'The Alchymist's Journal' gets its title from the book of the same name by American author Evan S. Connell. The book fictionalises a number of famous Alchemist’s writings each one developing another's thoughts thus continuing one idea but changing it subtly to provide a new view point or way of thinking. This process is in fact alchemical as one idea transmutes into another. This idea is parallel to the processes at work within these variants. The whole work is constructed from 6 notes (C A B flat E flat F sharp E) and is presented in nine different sections each individual in mood but still based upon the original pitches. This is not a thematic set ofvariations as the themes are developed one at a time from small segments of the six notes. For example the opening theme is the complete number of pitches the second theme uses three notes transposed then repeated at the original level and so on. Harmonically the six notes can be divided into two triads A minor and E flat minor – each key beginning and ending the piece respectively. Whilst this is essentially abstract music with no programme there is an introduction menacing scherzo slow reflective section followed by a recap of the scherzo and final coda. 'The Alchymist’s Journal' was commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust at the suggestion of Paul Hindmarsh to whom the work is dedicated.

Journey of the Lone Wolf tells the story of the hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs for Black Dyke Band who gave the first performance on Sunday 26 January 2014 at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester as part of the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass. The composer's programme notes for each movement: 1. Capturing the Peasants SongAfter the upheaval of moving to Budapest the young Béla Bartók meets Zoltán Kodály and the pair embark on summertime adventures throughout the Hungarian countryside to collect and catalogue theastonishing variety (both harmonically and rhythmically) of gypsy and folk music heard in the Balkans. The arrival of WW1 plunges Bartók's beloved Hungary into chaos.2. Night MusicBartók was at times a cold man aloof and lonely. The odd moments of tenderness he showed are portrayed here in a series of evocative solos. His brief but intense affairs speak of a love he could only long for. Jazz is my night music and here there are hints of what Bartók may have heard in the USA later in his life.3. Flight and FightHaving been forced by the world's evils to leave his homeland of Hungary for America Bartók the anti-fascist felt isolated and angry. In this movement we hear his longing for a simpler time of gypsy folk dances as well as his maturity and depth as a composer finally exploring deeper colours and darker themes.

Hymn to Frei-Le compositeur britannique Philip Sparke fut commandé d?écrire cet arrangement de Hymn to Frei pour la fanfare norvégienne Frei Hornmusikk. Sparke avait déjà intégré une partie de ce cantique écrit par un compositeur connu dans la région natale de cette fanfare dans « The Saga of Haakon the Good ». On peut entendre trois couplets de la mélodie dans A Norwegian Hymn : le premier joué par plusieurs solistes suivi par le deuxième qui est plus tranquille avant que le troisième ne conclue la pièce d?une façon triomphante. Un morceau magnifique qui est aussi idéal pour travailler sur la musicalité des ensembles des divisions inférieures.