Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)
Composer: Martin Ellerby
Difficulty level: Championship
Dedicated to Stan and Shirley Kitchen, and set as the test piece for the 2012 BRITISH OPEN BRASS BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS in symphony Hall in Birmingham on Saturday the 1st. of September - and the Netherlands Brass Band Championships.
Duration, variable dependent upon interpretation c 12.00
Click on MORE DETAILS to view the 1st. and 2nd. Cornet Parts.
Electra, is loosely based on the play by Sophocles and the ‘Elecktra chord ‘used by the composer Richard Strauss to represent the eponymous character of his opera Elektra. This ‘chord’ and its various off-shoots provide the harmonic foundation for my whole work. The ‘chord’ is heard within the introductory bars as an expressive ‘scream’ and also once again at the climax of the first section in much the same style. Because this ‘chord’ can be interpreted in a vast number of ways I was intrigued to see how it could be developed over a reasonable span to provide the basis for a complete work without having anything to do with Strauss’s opera at all! However, the challenge was to make it work in such a way that it would not disturb a mainstream audience yet enable a brass band test piece to emerge unscathed from such intellectual origins.
My previous commissioned test pieces for brass band contests (Tristan Encounters, Chivalty, Elgar Variations, Malcolm Arnold Variations) have been built on a method of perpetual metamorphosis and emerged somewhat episodic in construction. Here there are three clear sections enabling a more symphonic approach to the writing. I would describe the outcome as a miniature ballet with characters, scenes, dramatic developments et al ever present and evolving. In performance the work is played without a break, though as an addition, between sections two and three, there is placed an intermezzo featuring cadenzas for the lower brass sections. The three parts are subtitled (for clarity) thus:
1. Lust for Revenge — highly rhythmically charged and with an ensemble approach to the writing.
2. Laments — the lyrical centre where all the key solos occur. The language exploits the more poetic properties of the ‘chord’, dissonance as such provided by chromatic appoggiaturas.
3. Dance to Death — return to rhythm as the main driving force requiring much attention to detail so as not to ‘spend’ the finale too soon.
The proportions of the work are crucial to the overall effect so balancing and blending this is the challenge to conductors. I have attempted to write a piece that can be ‘looked into’ by all concerned, without rigid restrictions. Therefore, I have declined the use of indicated metronome marks at any point suggesting speed with text only. The nature of the various sections should ‘suggest’ suitable tempi. Things are, to an extent, and in the spirit of the commissioning competition, somewhat ‘open’!
Martin Ellerby, June 2012
Performance notes:
I: Percussion 1 &2 have various groups of instruments to be played in close proximity and should be positioned from the outset with this in mind. They will need to play, often, with the same sticks and this is intentional unless otherwise stated. The Bass Drum will need to be placed on its side and the use of hard (SD) sticks on both the BD and the Tam-tam is a key part of the sound world of this work.
2: The Timpani part in sections one and three should employ ‘bright’ rhythmic sticks. A more ‘warm’ approach is encouraged in the second section.
3: The Cadenza section starting at [CC] should be self explanatory and a degree of experimentation is permissible. The tempo should not be too ‘relaxed’ and emerge out of the previous part ‘naturally’. However the texture that is initially set up should not attract too much attention to itself so as to enable the lower brass solos to emerge with clarity. The commencement of the cadenza section has three cues each bringing in the groups employed. In the score these are graphically notated and their positioning should indicate these entries. The instrumental parts have been cued with the Euphonium cadenza-duo so as to assist, securely, the lead into section three at which point the conductor should be firmly back in the process.
4: In both sections one and three there are what I might describe as ‘swell’ articulations first heard in the basses one bar before [A]. Again, these should be self explanatory but an appropriate sense of style is to be encouraged. An eye (and an ear) on the dramatic may pay dividends...
5: The use of rubato in section two is essential to a successful interpretation of this central contrasting component and requires taste and refinement not self indulgence.
6: The penultimate bar of section three, marked tacet, is part of the compositional process and the 3/8 time signature is most certainly intended.
7: What I have given a lot of detail to are dynamics and articulation and these should be adhered to wherever possible.
8: Finally, (in a contest context) adjudicators of this piece should familiarise themselves with my performance notes and are requested to understand that there is a certain ‘licence’, sanctioned by the composer, in the delivery and interpretation of this work. A musically persuasive outcome is a first preference...
Martin Ellerby, June 2Ol2,)
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