YouTube Videos.

Here is a compilation of all the videos I have posted thus far.

Peter Graham-Brillante

Peter Graham is a Scottish composer and studied with Edward Gregson at Goldsmiths' College, University of London and holds a PhD in Composition.  From 1983 until 1986 he was resident in New York City, USA, where he worked as a freelance composer/arranger and as a publications editor with the S.A. Music Bureau. Since his return to the U.K. he has worked regularly as an arranger for BBC Television and Radio and has specialized in composition for the British style brass band. Since the publication of Dimensions (1983), he has carved out a niche as an outstanding arranger for brass bands, and a leading figure amongst contemporary band composers. His original compositions, which include The Essence of Time, Montage and On Alderley Edge, are performed worldwide and have been selected as test-pieces for National Championships in Australia, New Zealand, North America and across Europe.  His music for wind and concert band has been recorded and performed by many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Royal Norwegian Navy Band. Harrison's Dream, commissioned by the United States Air Force Band, Washington D.C., won the 2002 ABA/Ostwald Award for composition(gramercymusic.com)

Brillante was commissioned by the British Bandsman as part of the Centenary  Celebrations 1987  and was first performed by Robert and Nicholas Childs.  The piece is a fantasia based on the traditional melody Rule Britannia, although it sounds more like a theme and variations.  The piece focuses mostly on the technical aspects of the Euphonium.  However there is a very lyrical melodic section based off of a Welsh Folksong.  It opens with fast 16th note runs based on the B-flat and C scales, and then breaks into a cadenza.  The written cadenza is not very extensive so many performers will add their own material for this part.  The most popular interpretation is the one I first heard by David Childs which involves lightning fast flexibility, use of the extreme ranges, and multiphonics.  After the cadenza the main theme is stated by the soloist followed by what I call the 1st variation.  This section involves a long fast sextuplet 16th note passage.  While most of them are slurred, the opening few bars of this section is tonged.  it then goes into the slow lyrical melody based off of a Welsh Folk song.  The accompaniment has a figure that is very reminiscent of the Habanera and can be taken advantage of to provide variety in this section.  Then it breaks into the final variation which is a very long 16th note passage.  The tempo marked is 144+ and most performances exceed the 144, most notably David Childs who takes it upwards of 160.  It concludes with a flourish up to a High E-flat, and some performers go for the G above that just to make it even more of a showpiece.  Here is a recording of David Childs performing this piece with brass band accompaniment.  

 
 

Concerto for Euphonium-Karl Jenkins

This concerto was commissioned by the Euphonium Foundation UK for David Childs.  Childs premiered the concerto at the Welsh Proms in 2009, and in the US at Carnegie hall in 2010.  It exists with orchestral, wind band, or brass band accompaniments and is made of 4 movements.

The first movement is titled "Juggler."  It is described as "unapologetically exploiting the agility and virtuosity of the instrument in a fun context. The music is episodic beginning with a minimalist texture over which the euphonium ‘tweets’ three short calls before riffing around. The movement is broken up by two waltzes – the first dance.”  As mentioned by Dr. Stephen Allen, this movement is very virtuosic but in a quirky way.  The waltz is very easy to feel throughout the piece and the soloist has many fun licks that play around the waltz.



The second movement is titled "Romanza"  has themes from Jenkins earlier work Benedictus from The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace  this is described as "simple music, one might almost say innocent and naïve in the best sense, celebrating conjunct melodic shapes with light harmonic accompaniment in the spirit of a tranquil folk-meditation somewhat reminiscent of Shostakovich in movie mode. Writing effective music in this style that avoids the pitfalls of cliché is much harder to accomplish than one might think, and both Karl’s melodic gifts and David’s warm, lyrical abilities are finely showcased here."



The third movement is titled "It takes Two..." Dr. Stephen Allen says "‘It Takes Two…’ is an improvisation for the soloist. The music is in the form of a tango – the spirit of dance again, this time Argentinean – the euphonium ‘partnering’ a number of instruments while ‘breaking out’ from time to time in roiling roulades. A judicious use of multiphonics rounds off the coda."  There is no recording of this on YouTube so I really don't know anything else about this particular movement.



The fourth movement is titled "A Troika? Tidy!"  This movement requires even more technique than the first.  It opens with bombastic pedal notes then progresses into a very technically demanding section.  Dr. Allen says "The finale ‘A Troika? Tidy!’ exploits the kind of techniques more familiar through the air-and-variation and czardas-type solos clearly designed to bring the house down. A nice change of gear toward the end suddenly ushers in a rapturous interlude leading to a brief cadenza and staggering pyrotechnics in a variety of cross-rhythms conducted over the steady chug of sleigh-bells. A rollicking coda sets off all the fireworks bringing the work to a cracking end.”

Karl Jenkins

This Post isn't so much about one piece in particular but more focused on the composer.  Karl Jenkins is one of the leading composers in the world today.  In fact, in a recent survey showed that Jenkins' music is some of the most performed music in the entire world.  Originally, Jenkins started out as a Jazz composer during the period where "Jazz Polls" were popular.  After composing Jazz he began to focus on music in association with media.  He did many scores for companies such as: Levi’s, British Airways, Renault, Volvos, C&G, Tag Heuer, Pepsi as well as US/global campaigns for De Beers and Delta Airlines and Bafta ‘gongs’ for his scores for the documentaries The Celts and Testament.  After his period of media music, his return to the music mainstream was initially marked by the success of the Adiemus project. Adiemus, combining the ‘classical’ with ethnic vocal sounds and percussion with an invented language, topped classical and ‘pop’ charts around the world.

As Jenkins states "Adiemus was the project where I first combined the 'classical' with ethnic elements such as tribal & ethnic drumming with vocals that were more akin to world music than Western European classical. I also devised an invented language for this project.  The opening of Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary is familiar to many as the music for the Delta airlines advertising campaign."  There are multiple sequels to the original Adiemus and are as follows:

Adiemus

• Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
• Adiemus II:  Cantata Mundi
• Adiemus III: Dances of Time
• Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot
• Adiemus V: Vocalise
• Beyond the Century  

Each of these sequels sticks to the fusion of classical with ethnic and tribal elements.  These melodies are often quoted in many of his later works as well, making this project arguably his most important.  Here is a clip of Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary.  


 


In addition to Adiemus, Jenkins has also done sacred music for choir and orchestra (including The Armed Man), Christmas music (Most recently Stella Natalis), secular music for choir and orchestra, Many concertos including a Euphonium Concerto (more on that later), and music for Orchestra as well as childrens opera. 

After the Adiemus project he ventured into writing concerti for solo instruments as well as film scores.  In the summer of 2005 he wrote the film score to River Queen starring Kiefer Sutherland & Samantha Morton, the soundtrack of which won the Golden Goblet award for best score at the Shanghai Film Festival.  Karl holds a D.Mus degree from the University of Wales, has been made both a Fellow and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where a room has been named in his honour, and has fellowships at Cardiff University, Swansea University, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Trinity College Carmarthen, Swansea Metropolitan University and was also presented by Classic FM with the ‘Red f ‘award for ‘outstanding service to classical music’

All of this information and more can be found at Karl Jenkins official website www.karljenkins.com  I highly recommend listening to his music.