Brass Band

Vivid Brass

Grade 5 | 8 Mins

Vivid Brass was commissioned by Vivid Brass Tokyo, a brass band which is made up of professional players who meet up for concerts and recording projects. Philip Sparke has been a frequent guest conductor with the band and was delighted to be asked to write a new piece for their 2011 Regular Concert which took place May 22nd that year.

The work opens with a rhythmic unison fanfare which eventually settles into the home key of Ab major. This subsides back to a unison Eb before the cornets play a bell-like figure over a modal chorale in the lower band. After a brief climax, the music calms once again to introduce a mournful euphonium solo, again under bell-like cornets. A passionate full-band passage introduces a trio for the trombones before the opening fanfare reappears to usher the faster section of the work. A syncopated and modal horn tune emerges and this is taken up by the whole band after a mixed-meter bridge passage. A solo trombone changes the mood with a jazz waltz which is again repeated by the full band. A brief reference to the opening fanfare leads back to a new version of the horn tune and eventual recapitulation before a rhythmic coda brings the work to an emphatic close.