a beautiful middle section. Nous nirons reappears, but before the work concludes, Bozza inserts a crazy, almost drunken waltz.  Finally, Il Court returns for a rousing finish.

Programme note by Clark Rundell

INDEX

Pageant of London (1911)                                                                -Frank Bridge

 l. Solemn March; Richard 111 leaving London

ll. First Discoveries: Introduction – Pavane – La Romanesca (Galliard)

III. March: Henry VIII entering London

The 1911 Festival of Empire, a great exposition in which all of the overseas dominions of the British Commonwealth took part, was held in conjunction with the coronation of King George V. The Festival took place at Crystal Palace and the centre of attraction was the Pageant of London, an enormous enterprise. Some 15,000 performers, representing all walks of life, took part, and by the time the pageant had finished its four month run, it had been seen by over four million people.

In all, twenty composers contributed to the Festival including Holst, Vaughan Williams, Haydn Wood and Balfour Gardiner. The Grand Opening Concert which featured the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Empire Military Band, was conducted by Sir Hubert Parry, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Sir Henry Wood and Sir Charles Harris.

Frank Bridge contributed two scenes to part II, the Passing of Medievalism which includes the two marches, and Early Discoveries which features the central dances.

The first modern day performance, in the new edition by Paul Hindmarsh, was given by the RNCM Wind Orchestra on 7 October 1992.

INDEX

Concerto for Percussion (1958)                                            -Niels Vigo Bentzon

Con moto   

moderato sostenuto   

vivo

The fecundity of Bentzon rivals that of Milhaud, Villa Lobos and Hovhaness. Before his sixtieth birthday he had already exceeded four hundred opus numbers. His studies of jazz and his deep love of Bach, together with the influence of Hindemith, gives his music a neo-classic quality, while in the fifties and sixties he was a champion of Schoenberg, writing a text-book on serial technique, and assimilating serialism into his music. The Concerto for Percussion is scored for six solo players with a wide variety of instruments including twelve timpani.

INDEX

Song of Lir (2004)                                                                              -Fergal Carroll

In memory of William Reynish 1966-2001

Commissioned by Hilary and Timothy Reynish

World Premiere by the Band of HM Royal Marines at BASBWE March 2004

Written for bands of medium ability, Song of Lir is a single movement work lasting just under seven minutes. It is intended to suggest an Irish lament of caoine, and much of the thematic material is derived from a 17^th century harping tune called Captain O’Kane.

Lir himself was a king in the Western part of Ireland at the time of the Celts. He had four beautiful children, a daughter and three sons. When their mother died, he married again, but his new wife was evil and jealous, and cursed the children of Lir, changing them into swans. They lived for 900 years as swans until they heard the sound of the first Christian bell coming from a monastery newly built beside their lake. At the sound of the bell, the curse was lifted and they were restored to human form, but were now ancient, frail people. A monk baptised them, whereupon they were able to die in peace.

Song of Lir is not programmatic except that the sound of the bell, struck four times, is heard near the end of the work.

The Irish composer Fergal Carroll is one of the newer voices in the wind music scene. His Amphion was written while a student with Adam Gorb at the Royal Northern College of Music, it was followed by a charming set of Winter Dances for an amateur wind orchestra, and he is now writing a series of short works for school band at about Grade 2 level for Maecenas. Song of Lir (Maecenas) achieves what is really difficult, a major extended 7 minute tone poem for Grade 3 band.  

INDEX

Distant Variations                                                                                -John Casken

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish for the Royal Northern College of Music

World Premiere by the Apollo Saxophone Quartet with the RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Reynish. Barbican Hall, London, 10^th March 1997.

Distant Variations is a Concerto Grosso for solo saxophone quartet and wind ensemble; it also exists in a version for unaccompanied quartet.  It was inspired by lines of Janek Schon (Variations on a Distant Rim)

Sunrise in the silent canyon; the clear, sharp line between blackened rim and inky sky is shattered by the sun’s first rays. Fortresses of rock come to life in distant variations, carved by time, enflamed for all eternity.

The opening  crescendo on a lone soprano saxophone begins quadruple pianissimo; a cluster of sixteenth triplet notes ushers in a rhythmic motif which will dominate much of the introduction and reappear in the short epilogue. The work is in a single continuous movement with a quadruple pulse that embraces strong contrasts of feverish rhythmic activity with pools of stillness. The concerto grosso  element is present throughout, the saxophones almost always appearing as a quartet, sometimes as part of the texture, sometimes in juxtaposition to an orchestral accompaniment. As the pace quickens, so the rhythmic element becomes more prominent with a virtuosic passage of triplets and quadruplets thrown between soloists and orchestra. A restrained moment of gentle lyricism leads into a fast-moving quasi ragtime, and the brief epilogue reminds us of the opening gestures.

John Casken is currently (2005) professor of music and head of the School of Music and Drama at Manchester University. After studies at the University of Birmingham he then won a scholarship to the Academy of Music in Warsaw in 1971 where he studied composition with Andrzej Dobrowolski. During this time he developed a long term interest in Witold Lutoslawski and his music.

His works include Golem (1988), Still Mine (1992), Violin Concerto (1994-95), Sortilège (1995-96), Distant Variations (1996), Après un silence (1998), God's Liar (2000) and To the lovers' well (2001). His most recent orchestral work was the Symphony Broken Consort, premiered by the BBC Philharmonic at the 2004 Promenade Concerts.

He writes:

As a composer, I am concerned with finding the most appropriate structural framework in which the dramatic shaping of ideas can be expressed in a lyrical yet contemporary idiom.

