Output details

1. Forskjellige Tog, (in Norwegian: ‘Different Trains’)

commissioned for performance at SIDDIS Brass Festival (2012) by Stavanger Brass Band, directed by Allan Withington.

Composed programme for Brass Band and Sampler.

Performance: Stavanger Brass Band, Dir. Allan Withington; overall winners, SIDDIS Brass 2012, Stavanger Konserthus, Norway (November 2012).

Forskjellige Tog (Suite) - Composed programme for Brass Band and Sampler.

The twenty-five minute suite develops a number of concepts found within Steve Reich’s ‘Different Trains’ (1990) by adapting and re-interpreting works associated with rail travel. The SIDDIS Festival has developed a reputation as a leading arena for new concepts in programming, composition, arranging and performance for Brass Band. Some seventy bands compete and are divided into Elite, 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions. Marks are awarded for performance and musical programming. This suite was awarded the highest marks for in the category of both musical programme and performance, gaining an overall first place in the Elite Division for Stavanger Brass Band.

A series of manipulated audio samples are triggered alongside the live-performed elements. Dewhurst has developed the idea of the composed programme in the Brass Band medium over the last decade as Composer in Residence with Stavanger Brass Band, a form in which all parties share in the creative process, with continual amendments and revisions occurring in advance of the work’s premiere. The commission demanded material that would highlight, for both the ensemble and key soloists, a capacity to navigate variations in style, lyricism, technical virtuosity, textural complexity and dynamics. In addition it exposed the brass band to repertoire not normally associated with the ensemble. Embedded within the programme are reworkings of material by jazz artists such as Pat Metheny and Jimmy Forest, as well as material conceived especially for the programme, and work by concert hall composers such as Artur Honegger.