Cat No. JM30885
Price £102.95
Composer: James Curnow
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)

Set as the First Section Test piece for the 2018 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.

Level of Difficulty = 5 
Duration 12.38

Theme and set of five variations.

Brass Metamorphosis, as is implied by the title, is a set of variations based on an original theme. The composition opens with a diminution of the main theme that is very incisive and unrelenting. This motif returns throughout and gives cohesiveness to the entire composition.

The first variation is presented in a rondo form and is based on the first five notes of the main theme. The second variation is slow and intense, and is based upon the first three notes of the main theme and motivic development of these notes.

The third variation is an agile scherzo based on two new themes derived from the original theme. The main theme occasionally appears, intertwined with the melodic material of this variation. Variation four is slow and expressive in nature and uses as its melodic material the half-step between notes three and four, seven and eight and ten and eleven of the main theme.

After a brisk accelerando, the Coda is introduced by a reiteration of the opening motif, which leads to the unusual presentation of a fifth variation. This variation in very majestic in nature and builds to a final statement of the beginning motif, which draws the composition to its conclusion.