INDEX

Dream Dancer (2001)        -Michael Colgrass

The first of a number of premieres by the commissioning consortium for Dream Dancer was given at the Royal Northern College of Music on 6^th April 2001 by Kenneth Radnovsky with the RNCM Wind Orchestra conductor Clark Rundell.

The work is part theatre, part exploration of differing musical traditions; the soloist moves between three groups, joining in with the musical styles of three cultures – Arabic, characterised by harmonic minor, Asian, by pentatonic and Western through diatonic scales.

INDEX

Tails aus dem Vood Viennoise (1992)                                                 -Bill Connor

Commissioned and premiered by the Band of Richmond School, North Yorkshire, and their conductor Richard Jones

Cemetary
Dawn Assault
Just Retribution

Bill Connor divides his composing time between commercial work for television and outreach projects with professional symphony orchestras. His Tails aus dem Vood Viennoise is in my opinion the nearest that a Grade 3-4 level band can come to performing a Mahlerian symphony. Lasting 22 minutes, with no recognisable tunes and harmonic procedures which are almost Schoenbergian, this work has an intensity rare in educational band music, and as a programme note, a poem.

Cemetary
Vienna, sometime when, a wood, mayhap the famous one...
silence...
... a noticeable silence... brooding... and time turns in on itself in
permanent replay... 'til the beaters come!!...
Dawn Assault
there once was a day that brightly dawned
and spawned
some chaps
some chaps and other chaps
and these same chaps carried things
and on that day brightly dawned
these same chaps that carried things
lifted the things that were carried
... and it happened...
a shout as unstoppable as any shout ever shouted
and on that day that brightly dawned
many were knocked down
to rise no more...
Just Retribution
and oh the pity...the overwhelming pity at the sight of these
astonishing creatures who toy with the existence of so many species
while at the same
time through wilful and calculated ignorance hussle their own species
to the edge of
extinction with such opulence and hedonism... but what a hoot... ol'
sport.
... as the last one tumbles
We're the king of the castle ... rpt... (dimin)...
... wasn't I...
... weren't we...?

INDEX

Ariadne Op 31 (1972)                                                                     -Gordon Crosse
Concertante for solo oboe and twelve players

'Ariadne' was written during 1972 and is twenty minutes in duration. It is divided into three main sections.  The first is predominantly lyrical.  It opens with a slow melody on the solo oboe accompanied by glissandi on the cello and double bass. This melody is the basis for the whole work and transpositions, inversions, and distortion of its material occur throughout.  Towards the end of the first section the music gathers speed and leads into the second section, which consists of a series of variations on the main thematic material.  The section gradually becomes more rhythmically and harmonically complex until it leads to a wild dance in which the oboist plays a coarse tone.  The third section is again slow and the opening consists of a variant on the original oboe theme. There are a few echoes of the fast second section although the music dies away to nothing with a repeating phrase in the solo instrument.

Quiet (1987)                                                                                     -Gordon Crosse

Of Quiet, Harry Legge, former conductor of the National Youth Wind Orchestra for whom it was written, writes : "This represents a fractious child whose mother is trying to calm it down in preparation for sleep. Whether she succeeds or not is revealed by the music".

INDEX

A Plain Man’s Hammer (1984)                                                          -Martin Dalby

Commissioned by the Dunbartonshire Wind Ensemble with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council.

First performance by the Dunbartonshire Wind Ensemble, conductor Trevor Green, at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, on 19 June 1985.

MARTIN DALBY was born in Aberdeen in 1942. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and in 1960 won a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied composition with Herbert Howells and viola with Frederick Riddle. In 1963 the Octavia Prize and a Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship enabled him to spend two years in Italy where besides composing he played the viola with a small Italian Chamber Orchestra. In 1965 he was appointed as a music producer to the BBC's newly formed Music Programme (later to be Radio 3.) In 1971 he became the Cramb Research Fellow in Composition at the University of Glasgow and in 1972 returned to the BBC as Head of Music, Scotland. In 1991 he relinquished this post in order to pursue a more creative role. In 1993 he retired from the BBC and now composes full time.

Martin wrote:

In Baden-Baden in 1955 Pierre Boulez' Le Marteau sans Maitre was heard or the first time. The work quickly established itself as one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth century and it is still regarded so today. I had for some years fancied the idea of writing some sort of opposite to Le marteau sans maitre and the Dunbartonshire Wind Ensemble's invitation provided the opportunity to do so. Hence Marteau translates into Hammer.

Le Marteau is a highly intricate and rhythmically complex work to perform, requiring the skill of highly adept and  dedicated professional musicians. Hammer, on the other hand, is directed towards the exuberance  and enthusiasm of amateur players (which is not to say that it is all that easy to play). Equally, Le Marteau is an esoteric, elusive work to grasp, though increasingly less so as the years pass. Hammer's style and material, tunes if you like, are intended to be direct and forceful (and that is not to say that its construction lacks complexity), so mine is a "Plain Man's Hammer".

As for the form of the work: the whole shape owes something to classical sonata form. Put over-simply, this is a two part form of which the first is an exposition containing two tonally contrasted subjects and the second contains a development section where harmonies move towards a recapitulation of the two original subjects, this time being reconciled in the home key.

The first section is an exposition containing two main ideas and other material associated with them. Development is replaced by a parade of incomplete parodies: a waltz almost in the style of Chopin; a sort of tango; a Mahlerian March; something close to Janacek; a cheap imitation of Flamenco; a corruption of Oranges and Lemons; a pop song; a military march which gets somewhat out of hand; a Viennese Waltz to set your feet tripping and an even cheaper imitation of Flamenco.

At the end of the work the associated material of the opening reappears in maturity; the major ideas play a subservient role, reappearing only in the final coda.

