Ensemble
Concert Band
Duration
4' 35"
Date Of Composition
Work commenced in sketch in mid February and manuscript score completed on the 6th of April 2009.
Engraving was completed around mid April 2009.
Commissioner
New South Wales Dept of Education Training and the Arts and Chatswood High School.
Context For Creation
Gavin Staines has become a great supporter of mine through commissioning and he and I have grown close
as friends. This was a brave commission - along the lines of the Composition and Competition idea of
Cinque Quattro and others - and its premiere at the above festival was exciting, hearing numerous
primary school bands' renditions of it. More insight can be gained via a review of the correspondence
Email Staines Hultgren.
Premiere
Publisher
Manuscript
Manuscripts
Program Note
Responses/Outcomes
Gavin was very pleased with the piece and so am I. It was music that challenged the bands both
technically, in some respects and musically as well. I like the melodies I've written and also the whole
work's balance as a piece. The reaction of the band conductors who played the piece was mixed, some
thinking it too hard and others thinking it should have been a pop style piece.
Reflections
This and it is the first in a series of 'absolute' works for younger musicians. So much of the
repertoire for school bands and orchestra is narrative in style and I sense the members of school-based
ensembles need to connect with music for music's sake and not just because it 'tells a story' about
something outside of music, as important as that can be at times.