Cat No. JM51911
Price £64.95
Composer: Jonathan Bates
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)
Difficulty level: Fourth
Set as the 4th. Section Test piece for the National Finals of the 2012 British Brass Band Championships.

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A British Isles Suite is a musical exploration of poetry from around the British Isles. Each movement takes inspiration from a quote of literature, specific to the country the movement is about. The work is written in a symphonic style with a moderately paced opening movement, a slow and expressive second niovement, a lively two- part minuet and then a grand finale to close the suite.


Movement I
Scotland
“When chill November’s surly blast, make fields and forest bare”
“Man Was Made To Mourn” - Robert Burns

This movement depicts an open landscape in the Scottish Highlands in the middle of a crisp winter, with desolate fields and empty trees. Musically, this portrays a bleak outlook, with sharp jagged rhythms throughout the band, keeping faithful to the traditional Scottish rhythmic patterns heard from the outset.

Movement II
Wales
“Though lovers be lost, love shall not”
“And Death Shall Have No Dominion” - Dylan Thomas
This second movement is warm and romantic in nature and features several soloists within the band all expressing their own personal love stories between one another. An adaptation of the Welsh National Anthem, Land Of Our Fathers brings this peaceful movement to a subtle close.

Movement III
Isle of Man
“Make us free as thy sweet mountain air”
“Isle of Man National Anthem” - William Gill
The 3rd and 4th movement are performed without a break and link together two countries in which dance forms the stable backbone of their culture.
The opening motif of this movement is based around the Isle of Man, or Manx, National Anthem but it has been stylised into traditional Manx dance music (similar to English Morris Dancing). The movement opens with a duet from solo cornet and solo euphonium, which expands into a quartet before expanding furt her into a version for full ensemble. This links seamlessly into the following movement.

Movement IV
Ireland
“how do we tell the dancer from the dances?”
“Among School Children” — William Butler Yeats
The music is in full swing already from the preceding movement and a jaunty Irish jig transports the listener to a busy social gathering or party. As with a genuine Irish “Shin—Dig”, the music is full of excitement and bravura. As the movement closes the triangle is heard, signifying the last orders’ call and almost time to go home.

Movement V
England
“Be not afraid of greatness”
Malvolio “Twelfth Night”- William Shakespeare
The final movement pays homage to some of the great English composers. Following an opening fanfare from the cornet section and timpani, the first melodic line is presented with a striding homophonic accompaniment figure in the lower lines of the band. The melody line is based on Gustav Hoist’s transcription of In The Bleak Midwinter while the accompaniment is more reminiscent of the great symphonic marches of William Walton. The second melodic subject is heard in the horns and is based around the famous falling 7ths of Sir Edward Elgar’s Nimrod variation from his Enigma Variations.
Jonathan Bates - 2012

Duration c. 12’:OO”