INDEX

Flight Dreaming (1990)                                                                      -Martin Dalby

Commissioned by the Motherwell District Council

World Premiere 22 September 1990 at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, by the Motherwell Concert Band, conducted by Timothy Reynish

Despite the connotations of the title which derive from the composer's current enthusiasm for flying, this work is elegiac in character. The opening thematic fragment with its wholetone flavour, pianissimo on muted trumpets and alto clarinet, sets the scene.  Lyrical motifs derive from this and contrast with more rhythmic rising fanfares which are often answered by a falling triplet figure. Technically simple, there is a wealth here of melodic and rhythmic detail, all within a tempo marking of 'quasi tranquillo' which embraces constant 'tenuti' or 'poco ritenuti' at the cadences.

A more active tutti section frames a short passage for solo flutes and muted trumpet, and finally gives way to a slower section for solo oboe over pianissimo muted brass quoting from 'A Plain Man's Hammer'. A still more lyrical meno mosso, interrupted by tiny breath pauses ends with a brief coda of great energy.

INDEX

Variations and Fugue on The Wee Cooper of Fife         -Cedric Thorpe Davie

Premiered by the National Wind Band of Scotland conducted by Rodney Bashford

The ten bar theme is first announced rhythmically by woodblock and side drum, then by the woodwind each in turn, with some surprising key shifts from Bb through D, Bb and F# before settling for Bb as the main tonal centre. There is also considerable controversy between the players as to whether to be in compound duple or simple triple time.

INDEX

Capriccio Concertante (1984)                                                  -Stephen Dodgson

for Clarinet and Wind Band

Subtitled 'All Hallows Eve', there is a spooky, if frivolous, quality about the music. The work is basically in three parts, though there are five sections played without a break: Premonitions, Dance & Skirmish, The Strokes of Midnight, The Revels Resumes, and Dawn for All Saints. Premonitions serves as an introduction - it begins  gently with the woodwind's tolling bells motive from the Strokes of Midnight, a motive which returns in the final bars of the piece, then briefly foreshadows the playful Dance and Skirmish Allegro with its changing metres. Both soloist and ensemble race across metric changes in the first part of the Dance, before a short largamente gives all a chance to catch some breath, before the return of the Allegro, now 'di molto'. The central Lento, The Strokes of Midnight, allows the soloist a recitative-like freedom, as the final toll always provides a sustained foundation for a longer melody. The Revels Resume with the Skirmish music, this time moving to Allegro di molto without a rest, and finishing with a virtuoso piccolo and solo clarinet duet. The bell toll interrupts three times before it descends into the gentle final movement.

INDEX

Partial Eclipse (1985-1986)                                                     -Giles Easterbrook

The composer writes:

"Shortly before Christmas, 1985, I received an invitation to write a work for a concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall by the 'Wallace Collection'. The concert was an odd one, comprising all sorts of differently scored works, but as this was to be 'An encore piece', would I use all the instrumentalists please. These turned out to be ten trumpets, two flutes, organ, piano and timp doubling percussion. Well, why not? Also, could I deliver the full score during the second week in January, a little under three weeks distant.  Anyway, one tends to drink rather a lot before Christmas and become reckless, so I agreed.  It was only two minutes, after all. With sobriety came panic, so my first responsibility was to keep these periods as brief as possible, and I set furiously to work in a ferment of labour interrupted only by parties, receptions and cycle runs in the diamond-sharp air. To my intense amazement I completed with four days to spare and posted it off to John Wallace. To my even greater astonishment I learned from John that far from being the two minutes he wanted (and which I thought I had provided) the piece lasted nearly twelve. It would thus not be performed, as it was thought unseemly for an unfilled encore piece to last at least half as long again as the most substantial piece in the programme proper, and so it has lain unloved by all except its composer until tonight, such ensembles not being two-a-penny.  For this (and any subsequent) performance I have added two more percussion parts and thirteen more bars".

I owe the form to a suggestion from my friend, colleague and fellow composer Sean Rourke, that it be a miniature Symphony in four movements, which it is.  The movements are as follows:

crotchet = 96 (allegro)
Tranquillo
Scherzo
Sostenuto - coda (allegro)

There are not supposed to be any breaks

INDEX

New World Dances (1956/8)                                                         -Martin Ellerby

Earth Dance
Moon Dance
Sun Dance

This piece followed Evocations as the second of two commissions written for the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. It was written for the Band's tour of the USA in 1996 and it recreates the pioneering spirit of the journey across America as this vast continent was opened up and its wonders exposed. The first dance is a vigorous overture, pushing out the frontiers, the second, an interlude, contemplates the huge distances to be crossed and the third represents the realisation of the American dream, rhythmic and full of energy.

Written in affectionate tribute to America and its people, the work was rather symbolically completed on July 4th. The NYBB of GB gave the world première on 24th July 1996, the UK première was given by the RNCM Brass Band conducted by James Gourlay on 2nd February 1997. This arrangement for wind band has been made as a birthday present for Timothy Reynish, and its première was given at the Bridgewater Hall by the RNCM Wind Orchestra on April 6th 1998.

Programme note by Martin Ellerby

INDEX

Venetian Spells (1988)                   -Martin Ellerby

World premiere given by the Edinburgh Concert Band, conducted by Clark Rundell at the BASBWE Conference 1988  in the RNCM

Martin Ellerby writes:

Venetian Spells was commissioned by Timothy Reynish and is dedicated to him on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Rather like my previous Paris Sketches the work pays tribute to a great city and in particular to various composers associated with it. This is essentially a fun piece and makes use of ensembles drawn from the larger body of the symphonic wind orchestra. It falls into four movements.

