Grimethorpe Band cond. Frank Renton.
published by Camden Music

Commissioned by a consortium of five school wind bands and first performed by all five conducted by Clark Rundell at the 1994 BASBWE Conference in Manchester, Flying God Suite is in three contrasting movements the last of which refers more to an old American marching rhythm than what we might think of as a Quickstep. The title is an obscure literary reference!

Flying God Suite - 1 Perpetuum Mobile

Flying God Suite - 2 Aubade

Regent Brass at the London & Southern Counties Area Contest 2025 (3rd place)

Introduction, Elegy and Caprice (Morley Calvert)

In June 1990, as part of a music festival promoted alongside Manchester's Olympic bid, I was asked to devise a programme featuring brass bands and voices for a Free Trade Hall concert. In part one Britannia (Foden's) Band gave a brilliant premiere of a BBC commission (at my suggestion) from David Bedford - Toccata for Tristan. Novello did not publish (hire only!) so it has rarely been performed since, but is a really colourful and inventive piece. 

Toccata for Tristan is a sequel to David's wind band Rondo for Isolde. Both are built form famous passages form Wagner's great opera. The Toccata is a much tougher proposition for perform than the Rondo. The rapid repeated figuration is rhythmically highly complex. Howard Snell and the band performed it impeccably. It would be great to hear it live again sometime.

I came across a copy of the digital DAT cassette a little while ago among the collection of old "Safety" recordings I kept rather than deleting or reusing them.  It was a pleasure to relive this dramatic performance. I hope you enjoy it too in this transfer.

David Bedford(1937-2011) - Toccata for Tristan

RCB performing the 'revised version' of this work at their first ever contest, the SCABA Autumn Contest 2012

Four Dances from 'Checkmate' (Sir Arthur Bliss arr. Ball)

Alan Duguid