Product Description
Comments by Bandsman Simon Gash
Written at the request of Bandmaster Nathan Jenkins, for Bristol Easton Band's tour of Canada and USA in 2003, this set of variations will provide the whole band with a stern examination of technical and musical aptitude, whilst engaging the listener from beginning to end. The commission given to the composer was to create a set of variations with a similar framework to that of Edward Gregson's Variations on 'Laudate Dominum' (F.S. 393), and with this insight into the origin of the piece, comparisons between the pieces can be seen.
The majority of the variations, based on either rhythmic or melodic fragments of the theme, share many of the free-flowing qualities associated with the rhapsody. The composer does break from the given framework, adding an inversion of the tune which is the slow melody at letter J. Also, the fugue at letter S, based around the opening statement of the theme, is Andrew Mackereth's acknowledgment of the archetypal theme and variations form. However, this section passes by very quickly, moving forward to another exciting rhythmic idea.
Unlike most theme and variations, and again in the vain of Gregson's famous work, the theme of this piece, Lobe den Herren (T.B. 721), is not heard in its entirety until the final section (letter X). Here, the majestic tune requires no variation or embellishment, but provides a fitting and stirring, climactic conclusion to the music.
(view series guide)
Produced by The Salvation Army, SP&S, UK