1. Concertante (Antonio’s Allegro). A large brass ensemble is foiled by a more intimate concertante group (featuring the unique timbre of a harpsichord) which plays various interludes in a style akin to that of Vivaldi. The percussion section consists almost entirely of assorted drums with cymbals. Ideas are developed by the two main groups culminating in a grand and noble conclusion, though not without a gentle sting in its tail.

2. Pas-de-Deux (Igor’s Lament). Buried on the island cemetery of San Michele are both the composer Stravinsky and the impressario Diaghilev. Scored for all of the orchestra, this is a full-bodied and passionate waltz, interrupted by some delicate interludes, all alluding to one of their great collaborations, hinted at but not quoted.

3. Vespers (Claudio’s Sunset). Scored for winds alone and featuring the subtle shades of cor anglais, alto clarinet and double bassoon, with a single percussion playing tubular bells, the work’s slow movement evokes a church organ playing in the early evening. Although the style is not that of Monteverdi, the spirit is.

4. Festivo (Giovanni’s Canon) The finale is a celebration of the great city in festival time. Things canonical (though without the use of real cannon) make up the material of the movement. Scored for full forces, with some transparent moments, it builds to an epic conclusion of which Gabrieli would have been thoroughly ashamed.

INDEX

Fantasia (Quasi una Sonata)                                                                 -David Ellis

Two diverse musical interests of mine have come together in this piece, written during the early months of 1996.  Firstly, the music of the Venetian composers working, during the late 16th and 17th centuries, almost exclusively for St. Mark's, particularly Giovanni Gabrieli.  (The Sonata of the title refers to this period, rather than to later models).  In contrast, the other influence comes from the big bands which I first heard during the 40s and 50s, particularly the Americans Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Count Basie whose ghosts continue to stimulate new generations of listeners and musicians.

The catalyst which unites these disparate elements is literary: it is drawn from the writings of Erasmus, who tells of his exasperation at the behaviour of those animals, although having the power of reason and understanding, which still indulge in acts of mindless aggression.  He concludes by adding "... and furthermore I find shelter more easily among the most ferocious beasts and the wildest animals, than among men".

The long solo passage which moves the Fantasia towards the disturbed and unresolved conclusion might be heard as a version of the legend of Orpheus whose exquisite playing is said to have calmed the ferocity of wild animals.  In this instance the roles are reversed: it is the human race which needs a calming influence, perhaps provided by the beasts of the field.

Although this work bears no dedication, it was composed with the exceptional talents of the RNCM students in mind, together with an acknowledgement of the enthusiasm and skills of Clark Rundell and Timothy Reynish at the front and behind the scenes.

Programme note by David Ellis

INDEX

Captivity (1998)       -Elena Firsova

World premiere RNCM 9^th February 2000

The work was commissioned by the BASBWE Education Trust. The title Captivity is connected with my mixed feelings about five years, which I spent  in a very beautiful place with all possible conditions for good life and composing, but at the same time with an isolation from the real world, vivid music, life and contacts with musicians. The musical aspect of the title is connected with use of the complete chords in harmony, which sometimes made me feel too limited. This is a one-movement composition with the features of sonata form treated in a very free manner.

Elena Firsova

INDEX

Sinfonia Op 76 (1976)                                                          -Peter Racine Fricker

In Memoriam Benjamin Britten

In a survey of Fricker's music, Michael Meckna writes "The music is characterized by its strength and assurance, its logic and consistency, its formal mastery, and its deep emotional quality".  The Sinfonia is subtitled "in Memoriam Benjamin Britten" and was written shortly after that composer's death in l976.  A lament for solo oboe, punctuated by brass chords bind the work together, linking sections in different tempos and metres.  These episodes develop a few brief motives, notably the figure of a descending triad derived from the opening brass chords, and draw on a wide range of colours.  After a fierce climax the lament remains, trailing into silence.

INDEX

English Dance Suite Op. 139 (1977)                                               -John Gardner

Alman
Chacony
Hornpipe
Corranto
Volta
Pavan
Reel

Written for the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, this fine work was all but forgotten after its first performance in 1977. The parts were not even returned to the publisher until requested for performance at the Royal Northern College of Music on 24^th June, 1992, conducted by Clark Rundell.

The work is in a traditional but non-derivative style. Though the first movement clearly looks back to the Chaconne of Holst’s Suite in Eb, the remainder of the work uses dance styles as opposed to folk tunes. We hear no marches on folk material, but rather Renaissance and maritime dances. Gardner’s orchestration is expert, but his real genius lies in the instruments he leaves out. The welcome sound of Harmoniemusik in the almost Mozartian Courante is every bit as striking as the dynamic Volta for brass alone.

John Gardner was born in Manchester and studied with Gordon Jacob while still at school. His many posts include a spell as an RAF Bandsman in World War II, as repetiteur at Covent Garden and Director of Music at Morley College, and for a time he was Director of Music at St Paul’s School.

Clark Rundell

INDEX

Dream Carousels (1989)   -Anthony Gilbert

...and shadow theatre begins...
...cyclone breeze in the house of infinity...
...moths batter the dark...orbit the skull...

This triptych for wind orchestra was intended as a fiftieth birthday present for Timothy Reynish.  It was sketched and largely written down in Sydney, whilst Gilbert was preparing to write a cycle of songs with orchestra to words by the Tasmanian poet Sarah Day (born, as it happens, not too far from Manchester).Immersed as he was in these poems, Gilbert found their powerful images of nature and its cyclic rhythms colouring his approach to the triptych too, which emerged as reflections upon some of the imagery of the poetry: hence the titles.

The first piece, slow and rapt, is introductory - a procession of shimmering chord revolving around a sustained melody for muted trumpets.  This chord-cycle provides the harmonic foundation for all that follows - the image is of a giant snail wheeling 'across an invisible tightrope'.

