Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Philip Harper
This is the Third Section test piece for the 2012 Regional Contest of the British Brass Band Championships.
Commissioned for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2012, the year of the London Olympics
The music begins with a depiction of the exciting Opening Ceremony where noisy fanfares and sudden swells add to the cosmopolitan flag-waving clamour. Without a break the music leads to The Chariot Race, a fast compound-time gallop with thundering hooves in the basses and percussion, and a heroic melody introduced by the tenor horns. Chariot racing was the main equestrian event in the Ancient Greek Games, which were founded in memory of King Oenomaus. In the Greek legend he suffered defeat in a chariot race to his son-in-law and Zeus’ grandson, Pelops, but much of the music is bitter-sweet to symbolise the fact that Pelops had to cheat to win – drawing parallels with some of the issues still facing modern-day athletics.
A slow, mystical passage follows, describing The Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The statue of Zeus, who was honoured throughout the Ancient Games’ history, was housed inside the temple and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The music depicts this period of the dawn of one of mankind’s most ancient civilisations and there is a series of solo passages above a drone.
The next section is called The Olympic Flame and a broad and lyrical anthem-like melody develops slowly in the euphoniums, which gradually ascends until the horns can take it over before passing upwards again to the cornets (Higher). The music bursts into bright life at the lighting of the flame and the regular rhythmic pattern which has been established goes through an accelerando (Faster).
The final section is called The Olympic Truce and aims to capture the cooperative spirit of the ancient practice of ending wars for the duration of the games. The anthem-like melody makes an affirmatory return (Stronger) and the work ends as it began – with a blaze of colour and a real sense of optimism and global celebration.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Peter Graham Difficulty level: Championship
First set as a Championship Section Test Piece in 1997 - for the National Brass band Championships of Great Britain.
Click on MORE DETAILS to listen to an audio extract and view an image of the score.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Ray Steadman-Allen
Written for the centenary of Salvation Army bands in 1978, On Ratcliff Highway was premiered by The International Staff Band (and simultaneously by Melbourne Staff Band in another venue). It was inspired by a sketch on the front page of a copy of The War Cry from 1886 which depicted the Whitechapel Salvation Army band marching through the notorious highway, surrounded by crowds, with the masts of ships seen beyond the East London slums.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Peter Graham
Peter Graham's most recent work - published on Monday 17th. May 2010, and set as the test piece for the 2010 British Open Brass Band Championships.
Click on MORE DETAILS to view the Solo Cornet part.
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” Letter from Isaac Newton to Robert Hooke, 5 February 1676
The art of brass playing embraces a range of diverse approaches and styles. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the musical melting pot of the USA. On the Shoulders of Giants pays tribute to this diversity and to the great American brass virtuosi whose legacy has provided the foundation for countless brass giants of today.
The opening movement, Fanfares, reflects on the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section. It has been suggested that the much-admired and distinctive style of the CSO Brass was initially driven by the Germanic repertoire favoured by the early music directors. Here the opening bars from the finale of Bruckner’s 8th symphony provide the departure point for the musical journey.
The work continues (attacca) with an Elegy. America’s role as the birthplace of jazz and two of her leading brass lights are remembered here – Miles Davis (through the sound world created for him by Gil Evans) – and the father of lyrical trombone playing Tommy Dorsey. In acknowledgement that jazz owes its origins to Negro spirituals, the gospel song Steal Away underpins the movement.
The finale, a Fantasie Brillante, pays homage to the turn of the century brass virtuosi of Sousa Band fame. The centrepiece of the movement finds Herbert L. Clarke, Arthur Pryor and Simone Mantia stepping from the mists of time to deliver snippets from their greatest solos (together with passing references to Sousa’s highest paid soloist, drummer August Helmecke). Moments of individual virtuosity lead to a series of ensemble power chords - giant footsteps in musical imagery. Finally, an allusion to the “chess-like” nature of brass band contesting brings the work to a dramatic conclusion.
On the Shoulders of Giants was commissioned by The Cory Band and The National Youth Brass Band of Wales with additional funding from Ty Cerdd – Music Centre Wales. The work was published for the 158th British Open Brass Band Championships, 2010.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Paul Lovatt Cooper
Orion was named after the giant huntsman in Greek mythology and is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognisable constellations in the night sky. This piece and its inspiration were composed as a tone poem creating a musical picture of this amazing phenomenon.
Orion was commissioned by the Association Cantonale Des Musiques Valaisannes for the Valais Music Festival 2014. Section: C
The opening introduces the constellation. Starting mysteriously with the percussion and basses this section develops a series of rhythmic and harmonic interludes from the upper brass. As this introduction develops, the melodic line lead by the Solo Cornet and Euphonium builds as the accompanying instruments increase in their rhythmic complexity. This section climaxes with a short fanfare motif which will be a prominent theme throughout this piece.
