The National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain, with conductor Dr Nicholas Childs and Guest Soloist Peter Moore giving the world premiere of 'In Old London Town...', comissioned for the band's 10th Anniversary this year.

In Old London Town...

Flowers Band opening their winning 2014 Butlins entertainment set with my somewhat truncated arrangement of Phil Collins' 'Los Endos'.

Los Endos (Phil Collins Big band arr. Bates)

Flowers Band's finishing item in their 2014 Butlins entertainment winning set. The latest in a number of arrangements of Samuel Hazo's wind band music that I have arranged for brass band.

Olympiada (Brass Band) - LIVE

Within The Paths of Righteousness (Brass Band)

Black Dyke Band and Dr. Nicholas Childs recording of my first work for the Salvation Army, 'The Mansions of Glory', commissioned by the Consett Corps of the Salvation Army to mark their 135th anniversary, and coincide with a visit from the Amsterdam Staff Band, who gave the world premiere of the piece at the end of May.

The piece was selected by Brass Bands England as the set work for the Championship Section at the 2016 National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

The Mansions Of Glory

The National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain premiering my brand new arrangement of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' at the final concert of their 2014 course at Repton School. John Doyle guest conducts this arrangement which features singing, stomping, clapping and even Mars from the Planets!

We Will Rock You

'A Peaceful Moment' was composed for the memorial concert celebrating the life of my best friend's partner, following her tragic passing after a battle with cancer in May 2014.

The piece is published by Kirklees Music with ALL proceeds from sales of the music going to 2 charities which supported her and her family through a very difficult period.

A Peaceful Moment

The world premiere performance by the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain and Prof. Nicholas Childs of my 2015 commission, 'The Council of the Gods', at Repton School in July 2015.

I - Poseidon - God of the Sea
II - Aphrodite - Goddess of Love
III - Apollo - God of the Sun
IV - Zeus - God of the Sky

The Council Of The Gods - NCBBGB 2015

'Panic on Pudding Lane' is a composition for brass band and percussion, which marks the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was premiered by the Black Dyke Band, with Musical Director Prof. Nicholas Childs at the 2016 RNCM Festival of Brass.

The majority of the material is derived from a number of London based tunes such as 'London's Burning' and 'The Bells of St Clements', along with my own motif, heard right at the outset,

Panic On Pudding Lane (Brass Band)

My first wind quintet, premiered at the 2016 RNCM Chamber Music Festival. The festival was dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn's 'Songs Without Words', and this composition is based on his 'Spring Song' from that series.

Winter, On Camberwell Green (Wind Quintet)

The world premiere performance of 'Flame of Hope', my first work for Wind Band, performed and commissioned by the Glossopdale Community College Wind Band and MD Mark Bousie at the National Festival of Music For Youth, held at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Thursday 7th July, 2016.

Flame Of Hope - (Wind Band)

Perpetual Motion Machine (2016)

Performed at the RNCM Composer's Lab, 18/11/2016 - most of the players were sightreading and only had 15 minutes rehearsal before this run through.

The idea of the piece was that there would be a note on every semiquaver beat throughout, whilst incorporating a continual cycle of styles, metric modulations and textures. Also, the piece only utlises 6 pitches in total through the whole piece (C, C#, D, G, Ab and A).

Perpetual Motion Machine (Chamber Orchestra)

Paul Richards and the Flowers Band (MD Paul Holland)giving the world premiere of my new arrangement of 'Feed the Birds' from Mary Poppins at the 2016 Brass in Concert Championships at The Sage, Gateshead. Paul received the award for 'Best Soprano Cornet'.

Brass in Concert 2016

Feed the Birds (Soprano Cornet Solo)

Flowers Band (MD Paul Holland) give the world premiere of 'Londinium' at the 2016 Brass in Concert Championships, held at The Sage, Gateshead.

Opening their London based programme, this piece depicts the thriving settlement around AD 43 following the Roman Conquest Londinium took over from Colchester (Camulodunum) as England's first city.

