GAVIN HIGGINS
So Spoke Albion for brass band
GAVIN HIGGINS
So Spoke Albion
(2019)
For Brass Band
Copyright © 2019 by Gavin Higgins
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Copyright © 2019 Nimbus MusicPublishing
Gavin Higgins – Composer
Biography
Described as ‘boldly imaginative’ [The Times] and ‘a talent to watch’ [New York Times], Gavin Higgins is one of the most exciting and gifted compositional talents of his generation.
In 2010 Higgins became the inaugural composer in residence for the Rambert Dance Company for whom he wrote a number of daring ballet scores including the ground-breaking Dark Arteries (2015) which was shortlisted for Royal Philharmonic Society and British Composer Awards. In 2019 his first opera, The Monstrous Child – commissioned by the Royal Opera House – opened to critical acclaim, being described as ‘a triumph’ [the Guardian ★★★★] and ‘a spectacular new opera’ [Culture Whisper ★★★★] and in 2020 Higgins was appointed Composer-in-Association with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Higgins has worked with orchestras and ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Psappha New Music Ensemble, Manchester Camerata, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
His collaborations with soloists has resulted in important additions to the concerto repertoire. This includes his wild and wacky Percussion Concerto for Colin Currie; the Horn Concerto for Ben Goldscheider, described as ‘an immediate hit’ [the Times]; and his Trombone Concerto (The Book of Miracles), commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, both of which won an Ivor Novello Award in 2019 and 2024.
His work has been commissioned by some of the UK’s leading festivals, including four commissions for the BBC Proms: Der Aufstand (2012), Rough Voices (2020), the ‘fast, exciting and brilliantly scored’ [The Telegraph] Velocity which opened the Last Night of the Proms (2014), and his boldest and most substantial piece to date, the ‘ingenious work’ [Observer ★★★★★] Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra (2022) for which he won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award and a South Bank Sky Arts Award.
So Spoke Albion was commissioned by Tredegar Town Band.
The premiere was given by the Tredegar Town Band, conducted by Ian Porthouse at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, on the 1st May 2022
Instrumentation
Soprano Cornet
4 Solo Cornets (I-IV= Flugel Horn)
1 Repiano Cornet
2 2nd Cornets
2 3rd Cornets
Flugel Horn
3 Tenor Horns
2 Baritones
3 Trombones
2 Euphoniums
2 E♭ Basses
2 B♭ Basses
4 Percussion:
Prc. 1. – Crotales (shared), Tin Cans (3), Marimba (shared), Xylophone
Prc. 2. – Tubular Bells, Crotales (shared), Suspended Cymbal, Whip, Tam-tam (shared), Marimba (shared), Tambourine, Metal Bars (2).
Prc. 3. – Tom-toms (3), Bongos, Temple Blocks (5), Marimba (shared), Glockenspiel, Tam-tams (Large and Medium), Tin Cans (2), Metal Dustbin, Cow Bells (2)
Prc. 4. – Bass Drum, Suspended Cymbal, Tubular Bells.
Score is transposed.
Duration: 17 mins
Programme note
William Blake (1757 – 1827) is a seminal figure in the world of visual arts and poetry. He was a prolific arDst, poet, illustrator, printer and engraver whose enormous body of work went largely unrecognised during his lifeDme. A rebellious and radical thinker he was and enigmaDc outsider and misunderstood by his contemporaries who oHen thought him mad. He was a complex man with an unusual set of beliefs for his Dme: a ChrisDan who aLacked organised religion; a mysDc who would see ‘visions’ of angels; and a forerunner of the ‘free love’ movement.
In this piece I have taken inspiraDon from several aspects of Blake’s life: Blake the visionary, Blake the man (or rather his relaDonship with his wife, Catherine and the integral role she played in his creaDve process) and Blake the arDst.
I. Angels on Peckham Rye – As a child Blake would embark on long walks into Camberwell, Dulwich and Nunhead. It was on one of these walks that he saw his first vision: a tree filled with angels on Peckham Rye: ‘Sauntering along, the boy looks up and sees a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars’.
