Since most of the bands competing in the 4th Section of the Dutch National Championships have many young players this piece is stylistically youthful— especially in the opening and closing sections. An arpeggio pattern appears numerous times in all registers and is the basic musical element of the main melody alternating with a second theme that has a slightly different melodic character. The middle section is conceived like a chorale introduced and developed stepwise: firstly with short patterns and gradually in increasingly long snippets until it’s played in its glorious entirety at measure 216. No real solo passages are included but rather small chambercombinations thus offering the opportunity to various players to display their technical and performance skills. The finale recaptures musical material from the first section of the piece and provides a majestic conclusion.

Score for this piece which was comissioned by London Brass and first performed in 1992.Quoting composer: The piece was completed without title on 12th August 1992. A title once considered was Canons Chorales and Waltzes butthis was dropped since there was only one canon (the opening) and only genuine waltz (apart from a passage towards the end which superimposes the canon over a waltz rhythm). The following day I read the paper that John Cage haddied - the day I finished writing. For this reason but mainly because Cage was the most revolutionary practical music thinker of the 20th century this piece is dedicated to him. His influence on my music may be perceived underthe 'very un-Cagein' surface: though stylistically there may be little in For John Cage that may have been to his taste I hope he would at least have appreciated its diversity its non-simultaneous multiplicity.Parts areavailable on hire or special order. Duration 15 minutes.