Londinium (Brass Band)

Me performing my own arrangement of In The Bleak Midwinter with Lockwood Brass, Dec 2011. Available from www.kirkleesmusic.co.uk

In the Bleak Midwinter - Tenor Horn solo

Lions Youth Brass Band (Nigel Birch) perform my Velocity, composed in 2014 for Gawthorpe Brass to co-incide with the Tour de France passing locally to where the band is based, and was originally performed by massed bands fromthe Gawtorpe organisation at a celebration concert for 'Le Tour'.

This performance was given as part of Lions' set at the 2017 National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at Salford University.

Velocity (Brass Band)

The first public performance of my 'Brass Quintet No.2', composed originally for the RNCM's Latitude Brass and here performed by Pentagon Brass at the Dora Stoutzker Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff in May 2017. The work is in 3 short movements and was originally composed for 2 trumepts, horn, trombone and tuba; but this recording is performed on 2 cornets, tenor horn, baritone and tuba.

Brass Quintet No.2

My setting of the traditional spiritual 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' for Brass Quintet, performed by Buccina Brass at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester in June 2017.

The setting explores the meaning and context of the origins of the song, beginning in a heavy and despairing manner, before turning to a feeling of hope towards the end.

Swing Low (Brass Quintet)

'Crossing Points' was composed for the RNCM New Ensemble (Orr Guy) to premeire as part of the In Focus: Paul Patterson festival, held at the college in June 2017. The majority of the musical material is derived from the rhythm and pitch of the opening motif, and features solos for the majority of the ensemble throughout.

Crossing Points (Chamber Ensemble)

'Polar Landscapes' was composed for the Brass Compass euphonium quartet at the Royal Northern College of Music ahead of their performance at the International Tuba & Euphonium Conference in the USA in 2016. Here performed in June 2017.

The work draws on folk tunes from each of the quartet's native countries; England, Australia, Latvia and Singapore, and develops the music within them to form much of the material in the piece.

Polar Landscapes (Euphonium Quartet)

2017 marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution of 1917.
 
February saw the first of the 2 revolutions in the Russian Empire, known as the February Bourgeouis Democratic Revolution, with main target being the capital city of Petrograd (now known as St Petersburg). This resulted in the abdication of the existing Tsar Nicholas II, and established a share of power between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. 

The second revolution in October 1917 was known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, again centred around Petrograd, led by the Bolsheviks. It was this stage of the revolution which led to the formation of Soviet Russia, the world's first Soviet state. The outcome of this is universally recognised as the start of the Russian Civil War which raged from 1917-1922, and the deaths of over 250,000 people.

Sergei Rachmaminov, as a member of the Russian political bourgeousie was not a supporter of Bolshevism, and as a result nor did his father manage to maintain contacts in the various
aristocratical circles with which he was born into. This led to the humiliation of selling his estate, and Rachmaninov's own estate, Ivanovka, was seized by the Leninist Regime in the same year. 

With a desire to leave the turmoil in his native Russia, Rachmaninov received an invitation to perform 10 piano recitals across the breadth of tranquil Scandinavia, and this turned out to be the perfect opportunity to obtain permits for he and his family to leave the country. In December 1917, they set out on an open sled to Finland, on what would prove to be Rachmaninov's final glimpse of Russia in a lifelong self-imposed exile from the country.

As war across Europe raged on through 1918, he contemplated his future. Realising the income from composing would not suffice, after declining invitations to become the conductor of both Boston and Cincinatti Symphony Orchestras, Rachmaninov decided that performing in America would be the best solution to his growing financial concerns.

In November 1918, Rachmaninov and his family boarded a boat in Oslo set for New York, where they arrived 11 days later. Before his death, he once again emigrated to Lucerne, Switzerland before moving back to 'a warmer climate' on a doctor's recommendation in Beverley Hills, California. 

