Cat No. JM39202
Price £69.00
Composer: Richard Wagner
Arranger: Howard Lorriman
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)

Set as the Championship Section testpiece for the 2005 Regional Championships.

Short mp3 audio extracts and an image of the Solo Cornet part are provided here to give you a sample of each section of the work.
Access them by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button.
You can buy the full recording of this work on the CD section of our site.

Rienzi was Wagner's third opera, completed when he was 27.
The overture was the last section to be written and features a number of themes from the opera including the opening trumpet call, taken from Act 3. After a somewhat sinister Introduction ( mp3 extract 1 ), the mood changes to one of optimism, with an expansive and memorable melody played, in this transcription, by the horns. Tension returns as trombones and cornets do battle with each other before the earlier melody returns on full band ( mp3 extract 2 ), with tricky embellishments in cornets & euphoniums.

It later emerges as the first part of the 2nd. subject group in the Exposition, which begins as the music goes into a quicker tempo, marked "Allegro energico" ( mp3 extract 3 ).
The music now arrives in the dominant key for the 2nd. subject, and the melody from the Introduction is now played as a cornet solo ( mp3 extract 4 ).

The Development section calls for stamina and a good technique from the whole band. A brief reference to the Introduction leads to a fairly conventional Recapitulation. A fast and furious Coda ( mp3 extract 5 ) referring to a number of earlier ideas brings the Overture to an exhilarating conclusion.

The recording is REGIONALS 2005 on Doyen DOY CD181