Concert band (Flute 1/Piccolo, Flute 2, Oboe 1/2, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb Clarinet 2, ...(+)
Concert band (Flute
1/Piccolo, Flute 2, Oboe
1/2, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb
Clarinet 2, Bb Clarinet
3, Eb Alto Clarinet
(optional), Bb Bass
Clarinet, Bassoon 1/2,
Alto Saxophone 1/2, Tenor
Saxophone, Baritone
Saxophone, Bb Cornet 1,
Bb Cornet 2, Bb Cornet 3,
Bb Trumpet 1/2, Ho) -
grade 4
SKU:
CN.S11042
Composed by
George Lloyd. Band Music.
Score only. Duration
10:00. Published by G & M
Brand Music Publishers
(CN.S11042).
This symphonic
sketch for concert band
is packed full different
motives thrown around the
ensemble hinting at the
programmatic leitmotifs
of Wagner. Every section
of the ensemble gets a
workout in this
delightful 10-minute
work.
A Symphonic
Sketch for Concert Band.
The resurgence of
interest in George
Lloyd's music must give
us faith that such talent
will ultimately prevail
against sometimes unhappy
circumstances. Lloyd was
Cornish and showed
precocious gifts at an
early age - he had
completed his first
symphony by the age of
nineteen. During the
1930s he completed two
operas, one of which -
The Serf - was produced
at Covent Garden in 1938.
He was set for a
glittering career as a
composer. The Second
World War intervened and
he was invalidad out of
the Navy in a
shell-shocked state, and
having written very
little serious music
since 1937 went to
Switzerland to
recuperate, looked after
by his wife, Nancy.
Painfully, he began
writing again -
symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 -
and then returned to
England. He needed to
earn a living and he set
up a mushroom farm in
Dorset. But slowly he
began to compose again
and drafted more
symphonies in short
score. By this time he
was virtually unknown -
despite being considered
the equal of Walton,
Britten, and other young
stars of English music
some 30 years earlier.
Lloyd decided to embark
on a series of recordings
of his symphonies, and
slowly popular acclaim
enabled him to regain his
position. The Forest of
Arden was written in 1987
as a result of a
commission by the
Solihull Youth Wind Band.
Although Lloyd's music
feels instinctively
written one should not be
misled - it is carefully
crafted, but the craft
and structure are always
subordinated to create a
flow with a strongly
melodic content. Instead
of two or three themes,
The Forest of Arden
contains an abundance of
ideas which can be
described in two groups.
The first group contains
the opening rhythmic
motif, quickly developed
into a short rising
quaver passage in the
woodwinds, and later then
a chromatic ostinato bass
- only 8 bars at this
stage but later expanded.
The second group is broad
and expansive, initially
based on intervals of
rising fifths introduced
by euphonium, tubas, and
baritone saxophone,
immediately echoed by
horns. Low brass and
winds expand the theme
into rising sixths and
octaves. There is a hint
of development, bit this
is arrested as the music
moves to a piu tranquillo
section introduced by the
alto saxophone which
further develops the
rising sixth theme. There
follows a true
development of the
opening material,
starting with the
ostinato bass and
gradually passing through
different tonal centers
until the rising fifths
of the second theme group
are heralded - fortissimo
and poco piu largamente
shortly before the end.
The structure is almost
Wagnerian (albeit on a
much smaller scale), with
themes being used as
leitmotifs, but this is
music which, even within
the space of ten minutes
is conceived on a grand
design.
