Cat No. JM48926
Price £59.95
Composer: Kevin Norbury
Categories: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC, SALVATIONIST MUSIC

Comments by Kevin Norbury :

In his relatively short lifetime, Henry Purcell (1659 —1695) achieved stellar musical success and was known and admired internationally by his contemporaries. He is justifiably considered one of England’s greatest composers.

I thought long and hard before using this magnificent theme as the basis for a band piece because I think that Benjamin Britten has said just about everything possible regarding it in his The young person s guide to the arches tra. Bearing this in mind, I tentatively set about working on this composition. Once started though, the job became fin because the theme still yielded possibilities - even after Britten! The piece is basically a set of linked variations, much like Rachmaninov’s great Rhapsody on theme by Paginini. The music starts slowly and makes much use of crisply dotted rhythms — a Purcellian characteristic. The theme is heard twice before the music changes into a jaunty duple time variation based on the opening motif of Purcell’s theme. After this, the mood changes to a waltz-like variation in which clear references to the original theme can be heard. The slow movement follows, and is based on rising and descending scalic figures. This variation is an ‘A-B-A’ movement with two similar passages framing a more vigorous middle section which features antiphonal fanfare-like figures. Without any preamble, the last variation launches itself — a rumbustious dance which has a distinctive feel to it. The theme eventually reappears as a counter-melody to this dance music before a final triumphant treatment of the melody featuring a somewhat athletic bass line. The music accelerates at the Coda and disappears in a ‘puff of smoke’.

Programme note :
This theme by Henry Purcell, made famous by Benjamin Britten in his ‘The young person’s guide to the orchestra has been given a new treatment by Kevin Narbury. It was written for the International Staff Band who premiered the work at the January 2005 Festival of Brass, at the Royal Northern College of Music.