'Red October' uses 2 main quotations of the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. His Piano Concerto No.4 and 'Ave Maria' from his All-Night Vigil, the final substantial work he completed before his 
exile from Russia.

Performed and premiered by Brass Band Sachsen (DE) with MD Eoin Tonner at the 2017 World Music Contest held in the Rodahal, Kerkrade, Netherlands.

Red October: Symphony for Brass Band (WMC 2017)

Flowers Band giving the world premiere of my Romani Fire Dance, the winning entry in their Composition Contest. The band went on to win the overall Butlins Mineworkers Championship!
Thanks to Lyndon Fletcher for this recording.

Romani Fire Dance - Butlins 2012 - Flowers Band

The premiere performance of my composition for solo percussion and piano, 'Behold, the Destorying Tempest'. Performed by and composed for Matthew Rigg as part of his final undergraudate recital programme at the Royal Northern College of Music, in May 2018. 

The work is for a multi-percussion set-up, and also uses the thundersheet extensively. The musical material is based around a quote from Isaiah 28:2, "Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand."

Behold The Destroying Tempest

The premiere performance of 'Csardas', a composition for solo Eb Clarinet and accompanying brass quintet - composed for, and performed by Rory Purvis as part of the final recital for his Masters degree at the Royal Northern College of Music, manchester, in May 2018.

The work is composed in a traditional Csardas form - a virtuoso shiwpiece for the soloist, starting slowly and gradually getting quick and quicker towards the culmination.

Csardas (Eb Clarinet & Brass Quintet)

Repton Fantasy was commissioned by the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain (NCBBGB) & Prof. Nicholas Childs for their 2018 course, held at Repton School, Derbyshire.

The 4 movement work is based largely around the hymn tune by Hubert Parry named after the village, Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind (Repton).

1. St Wystan's Church (Prelude on 'Repton')

Ever since Hubert Parry's setting of the words by American quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier, from his poem 'The Brewing of Soma', the village of Repton has always been synonymous with the hymn tune 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind'. This tune features prominently throughout the work and is featured in a somewhat disguised and truncated version to form this short prelude to the work, which is a lively feature for the percussion section.

2. Tales of Childhood (A Tribute to Roald Dahl)

One of the most famous former students of Repton School is the legendary children's author, Roald Dahl. This movement pays homage to
a number of characters Dahl created to inspire the imagination of millions of young people around the world, whilst allowing a number of the
band's soloists the chance to take centre stage and share their own 'tales of childhood'. The featured character's in this instance are the precocious
and mischievous prankster, Matilda; Charlie Bucket and Mr Fox, from the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

During Dahl's time at Repton (an often trubulent and difficult one), the school would take deliveries from the local Cadbury factory to test
and rate new chocolate products before going to market, and is believed that this led Dahl to have an ambition to create his own unique designs
of chocolate, and ultimately be the imaginitave spark behind Dahl's arguably most popular novel, 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory'.

Throughout the movement, there are tiny fragments of quotes from a number of songs from both the stage and screen, which use adaptions of
Dahl's works in film or musical form.

3. Floodplains of Trent

Repton is situated on the floodplains of the river Trent, and this movement is designed to describe the serenity of the river as it flows through the countryside, whilst also allowing the band to engage in the use of body percussion to mimic the sound of a heavy downpour as the river's level gradually grows and declines.

4. Dear Lord and Father of Mankind - Finale

The finale to the work is a vibrant and energetic recapitulation of the main 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind' hymn tune, appearing for the
first time during the piece in it's entirety. Starting calmly and mysteriously, the intensity and pace of the music increases until a triumphant reprise of the hymn tune, before a bustling and powerfully driven coda leads the work to it's closure.

Repton Fantasy (Brass Band)

A sample mix of my 4th Section National Finals test piece, 'A British Isles Suite' - published by Prima Vista Musikk.

