Edward Gregson
Symphony in two movements for brass band
Full Score
NOVELLO
This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (with funding from Ty Cerdd – Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively; and by the British Open Brass Band Championships. The symphony was given its premiere performances by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain conducted by Bramwell Tovey, in April 2012, at the Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare, and Cadogan Hall, London. It was given its Welsh premieres by the National Youth Brass Band of Wales conducted by Nicholas Childs, in July 2012, at the Great Hall, University of Aberystwyth, and Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. The symphony received its contest premiere at the European Brass Band Championships in Oslo, in May 2013, by Black Dyke Band conducted by Nicholas Childs.
Instrumentation The work is written for normal brass band instrumentation plus timpani and two percussionists. The percussion requirements are as follows: Percussion 1: Snare Drum, Bass Drum (shared with Perc.2), Claves, Suspended Cymbal (medium), Clashed Cymbals, Triangle, Crotale (unpitched), Percussion 2: 4 Tom-toms, 2 Bongos, Bass Drum (shared with Perc.1), Claves, Suspended Cymbal (large), Tam-tam, Bell Tree, Tubular Bells
Duration c. 18 minutes
Composer’s Note The Symphony in two movements is my most substantial ‘abstract’ work for brass band to date. Structurally it is based on the form used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a sonata-form allegro, followed by a theme and four variations. The opening Toccata is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the ‘traditional’ structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation. In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement, Variations, is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of ‘romances’ for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; and finally a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement; thus it becomes a recapitulation for the whole work, reaching its peroration with a dramatic return to the very opening of the symphony in the ‘home’ tonality. Much of the material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note ‘row’, which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasiserial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony is both musically and technically demanding, as befits the nature and purpose of its commission. Edward Gregson 2013