The central piece, scherzando, is a little concert of various groupings of instruments, and is itself in the triptych: dancing - singing - tumbling.  The image of a massive, slowly-turning chord at the climax was in fact the germ of the whole work - the 'dream carousel'.

The third movement is a rhythmic toccata, in which the two halves of the wind-orchestra hocket around each other in a quiet frenzy, constrained by tight cyclic rhythms and finally erupt.

The world premiere was at the Royal Festival Hall London, February 26th 1989, given by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Reynish, to whom the work is dedicated.

INDEX

Unrise (2001)                                                                                   Anthony Gilbert

…teruato…
…v’shavah…
…to va-ah…

Avraham ben Yitzhak (1883-1950) has been called the first modern Hebrew poet. He left Vienna for Israel on Hilter’s annexation of Austria in March 1938. Among his papers when he died was found a poetic fragment in Hebrew which could be paraphrased as

When was the dawn the cock proclaimed,
His screeching trumpet-calls echoing in the darkness?
Hands were raised feebly to shield eyes from the brilliance
But no sun rose; for both mouth and hands had lied.

The three movements of Unrise reflect upon these lines: 1: “trumpetings” - wild chants and chorales leading into 2:  “echoings” - transformations of the first material into what could be crazy march and dance of terror and 3:  “not-rising”  - further transformations into a mechanical dawn-chorus. The word the poet uses for “cock” also means a strutting male. Most of the musical material is derived from a melody and two symmetrical scales taught me in 1938-9 by a young Viennese refugee who made her home with us in London. This sixteen minute work is intended as a belated sixtieth birthday present for Timothy Reynish – born March 1938 – in gratitude for over a quarter of a century of support, encouragement and fine performances.

Unrise was premiered by the RNCM Wind Ensemble at the Spitalfields Festival on 22 June 2001, conducted by Timothy Reynish.

INDEX

Five Folk Songs (1966)                                                                -Bernard Gilmore

Mrs McGrath (Irish)
All the pretty little horses (American)
Yeradna (Greek)
El Burro (Spanish)
A Fiddler (Yiddish)

Bernard Gilmore writes:

In each of the five folk songs I tried to express a key element of each text in the accompaniment. "Mrs. McGrath" is clearly march-like, but as the bitter story unfolds, the band accompaniment becomes increasingly dissonant. As an ironic commentary, the march in Mrs McGrath is set in its most conventionally "stirring" manner after the tragedy is revealed. The band accompaniment in All the Pretty Little Horses features two lengthy clarinet cadenzas improvisational in feeling. In El Burro, I had the image of a noisy funeral procession in mind. Yerakina is permeated with the sound of Yerakina's bracelets jangling in the sun. And at the end of A Fiddler, Mama's dreams for her son are hinted at by a brief reference to the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

I was born in 1939, received the BA (Music) and MA (Composition) from UCLA and the DMA (conducting) from Stanford. I have taught at Cornell (where I composed the Five Folk Songs), Oregon State University and, since 1982, at UC Irvine, where I teach music theory, composition and various courses in 20th Century music. For many years I was active as a professional horn-player. I toured with the Boston Pops Tour Orchestra, played a season with the Haifa (Israel) Symphony Orchestra and occasionally played extra in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

INDEX

Three Pieces from 'ARDEN MUST DIE' Op.21a (1967)              -Alexander Goehr

for wind band, harp and percussion

First performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Mackerras, BBC Radio 3,12 January 1969

First public performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink, Royal Festival Hall, 16 January 1969

3.2. cor angl. 3. bass clar. 2 contrabsn - 4.3.3.1 - timp., perc. (3 players: side drum, woodblock, bass drum, trgle, cym., susp. cym., tam tam, Chinese gong, metal sheet, whip, tamb.) - harp

INDEX

Adam Gorb is one of the leading young British composers of wind music today. His first work for wind was the exciting and exacting Metropolis (1993, Maecenas) which won the Walter Beeler Prize in 1994 and was written for the Royal Academy of Music Wind Orchestra, who premiered it conducted by Edward Gregson.  Since then he has written the brilliant “post-Bernstein” overture, Awayday, (1996, Maecenas), a Euphonium Concerto (1997, Maecenas), Yiddish Dances (1998), Dances from Crete (2003), and a number of works for less experienced bands, Bermuda Triangle, Bridgewater Breeze, Candlelight Procession, Over Hill Over Dale, Eine Kleine Yiddische Rag-music and the March of the Little Wooden Warriors. His most substantial work is a Percussion Concerto for Evelyn Glennie, The Elements (1998, Maecenas). Adam is Head of the School of Composition and Contemporary Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.

Away Day (1996)                -Adam Gorb

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish who conducted the first performance with the RNCM Wind Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 27 November 1996.

Away Day is designed as an Overture paying tribute to the world of the American Musical of the earlier part of this century. After leaving Cambridge, Gorb for a time worked in the music theatre, directing a run of West Side Story. At a recent WASBE Conference, he spoke of his love for “popular” music.

Classic - popular, well 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.

The work is in a free sonata form with clearly defined melodic material, and has been successfully transcribed by the composer for symphony orchestra. Of the compositional processes involved in the work, Gorb writes:

Imagine Bernstein, Gershwin and Stravinsky in a convertible speeding down the highway.

Awayday is dedicated to Timothy Reynish and the RNCM Wind Orchestra. In this five minute curtain raiser, my inspiration has come from the great days of the American Musical Comedy with its irresistible brashness and irrepressible high spirits. I hope you enjoy it.

