Programme notes

Sir Malcolm Arnold (b.1921)
BRASS QUINTET NO. 1 (1961)
Allegro Vivace ~ Chaconne ~ Allegro con Brio

Malcolm Arnold's 'Brass Quintet No 1' was written for the New York Brass Quintet in Janurary 1961 and premiered by them later that year. It has become perhaps the classic brass quintet work. It is typical of Arnold's essentially approachable style, with its lively opening Vivace, melancholy Chaconne, and jazzy Finale. Arnold himself was a trumpet player, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra during the 1940s, and the inside information he picked up as a performer in these years explains the quintet's wholly idiomatic writing for brass. Fine Arts Brass has known Arnold since the 1980s; some ten years ago he wrote his Brass Quintet No.2 for the Group for the Cheltenham Festival. Then, he spoke of his wish to write Quintet no. 3; while this is now unlikely, Quintet No.1 remains a classic of the Genre.

Leonard Salzedo (1921 - 2000)
TOCCATA FOR BRASS QUINTET (1989)

I first came across Leonard's music at the Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, when I was a student at the RCM. At home for the weekend in Tamworth, (washing needed doing!), I saw a Philip Jones Brass Ensemble concert advertised, and induced my Dad to take me along. PJBE played Leonard's Capriccio, which I knew from the PJBE album Modern Brass, which featured a graffiti-strewn brick wall as a cover. I was intrigued by the ingenuity of the cross-rhythms; once in a lesson with John Fletcher, the maestro spoke very warmly of the Capriccio and also of Leonard's Tuba Sonata, which Fletch premiered. I still can't play it.

With all of this background, then, I was delighted when the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble asked Leonard to write for us in 1989. It was a special occasion, our tenth anniversary as an ensemble, and we premiered the piece at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at Birmingham University. In 1980, this had been the venue for FABE's first rehearsal; we stole the name. We broadcast Toccata on Radio3 on 14th of March 1990.

At the premiere, I remember Leonard, white wine in hand, being very happy with the piece. He said that he had worked out the number of combinations of polyrhythms possible across 5 instruments in a 9/8 bar (the piece is wholly in 9/8); his only concern was that he had only used about 75% of those combinations, and felt that he could have got the other 25% in somewhere.

We have always enjoyed playing it.

Richard Sandland (Tuba)

Mickel Glinka (1804-57) Arr. Stephen Roberts
OVERTURE TO RUSSLAN AND LUDMILLA (1842)

The opera Russlan and Ludmila was written for the St. Petersburg Opera. Glinka was an acquaintance of Berlioz, Donizetti, Bellini and Mendelsohn, and he studied composition in Berlin with Dehn, a disciple of Beethoven.

Russlan and Ludmila's libretto is taken from a story by Pushkin that concerns the trials of the two lovers, who are eventually united despite the opposition of magical powers. The opera is widely regarded as the initial inspiration for the Russian National School of composition that culminated with the "Five".

J.S. BACH (1685-1750) Arr Toreilles/Barre
VIOLIN CONCERTO BWV 1041

This transcription of Bach's great A minor Violin Concerto was made for a Quintet competition in Europe in 1995. The piece was written in about 1730, soon after Bach took over directorship of Collegium Musicum. The piece is in Vivaldian ritornello form, in three movements. The first is built around the opening two-note figure; the second starts with the continuo with the melody following in the highly decorative solo part; the third is in characteristic Gigue rhythm, interlaced with fugal passages.

George Gershwin (1898 - 1937) Arr. Stephen Roberts
FOUR SONGS IN THREE MOVEMENTS
They Can't Take That Away From Me ~ Foggy Day/Love Walked In ~ Strike Up The Band

Four songs in three movements by one of America's greatest musicians. The first is a love duet between our two trumpet players. The second combines two of Gerswin's greatest ballads and includes a delicate trombone solo, while the third is possibly Gershwin's most popular song.

Gordon McPherson (b.1965 )
HELENSBOROUGH DERIVE (1992)

Helensburgh Derive was written in the winter of 1992. The title is a reference to the pre-decision to base the piece on the experiences of one day in Helensburgh. Using the process of "derive", a wander through a geographical area allowing the architecture to increase an awareness of how movements are directed, I wandered around the small town taking photographs. The piece was then written from these wanders. The day in question was wet.

Helensburgh derive was commissioned by the Helensburgh Orchestral Society with a financial subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council and was premiered there by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble.

Gordon McPherson was born in Dundee in 1965. He studied at the University of York, returning there for his doctorate, continuing with post-doctoral research at the Royal Northern Collage of Music. His work has been widely performed throughout the UK and abroad.

Recent works have included a second work for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Kamperduin, commissioned to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Camperdown, Friends in Strange Places, a new chamber work recorded for the inauguration of Dundee Contemporary Arts, a second study for guitar, Miami, premiered at the Wigmore Hall in 1998 and Detours, three works commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble.

Other works include The Baby Bear's Bed, for Icebreaker, to be premiered in Vienna in 1999, a new work for the Salisbury Festival, Macready's Breath for the NYO of Scotland, a seventh movement for his Handguns: A Suite for Psappha, a third string quartet for the Edinburgh Quartet and a third study for the Bath International Guitar festival.

He has recently been in demand both as a teacher and lecturer and currently teaches composition at the RSAMD in Glasgow, where he is visiting composer in Residence as well as lecturing on 20th Century Music and Analysis at St Andrews University.