Duration 3.30

The annual RNCM Festival of Brass features a number of the country's top bands and is a platform for modern compositions. Starburst and Canyons was composed for Dr Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band to perform at the festival in January 2011.

 

This piece takes its inspiration from John Adam's marvellous orchestral work 'Short Ride in a Fast Machine'. Starburst and Canyons follows a minimalistic blueprint with repetitive rhythmic passages from the cornets and percussion.

 

The idea behind the piece when listening to it is if you imagine going on a flight through and around the Grand Canyon in Arizona in the dead of night in a super charged jet plane. It is full of energy and momentum, it keeps on building in tension and colour to a tub thumping dramatic ending.