Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: John Golland
Previously used as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to view a sample of the Solo Cornet part.
This work was composed for Markus Bach and the Swiss National Youth Band in 1991.
The music is typical of the style of John Golland’s original works for brass band. His most famous composition “Sounds” was used for the European Championships held in Plymouth, England, shortly after his untimely death in 1993.
“Concerto” opens in a distinctive and mysterious style which sets the scene for the exciting ‘allegro’ movement which gives so much scope for dynamic and musical contrasts. The ‘adagio cantabile’ has solos for cornet and euphonium, this leading into the avant garde cadenza section with euphonium, cornet, horn, flugel horn and trombone all featured, a great chance to impress. The final ‘lento’ bridge leads into the ‘allegro molto’ which, after a pianissimo passage builds to the ‘maestoso’ section concluding the concerto in a rousing style. Duration: circa 16.30
Percussion requirements: Drum Kit, Tom Toms, Clashed Cymbals, Timpani, Tam Tam, Tambourine, Tubular Bells, Bell Tree, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, and Vibraphone.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Philip Sparke
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to listen to the three audio extracts provided.
Written in 1988 and commissioned by Howard Snell and the CWS (Glasgow) Band. This work takes the form of a Baroque Concerto Grosso , with a small group of soloists ( 2 cornets, horn & euphonium - the "Concertanti" group) and the larger ensemble or in this case full band ( the "Ripieno" group ). It is written in three continuous movements.
1. mp3 example 1 - Opens with a lively Vivo in which the quartet and band share the musical ideas between them. A key change heralds a central section in which members of the quartet play in turn solo and duet passages until the opening material returns.
2. mp3 example 2 - A Lento follows where, after a short introduction, the quartet plays a slow chorale alone. cadenzas from each of the soloists lead to a climax after which the chorale returns more full scored with band.
3. mp3 example 3 - The third and final section is a sprightly gallop, and once again the themes are thrown back and forth between quartet (the Concertanti group) and band ( the Ripieno group). A more lyrical interlude highlights each soloist in turn before the opening material returns and the piece chases towards a breathless conclusion.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Derek Bourgeois
Grade = 6 Championship Duration 17.00
There are three movements.
Le Tombeau d’Arthur Benjamin
Ravel wrote Le Tombeau de Couperin, Arthur Benjamin wrote Le Tombeau do Ravel and so the temptation to write Le Tombeau d’Arthur Benjamin was overwhelming, At the end of the movement, there is an oblique reference to to Benjarnin’s own Jamaican Rhumba which accompanies a quotation from an old Spanish folk song Loro, enciende el hervidor de agua.
Mr. Bolt goes for a ride in his motor car and Monsieur Rave! turns‘ in his grave.
The movement is dedicated to an old friend, Geoffrey Bolt, who adored the music of Ravel. At the time of writing, was learning to drive. He always described his vehicle as a motor car, to call him an impatient motorist would be a gross understatement. The refined suavity of Ravel’s music was in complete contrast to these early manifestations of road rage, hence the central angry outburst which was inspired by his particularly violent reaction to a minor traffic jam.
The March of the Ostriches.
The music of Charles Ives was fascinating me at the time of writing this movement and some of the influence has rubbed of in this rondo-like march. At the end, there is a quotation from the very beginning of the first movement. The title was inspired by the amusing antics of a group ostriches during a visit to Bristol Zoo.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: William Himes
You can view a sample of the Solo Cornet part by clicking on "MORE DETAILS".
Programme Note
William Himes’ Confluence was commissioned by the River City Brass Band for a series of concerts entitled Always a River, dedicated to the musical heritage of the American states linked by the Ohio River: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West
Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois (the state where William Himes resides).
The title relates to the fact that the Ohio River is created by the confluence of two rivers—the Allegheny and the Monongahela—at Pittsburgh, the home of the River City Brass Band. The piece was performed for the first time during April 1991 by the River City Brass Band conducted by Robert Bernat at concert sites in and around Pittsburgh.
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