Movements:
I - Scotland
II - Wales
III - Isle of Man
IV - Ireland
V - England

A British Isles Suite (samples)

A sample recording of my first Cornet Concerto, composed for and recorded by Lode Violet with the 2018 Belgian National Champions, Brass Band Willebroek.

The 15-minute long concerto is set into 2 movements, each exploring the concept of Dystopia and Utopia, whilst revolving around a basic 3 note motif heard in the opening bars of the complete work. This concerto was designed to showcase every aspect of the modern day cornet virtuoso; from extremes of range through to extended techniques, and expressive melodic playing through to devilish chromatic technical work.

1. DYSTOPIA
Here the soloist acts throughout as a lone voice, battling to avoid having to conform to the the mechanical Dystopian regime, portrayed by the strict lines of accompaniment, often starting ideas afresh before being forced to comply and work alongside the accompanying material in many cases.

2. Utopia
The second movement of the Concerto is far more joyous and light in nature, with the soloist engaging directly with the ensemble and a number of soloists from within the accompaniment, portraying a feel of togetherness and unity.

Brass in Concert 2018

Cornet Concerto - for Cornet and Brass Band (Lode Violet/Brass Band Willebroek)

The world premiere performance of my Songs of Ascent, given by the RNCM Brass Band and musical director James Gourlay at the 2019 RNCM Brass Band Festival.

PROGRAMME NOTE 

'Songs of Ascent' was composed for the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band, as part of their programme for the 2019 RNCM Festival of Brass. In my view, the festival itself is the leading showcase for original contemporary music for the medium (in a concert setting) in the world and therefore an ideal place to explore new ideas and sounds, which was a notion fundamental to the construction of this work.

The piece is subtitled 'Out of the Depths, I cry to you, O Lord'; the opening line of Psalm 130 (which forms part of a set of 15 psalsm, 120-134 known as the Songs of Ascent") which forms the main inspiration for much of the musical material. Following an extended opening for four individual tuba lines, there are a number of solos for members of the band off stage, with bleak and deep accompaniment lines, reflecting the words of Psalm 130. 

Amongst these 'songs of ascents', the most common and strong themes are repentance and redemption; with the central core of this work emerging 'from the depths' to reveal one of very few calming and reflective passages of the work utilising the tune of 'Guide Me O Thy Great Redeemer' in a new setting, featuring the Solo Horn and Bass Trombone, before returning to the ethereal and dark timbres that form much of the music up to this point.

In terms of compositional technique, this work is solely based on a set of 4 9-note scales in their various unique transpositions (below). Each of these scales provide a set of 2 whole tone scales, 6 minor triads, 6 major triads and is built on 9 augmented triads. Whilst most of the music in this work is based melodically on the set of notes (heard right at the outset in the motif in the tuba line), the central section delves into the harmonic capabilities of these 'modes', using a number of the 7 'keys' which can be derived from the minor & major chords derived in each scale. All 4 scales are used independantly to each other, with whole sections of the work focussing on each mode.

Songs Of Ascent (Brass Band)

Deepcar Band giving the world premiere of my new extended concert item 'Stories from the Steel City', composed for their 25th Anniversary Concert on Saturday 20th April at The Venue, Stocksbridge.

The band wanted the piece to relate directly to them, so I used fragments of tunes from local carols as the main base of the piece, with the middle section dedicated to the enormous steel industry that Sheffield is known for.

'Stories from the Steel City' - LIVE - Deepcar Band - 25th Anniversary Concert

A sample recording of my brand new major work for brass band, '...Out of the Storm Clouds...', commissioned for the 2nd Section of the Dutch National Championships in 2013. The work is based on the events surrounding Hurricane Sandy in the USA in 2012.

This recording is by Black Dyke Band (Phil Goodwin) and recorded on a handheld recorder!

...Out of the Storm Clouds...

This page contains recordings of compositions and arrangements by Fodens Band's principal Tenor Horn player, Jonathan Bates.

Brass band works published by Prima VIsta Musikk and Kirklees Music.

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