II. Catherine – William Blake married Catherine Boucher in 1782 and they were by all accounts an extremely devoted couple. Catherine not only supported her husband emoDonally but was in fact a highly skilled collaborator, acDvely involved with the engraving and prinDng process of his illuminated books. Peter Ackroyd called their marriage, ‘one of the most poignant relaDonships in literary history’.
III. Albion Rose – A man, Albion, is stood naked and outstretched on a rock, beams of light burst out in all direcDons from behind him. Unlike the imagery in much of Blake’ other work, Albion is not hunched over or curled up, but stretching out, open to the world, opDmisDc, symbolising England’s poliDcal awakening.
The Dtle for the piece comes from Blake’s final and longest epic poem, Jerusalem: the emana.on of the giant Albion:
So spoke Albion in jealous fears, hiding his EmanaDon Upon the Thames and Medway, rivers of Beulah: Dissembling
His Jealousy before the throne divine, darkening cold!
Gavin Higgins (2019)
q = 158 Invigorating, with energy
Soprano Cornet
Solo Cornet
Repiano Cornet
2nd Cornet
3rd Cornet
Flugelhorn
Solo Horn
1st Horn
2nd Horn
1st Baritone
2nd Baritone
1st Trombone
2nd Trombone
Bass Trombone
Percussion 1. [Crotales] [Tin Cans]
Percusion 2. [Tubular Bells]
Percussion 3. [Bongos] [Tom-toms]
Percussion 4. [Bass Drum]
II. CATHERINE
III. - ALBION ROSE
Gavin Higgins Published Works
SHORT PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA
NMP1354 Velocity for orchestra – 6 mins
NMP1355 Sarabande for orchestra – 6 mins
NMP1352 - While Time Quietly Kills Them for chamber orchestra - 10 mins
STRINGS
NMP1321 Ekstasis for 2 violin. 2 viola. 2 cello – 25 mins
NMP1322 Gursky Landscapes for 2 violin. 1 viola. 2 cello – 25 mins
NMP1320 The Ruins of Detroit for violin. cello. piano. – 13 mins
NMP1323 Seven Welsh Folk Songs for solo violin. – 13 mins
NMP1324 Dacw ‘Nghariad (There is love) for solo cello – 3 mins
NMP1325 Dacw ‘Nghariad (There is love) for solo viola – 3 mins
WIND
NMP1326 Three Broken Love Songs for basset clarinet in A and piano – 15 mins
NMP1327 Three Broken Love Songs for B flat clarinet and piano – 15 mins
NMP1328 Endgame for saxophone quartet – 12 mins
NMP1329 After Fallout for wind quintet – 10 mins
NMP1357 Urbis for saxophone quartet – 10 mins
NMP1330 Drop Dead for solo clarinet or solo soprano saxophone – 6 mins
NMP1339 Sadly Now The Throstle Sings for wind orchestra - 6 mins
NMP1365 Love Song for Oboe & Piano - 5 mins
INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLES
NMP1356 Atomic Café - 15 mins for Flute (= picc.), Oboe, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon (= cbsn.), Horn, Harp, Strings (min 1.1.1.1.1.)
NMP1316 What Wild Ecstasy (Ballet) – 14 mins for Flute (= picc.), Oboe (= ca), B flat Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon (= cbsn.), Horn, Trumpet in C (= flg.), Trombone, 1 Percussion, Piano, Harp, Strings (min 2.1.1.1. – preferably 8.6.4.2.)
NMP1318 Dance Suite – 9 mins for Flute (= picc.), Oboe, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon (= cbsn), 2 Horns, Trumpet in C, Trombone, 2 Percussion
KEYBOARD
NMP1333 Urban Fairy Tales for solo piano. – 13 mins
NMP1334 Kathedrale for solo accordion – 6 mins
PERCUSSION
NMP1319 Road Works for solo percussion. and 2-4 percussion ensemble – 6 mins
NMP1312 Percussion Concerto (Beano Concerto) for percussion and orchestra – 18 mins
www.gavinhiggins.com
Scores and parts available from Nimbus Music Publishing, CDs, download and stream available from Nimbus Records and Lyrita www.wyastone.co.uk/nmp publishing@wyastone.co.uk 01600 890007
NI6421
