Sections 1-4 Finals 2024 | Test Pieces
Please see a brief overview of eac set test-piece for this weekend's Sections 1-4 Finals 2024.
SECTION 1 - EXCALIBUR
Jan van der Roost is at the forefront of brass band composing, having written several critically-acclaimed works for the medium.
His first brass band work - Excalibur, written in 1987 - was commissioned by the Flemish Brass Band Federation. Never used before as a set test-piece in the UK, competing bands will need to get to grips with the technical & musical challenges in this engaging work.
Jan Van der Roost based this concert piece in three movements on the legend of King Arthur.
SECTION 2 - ALBINUS VARIATIONS
Composed by Etienne Crausaz in 2021, this work has never been used as a set test-piece in Great Britain before.
Based on Bach's Chorales 'Alle Menschen mussen sterben', Johann Georg Albinus wrote a number of Lutheran hymns set to music by various composers. Johann Sebastian Bach reworked and inserted some of these hymns into his cantatas, particularly the chorale 'Alle Menschen mussen sterben' in BWV 162.
Albinus Variations opens with a solemn cadenza followed by five contrasted variations on this chorale. Both versions of the chorale, in major and minor keys, were used as a reference for this work.
SECTION 3 - THE SHIPBUILDERS
The 20 bands competing in the Section 3 Final will each perform Peter Yorke’s classic “The Shipbuilders”. Written in 1960 and first used at The Grand Shield in 1965, this colourful work has been used to challenge bands as the set test-piece in 59 competitions to date, and still provided a stern test for each competing band.
A suite of great musical imagery, it is in four movements: Web of Steel; The Launching; All Hands at Work; Maiden Voyage.
SECTION 4 - SMOKE SKETCHES
Smoke Sketches is Daniel Hall’s first original work to be published in the Faber Music Brass Band Series, and was composed for the Intermediate Section of the 2017 National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. The work has only ever been used once more as a set test-piece for a band competition (Swiss Nationals 2021).
This colourful, jazzy suite draws inspiration from the ancient art of gazing into smoke from fire to find stories through the act of divination.
Into the Blaze suggests someone briskly firewalking, barefoot, with unexpected sparks fizzling from the ground. A Lonesome Ember captures the fleeting life of a small ember, beginning insignificantly and gradually evolving into a larger being before disappearing into ash, while Spark of Light bristles with life and energy.