The fast rhythmic section that fallows serves as a technical test for the players. The thematic device introduced by the Solo Cornets is passed around various soloists and sections within the ensemble. This part of the tone poem gives the opportunity for the ensemble to highlight their technical prowess. The fanfare motif returns to conclude this section and takes the piece into the slow middle movement.
Motifs heard earlier are mixed with new ideas in this slow section which give an opportunity for a variety of soloists to demonstrate their musical prowess. After the various solo passages and cadenzas, the mood shifts dramatically to a more ominous section that builds in texture and dynamic. Concluding with our returning fanfare motif the piece then builds in momentum towards our finale section.
This finale is a technical showcase which will further test the playing ability and stamina of soloists, small groups and the full ensemble. Using prominent musical themes heard throughout this piece the music builds to a glorious conclusion fitting with wonderful constellation.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Paul Lovatt Cooper
Orion was named after the giant huntsman in Greek mythology and is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognisable constellations in the night sky. This piece and its inspiration were composed as a tone poem creating a musical picture of this amazing phenomenon.
Orion was commissioned by the Association Cantonale Des Musiques Valaisannes for the Valais Music Festival 2014. Section: C
The opening introduces the constellation. Starting mysteriously with the percussion and basses this section develops a series of rhythmic and harmonic interludes from the upper brass. As this introduction develops, the melodic line lead by the Solo Cornet and Euphonium builds as the accompanying instruments increase in their rhythmic complexity. This section climaxes with a short fanfare motif which will be a prominent theme throughout this piece.
The fast rhythmic section that fallows serves as a technical test for the players. The thematic device introduced by the Solo Cornets is passed around various soloists and sections within the ensemble. This part of the tone poem gives the opportunity for the ensemble to highlight their technical prowess. The fanfare motif returns to conclude this section and takes the piece into the slow middle movement.
Motifs heard earlier are mixed with new ideas in this slow section which give an opportunity for a variety of soloists to demonstrate their musical prowess. After the various solo passages and cadenzas, the mood shifts dramatically to a more ominous section that builds in texture and dynamic. Concluding with our returning fanfare motif the piece then builds in momentum towards our finale section.
This finale is a technical showcase which will further test the playing ability and stamina of soloists, small groups and the full ensemble. Using prominent musical themes heard throughout this piece the music builds to a glorious conclusion fitting with wonderful constellation.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Granville Bantock
Previously set as a 3rd. section testpiece.
Granville Bantock (1868—1946) Together with his great friend Elgar, Bantock did more than anyone to bring about the revival in the fortunes of British music. Apart from being one of the most prolific of all British composers, he used his tireless energy to promote unselfishly the works of his contemporaries like Delius, Hoibrooke, Boughton, Parry and others. He was Principal of Birmingham School of Music for over thirty years, helped publish two music journals, worked unstintingly with the festival movement and examined for Trinity College for more than half a century. As a conductor he took over a dance band in New Brighton and turned it into a symphony orchestra of professional standard, he was music director of a theatre company which he took on a world tour and also fulfilled many appointnients with major symphony orchestras both here and abroad. He it was who introduced the worksof Sibelius to this country, and the Finnish master marked their life-long association by dedicating his 3rd Symphony to him. Bantock’s compositions include operas, symphonies, tone poems, suites, ballets, chamber music, pieces for chorus and orchestra and many hundreds of songs and part-songs. He had a particular fondness for the Brass Band whose repertoire he enriched with several characteristic and major works. There are still many players who will remember with affection playing under his baton.
Orion Bantock’s wide-ranging interests embraced not only celtic, oriental and middle-eastern cultures, but a passion for classical Greece which drew from him some of his most distinguished works. In 1934 he relinquished his Birmingham appointment to become Chairman of the Corporation of Trinity College. He had often performed valuable work for them in the past, but now embarked on far more extended tours on their behalf, The early summer of 1935 found him on the Gulf of Mexico, where he completed his ‘Dramatic Overture’, Orion (originally ‘Symphonic’ overture) on 1st June. The story of Orion occupies a special place in Greek mythology, and clearly had a particular attraction for the composer. It tells of his great size, beauty and strength, his mighty feats, his numerous amours and exploits as a hunter: how he was blinded but had his sight restored with the advice of the Oracle before being transformed into a constellation where he is in ceaseless pursuit of the Pleiades, sword in hand, to brighten our otherwise dull winter nights. It would be a mistake to attribute specific incidents to particular parts of the work, but the listener is immediately struck by the dramatic grandeur and sweep of the score from its arresting opening to the massive conclusion: the quieter sections have either a poignancy or heroic melancholy which never allows the mood to sag. Harmonically, and to some extent melodically, Bantock pays tribute in this work to two composers he particularly admired, Liszt and Wagnei but Orion remains thoroughly characteristic of his best work. It is moreover genuinely symphonic. The scoring — Bantock’s own — is both full and restrained, admirably exploiting both the brilliant and sustaining qualities of the band. Like Elgar with the Severn Suite, Bantock later (1938) made an orchestral version entitled Agamemnon, but while this has merits of its own, the original Orion remains a classic of the medium.
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