Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett
Commissioned by the BBC in 1989
Duration 15.00 Minutes
Click on MORE DETAILS to view an image of the Solo Cornet part.
In a preface to the score, the composer explains that ‘the folk song The Flowers of the Forest is believed to date from 1513, the time if the battle of Flodden, in the course of which the archers of the Forest (a part of Scotland) were killed almost to a man’.
Bennett had already used the same tune in his Six Scottish Folksongs (1972) for soprano, tenor and piano, and it is the arrangement he made then that forms the starting-point for the brass-band piece.
A slow introduction (Poco Adagio) presents the folk song theme three times in succession - on solo cornet, on solo cornets and tenor horns, and on muted ripieno cornets in close harmony - after which the work unfolds through five sections and a coda.
Although played without a break, each of these five sections has its own identity, developing elements of the tune somewhat in the manner of variations, but with each arising from and evolving into the next.
The first of these sections (Con moto, tranquillo) is marked by an abrupt shift of tonality, and makes much of the slow rises and falls characteristic of the tune itself. The tempo gradually increases, to arrive at a scherzando section (Vivo) which includes the first appearance of the theme in its inverted form.
A waltz-like trio is followed by a brief return of the scherzando, leading directly to a second, more extended, scherzo (con brio) based on a lilting figure no longer directly related to the theme. As this fades, a single side drum introduces an element of more overtly martial tension (Alla Marcia) and Bennett says that, from this point on, he was thinking of Debussy’s tribute to the memory of an unknown soldier (in the second movement of En Blanc et noir, for two pianos).
Bennett’s march gradually gathers momentum, eventually culminating in a short-lived elegiac climax (Maestoso) before the music returns full-circle to the subdued melancholy of the opening.
The work ends with a haunting pianissimo statement of the original tune.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Michael Kenyon
Previously set as a 3rd. Section testpiece in 1987.
Duration 10.00
FIRST MOVEMENT — NORTHERN SONG
‘Dance to your Daddy’ is presented in a variety of ways. Following the opening section the tune is appropriately treated in a quasi-hornpipe style and the scoring highlights various sections in turn. Brief references to ‘The Keel Row’ can be found. Before the final Presto a broader version of the main theme appears accompanied by a reference to ‘Blow the wind southerly’.
SECOND MOVEMENT — LULLABY
Gently flowing music is based mainly on the 17th century song ‘Golden Slumberst The melodic line is not confined to one particular instrument and the trombone section has an important rola In keeping with the mood of the music the listener will also be aware of fragments of ‘Hush a-bye baby’ and Brahms’ “Lullaby “
THIRD MOVEMENT — PERPETUUM MOBILE
Apart from the introduction and coda the perpetual motion is manifested by continuous quaver movement. ‘There was a jolly miller provides the inspiration with the appropriate line, ‘As the wheel went round: As in the previous movements the scoring is varied in texture and colour.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gavin Higgins
A Forest Symphony was commissioned for the 2007 Voices in the Forest Festival, with the support of Creative Partnerships, the Forest of Dean. The first performance was given by the Lydbrook Band. A Forest Symphony explores the hidden and magical world of the forest; secrets that may only be seen by the animals who live there, or by fortunate ramblers who stray from the beaten path.
Brass Band Grade 5
Duration: 12 minutes.
Grade equivalents for Brass Band test-pieces where there is considerable overlap at the higher levels, depending on the level of competition (local, regional or national):
Categories: TEST PIECES (Major Works), Music of BRUCE FRASER Composer / arranger: Bruce Fraser
FORTH SUITE was published for the 1990 Regional finals of the British Brass Band Championships as the second section test piece.
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to view the Solo Cornet part.
It is a descriptive work based on impressions of the River Forth, which meanders from the Trossachs opening out into a wide firth to join the North Sea. There are, however, no particularly Scottish elements in the melodies or harmony.
1. THE FIRTH — A busy industrial area at the mouth of the river. 2. UNDER THE BRIDGES — An image of yachts sailing. 3. BY CARRONSHORE — Flowing from the Trossachs the river reaches Stirling.
The composer dedicates the work to Nigel Boddice, who conducted the first performance.
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