INDEX

Dances from Crete (2003)                                                                  
Adam Gorb

Commissioned by Hilary and Timothy Reynish in memory of their third son William (1966-2001)

World premiere by the Royal College of Music Wind Orchestra, 14^th November 2003, conductor Tim Reynish

Syrtos
Tik
Samaria Gorge
Syrtaki

An brief introductory unison statement ushers in a fast moving dance dominated by the first tune that appears in the low wind. The mood is inspired by the myth of the Minotaur, half-beast, half-man, and the wild sacrificial rites which accompanied the sacrifice of seven maidens and seven young men. The second dance, Tik is in a teasing 5/8, gradually dying away until a plaintive lone offstage trumpet reminds us of the introduction and leads into Sanaria Gorge, a ponderous 7/4 evoking the well-known tramp through the dark crevice, ending with a plunge into the Libyan Sea.  The link to the finale, Syrtaki, is again offstage, but this time erupts into a swaggering final theme, the basis for a very fast plate-smashing dance.

INDEX

Downtown Diversions (2000)                                                                                          
Adam Gorb

Premiere February 24 2001 at the National Conference of CBDNA, Denton, Texas, by Don Lucas with Texas Tech University, conductor John Cody Birdwell

Presto
Andante
Vivo

Adam Gorb writes:

The character of this 15 minute work is that of a serenade of 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 in three movements which 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 very 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 only the woodwind and horns return for the final  movement which is a  variation of the first movement in 10/8 time

INDEX

Yiddish Dances (1998)                                                                         
Adam Gorb

World premiere 9^th March 1998, RNCM Wind Orchestra conducted by Timothy Reynish

Yiddish Dances was commissioned by Timothy Reynish for his 60^th birthday. It is very much a party piece and brings together two of my abiding musical passions: the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Klezmer - the folk music of the Yiddish speaking people.

The piece is about fourteen minutes long and is in five movements, all based on set Klezmer dances:

Khosidl - medium tempo 2/4 in which the music moves freely between satire, sentimentality and pathos.
Terkische - 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 previous movements are recalled, ending in a riotous booze-up for all concerned.

Le Chaim! (to life)

Programme note by the composer:

He comments:

Two generations ago, my family was Gorbalewsky, we actually left Russia at the start of the 20^th century and arrived in Germany; thank goodness we did not stay there, we went to Belgium, some went to America and some of us went to England. The Yiddish culture is about travelling and picking up influences, it’s about a certain sense of irony, comedy and tragedy at the same time. The thing that interests me about trying to write comedy is the proximity of tragedy, they go together hand in hand. In the film, Schindler’s List, I think some of the most wonderful scenes in that film were in the ghetto, people who were doomed who were making the best of it, telling jokes. I found this incredibly moving, and I wanted to have a sense of this in this piece.

When we talk about good or bad music, this (Yiddish Dances) is quite bad music really, basically it’s rather crude, the melody is somewhat obvious. The thing that stops it being a total disaster is the relationship between C# and G minor, the tension between that C# and the harmony - I could have written something which could have been written in about 1820, a bad Hungarian piece of dance music, quite rightly forgotten over the past 150 years, so a certain harmonic tension stops it being totally disastrous.

INDEX

Bridgewater Breeze (1996)                                                                                            
Adam Gorb

Commissioned by Timothy Reynish

Foxtrot
Samba
Merry-Go-Round
Russian Lament
Hoe Down

Bridgwater Breeze is a transcription for band of an earlier Suite for Winds and was premiered in November 1996 by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Four of the movements are based on popular dance types, and the Russian Lament very sadly looks back perhaps to the early days of the century when the Gorbevskys lived in central Europe. The problems here are confidence in solo playing, counting bars rest, appreciating Adam Gorb’s quirky phrasing and sometimes surprising dynamics and orchestrations. A great audience and ensemble training piece at about Grade 3.

INDEX

Symphony no. 1 in C (2000)                                                                                             
Adam Gorb

For 12 winds and double-bass

Commissioned by Tom Hill for a private party, premiered by the RNCM Wind Ensemble, conductor Tim Reynish, 10 June 2000.

First public performance conducted by Clark Rundell, 28 June 2000.

Allegro molto
Andante cantabile
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. In writing my first symphony I have ignored this colossal weight of expectancy and written a party piece, which I think is appropriate as it was commissioned for a fortieth birthday party.

The mood is light and effervescent as befits an accompaniment to champagne and strawberries on a summer evening. The structural and thematic model of the piece is a very famous first Symphony in C by a certain L. van Beethoven. Towards the end of the fourth and final movement may be found quotations from other celebrated symphonies in C. Your answers, on a postcard please, to ….

G.

INDEX

Elements (1998)                                                                                                                
Adam Gorb

Suite for Percussion and Wind Ensemble

Earth - Allegro moderato
Water - Andante
Fire - Prestissimo
Air - Largo/Presto

The origins of the four elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air date 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 four 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 different 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  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.

INDEX

Concerto for Solo Clarinet Radical and Symphonic Wind Band (2000)       
Philip Grange

Sheng Sheng Bu Shi

Commissioned by the RNCM Wind Orchestra

World premiere with Alan Hacker, conducted by Timothy Reynish 22^nd November 2000

This substantial twenty minute piece, written between May 1998 and October 2000, brings together my long standing admiration for the clarinet playing of Alan Hacker (with whom I studied as a student) and my more recent study of Chinese language and literature. The latter is reflected in the work’s poetic title, Sheng Sheng Bu Shi which is a Chinese expression taken from the I-Ching, (The Chinese Book of Changes) that could be translated as Ever growing, never stopping.

