Concert Band

Theatre Music

Grade 5 | 12 Mins

Theatre Music was commissioned by the 'Musikpreis Grenchen' (a Swiss concert band festival) a test piece for their 1990 Festival.

1. Overture

The Overture opens with a fanfare from the brass, which releases a flurry of notes from the woodwinds. Clarinets, horns and saxophones introduce the first subject, a perky tune that is thrown around various sections of the band until a second march-like theme takes over. The second subject proper, a smooth, cantabile tune on horns and saxes, leads to an echo of the opening. All the material is reprised before the movement ends as it opened.

2. Entr’acte

This is a slow, tender movement with solos for flute and alto saxophone and then oboe and tenor saxophone. A trumpet introduces a second theme and again this is played by the full band and leads to a recapitulation of the opening tune before the movement ends quietly and peacefully.

3. Finale

A headlong gallop of a movement, which starts with a robust tune from the middle of the band, which is then played in canon by the full band. A quiet martial episode leads to a flowing central tune which crescendos to a climax before giving way to a reprise of the opening tune. The movement ends with a brief reference to the Overture.