The genre based title of the work, Concerto for Solo Clarinet Radical and Symphonic Wind Band, reflects the relationship between the soloist and the wind-band, which is not simply that of virtuoso with accompaniment, but involves a lot of interaction. Puns are also intended in the use of the word radical for it not only refers to the 214 radicals upon which Chinese characters are built, but also to the fact that the clarinet soloist is the root of all the music (one meaning of the word), but ends the piece by standing out against it (a more contemporary use of the term).On another level, the word also refers to Alan Hacker’s research into the roots of the clarinet in order to establish his own distinctive approach to the instrument, and the fact that he has made a radical stance against many unmusical practices in the profession.

The piece also reflects many other influences from Chinese culture and language, but the music never indulges in simple chinoiserie, the style being very much my own. The work starts with the clarinet imitating and aiding in the development of four different strata. These strata take it in turns to dominate the musical discourse, and with each subsequent appearance they develop, expand and get faster. As the piece progresses the strata lose their individuality and finally become reduced to scurrying scherzo-like material. Towards the completion of this process there is a passage in which the soloist attempts to draw the clarinets from the band into a stand against the rest. However, it is the soloist who finally attempts to stop the musical flow, only to be overwhelmed by the scherzo, which accelerates to such an extent that it breaks down, leaving the soloist to lament as the music fragments even more

Philip Grange

INDEX

Concerto for Tuba  (1984)                                       
Edward Gregson (b. 1945)

Allegro Deciso
Lento e Mesto
Allegro Giocoso

Originally written for brass band (and subsequently orchestra) this work was commissioned by the Besses o' th' Barn Brass Band, with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It is dedicated to John Fletcher, who gave the first performance of the wind band version on 1 June 1984 at the Grieg Halle, Bergen, Norway, and the first British Performance at the RNCM on 3 November 1984 with the RNCM Wind Orchestra.

The concerto is in three movements, following the usual quick-slow-quick pattern. The first is in a sonata form shell with two contrasting themes, the first rhythmic in character, the second lyrical. There is a reference made in the development section to the opening theme of Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto, but only in passing. The second movement unfolds a long cantabile melody for the soloist, which contrasts to a ritornello idea announced three times by the band. The last movement is in rondo form, alternating the main theme with two episodes. The first of these is a broad sweeping tune, the second is jazz-like in style. After a short cadenza, reference is made to the opening of the concerto, and the work ends in a triumphal flourish.

INDEX

Missa Brevis Pacem                                                     
Edward Gregson

Kyrie
Gloria
Baritone solo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Angus Dei

This work was commissioned by the National School Band Association, with funds provided jointly by NSBA and the Riyadh Concert Band of Saudi Arabia.

The idea of writing a work for Boy's voices, Baritone Solo and Symphonic Wind Band came about as a gradual process. My original brief was to write a work just for wind band but I had had for some time in the back of my mind the idea of combining the purity of sound of young voices together with the particular qualities of wind and brass (with percussion) accompaniment. I had also wanted to set the words of the Latin Mass for a long time, but in themselves they were too abstract for this particular purpose and the idea of a central English text gradually emerged. The concept of peace in these troubled times is a much considered theme. I asked my wife, who is a writer, to provide me with a suitable text, and I think the conviction of the words speak for themselves.

The last words of the Agnus Dei are, of course, Dona Nobis Pacem (Give us Peace). The entry of the baritone at the end in English is mirrored by the entry of the Boy's voices with the Latin words at the end of the Baritone solo 3rd section.

The work lasts around 25 minutes and is structured in an arch shape with the baritone solo acting as the central emotional core of the music. The Mass begins and ends quietly, pivoting on the note E both times. The opening Kyrie is full of foreboding with its middle Christe Eleison suddenly faster and rhythmic. The Gloria is highly-charged but joyful, ending in a blaze of G major. The Sanctus is majestic and centred on Bb (a tritone away from the opening E), but moving into a triumphant C major for the Osanna in Excelsis. The Benedictus which follows unashamedly unfolds a simple and expressive cantabile tune by a Treble solo. The Agnus Dei returns to the unsettling atmosphere of the Kyrie with harsh brass fanfares before the final coda brings a serene conclusion to the work with the words Dona nobis pacem.

Edward Gregson

INDEX

Concerto for Piano and Wind (Homages) (1995)                 
Edward Gregson

The work was commissioned by the Berkshire Young Musicians Trust with funds provided by the Trust, South West Arts and BASBWE Education Trust. It was premiered in 1995.

The concerto is subtitled Homages and is a musical tribute to the various twentieth century composers whose piano concertos I so admired when I was young (and still do!) particularly those by Stravinsky, Bartok, Rachmaninov and Poulenc. My intention was to write a concerto which would be accessible both for performers and audience.

The concerto is in three movements: fast-slow-fast. The first movement contrasts an impetuous opening theme on the piano (heard after a brief introduction) which is rhythmic in a neo-classical manner. The second theme is more lyrical and romantically-tinged and is heard initially on the flute with the piano taking an subsidiary accompanying role (later in the movement this process is reversed).  The development section takes on  the mood of the rhythmic music and reaches a cadenza , at which point the piano takes off into a cadenza. The orchestra returns with the first theme, with the piano taking up the second theme. A brief coda ends the movement abruptly.

The second movement is built on a rising three-note figure, always present throughout the texture of the music. A simple melodic utterance unfolds, firstly on oboe, later on piano and soprano saxophone. The movement builds to a climax (with a prominent saxophone solo) and subsides to where it began.

The last movement is swirling dance-like music. Bartokian time-changes form the fabric of the main theme (heard regularly as a rondo); later, however, a new theme is heard – reputedly the first example of English monody by one St. Godric, a twelfth-century monk living in Yorkshire – which then dominates the rest of the movement and brings the concerto to a rousing finish.

The work is dedicated to John McCabe, whose playing and compositions I have admired for many years.

Edward Gregson

INDEX

Concerto for Cello and Wind                                                                      
Frederik Gulda

Ouverture
Idylle
Cadenza
Menuett
Finale alla marcia

This work was written for the cellist Heinrich Schiff.  The work opens with a jazz fanfare which forms the basis of the first movement.  Two main choruses, characterised by aggressive rock rhythms, are played three times each, interrupted by two gentle lyrical interludes.  This section places particularly heavy demands on the soloists technique.  The Idylle is inspired by the beauty of the Austrian Salzkammergut (Lake District) and is a very simple movement, in which the melody is introduced by horns, taken up by the soloist and developed alternately by the two.  A middle section, jovial and romantic in turns, then leads back to the resolution of the central theme.  The Cadenza develops out of the last B-flat major chord of the second movement and is the central part of the Concerto.  It features two easily recognisable improvisations by the soloist, the first with wild double stopping and the second with whistling harmonics while, in between, the cello provides a stark contrast with thoughtful and hesitating monologues.  This movement is followed by a calming, almost ethereal Minuet before the Finale which is, as its name suggests, a march played in Alpine style by the brass band.  A frantic jazz-like middle section follows, inspiring the soloist to greater intensity and bringing us, via a vigorous coda, to a breathless end.

INDEX

Bandanna Overture (1998)                                               Daron Hagen (b 1961)

World premiere 24^th February 1999, conducted by H Robert Reynolds

The opera, Bandanna, was commissioned by the College Band Directors' National Association, and premiered at the CBDNA Conference on Thursday 25^th February at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted by Michael Haithcock. To fund the opera, seventy-eight Colleges, Universities and Conservatoires including the RNCM collaborated in a unique consortium; one of the stipulations was that Hagen should write two works based on material from the opera which could later be used as independent wind orchestral pieces by bands.

The Overture starts with an allegro con brio, introducing a rhythmic motif associated in the opera with the beating of the heroine's heart, a seven bar refrain which accompanies a fist fight (beat him to death….slap on the cuffs), followed by broader melodic material. A central section marked Maestoso, Like the Main Title of a '30's Melodrama is the melody which begins, climaxes and ends the opera, appearing first as a chorus of migrant workers (we strike out across the river, with our lives between our teeth) as they plunge across the Rio Grande from Mexico to the United States, the second time underpinning the scene where Morales "crosses over" from jealousy to madness, and finally at the close of the opera after Mona's death, when her soul is passing from this world to the next.

"To live is to sleep; to die is to awaken."

INDEX

Overture 1912 (1963)                                                      -Iain Hamilton (b 1922)

The Light Overture "1912" was originally written in 1958 for orchestra, and was re-scored for concert band in 1963 whilst the composer was working at Duke University in the United States. It is dedicated to "the memory of Dan Leno of Drury Lane". Iain Hamilton adds a note to the wind version:

"The year 1912 was the highest peak of the old London music halls, with their array of great stars among whom Dan Leno was incomparable. This overture celebrates those great days."

A portentous introduction, muted trumpet theme over clashing tonal centres of A minor and augmented triads on Eb, leads to the main allegro, an energetic cockney piccolo tune with a hint of a rumba in its coda. This is treated in a variety of keys, rhythms and orchestrations and leads very properly to a second idea in A minor, also the subject of variations. The trumpet theme of the introduction turns out to be a waltz, which in turn gives way to a foxtrot. There is a regular recapitulation during which we find that most of the material works equally well either separately or simultaneously. The work ends brilliantly with a welter of counterpoint and a final peroration.

INDEX

Double Variations for Oboe, Bassoon & Wind Ensemble (1989) -Edward Harper

Edward Harper frequently uses architectural forms of earlier composers as a source for his own structures.  Here his solution for the puzzle of combining two soloists with wind ensemble is to adopt one of Haydn's favourite forms, that of the double variations. The two themes are very different; that for the wind orchestra is rhythmically bold, harmonically simple with its reliance on major and minor thirds, while that of the soloists is lyrical, rhapsodical, more far-ranging harmonically.  Orchestra and soloists scarcely overlap, until with growing rhythmic intensity in the orchestral interludes which are shadowed by the soloists who begin to explore the top range of the tessitura and more brilliant passage-work, the emotional climax of the work is reached, a unison outburst for all of the woodwind instruments.  The carefully controlled pulse now at last relaxes into a lengthy coda.

INDEX

PROGRAMME NOTES

NORMAN E SMITH

The most complete book of programme (program) notes that I know is Program Notes for Band by Norman E Smith, published in 2000 shortly after the death of the author and available from retailers or from the publishers GIA Publications.  1600 program notes and 600 biographies of composers give a fine overview of the state of wind music as at 1998. Biographies are soon outdated, as are lists of works; however, this volume contains a vast amount of research, and all other books or websites of programme notes can be regarded as useful supplements to this book, a crucial addition to everyone’s library. I have in the past recommended that the various associations world of wind ensembles use the Smith book as a basic core repertoire up to the year 2000, providing leaflets, web pages or booklets with other additional information

CBDNA

The CBDNA website is fast growing with many services for non-members including access to programme notes by Robert Garofalo, Brian Doyle and Kevin Geraldi. To browse this put your mouse on CBDNA Programme Notes; where in Resources you will find sections on:

Composers - Program Notes  -  Compact Discs  -  Recent Research

MUSIC PROGRAM NOTES FOR BAND AND WIND ENSEMBLE MUSIC

This is an index, ordered by composer, of the program notes and biographies generated for use in programs for performances of the Foothill College Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

INDEX