Simon Wills: A Breach of the Peace - Trombone Octet

To download the sample score click on the link below
https://warwickmusic.egnyte.com/dl/yygfYnWkbs/TB247_sample_score.pdf_

Premiered at BTS Festival 1999. US Première at TEMA 2000. Recorded by Trombonly (directed by Prof. Heinz Fadle)

The Ferrara Palio is a horse race held in the late Spring in one of the larger squares. The mediaeval parades held before it are magnificent and as you cross the city on a Winter's evening, you often will see a lone youth practising for them. His great flag spins around him, cracking in the mist. He does not see you as you pass. As Easter approaches, the flag wavers start to drill in fours and in cafes, over the rattle of the football tables, you will hear the first of the horse songs. Youths loiter on street corners, crowing the invincibility of their chosen beast. Banner practice and horse songs become more urgent.

The square is crowded for hours before the race but if you sit on the corner of a nearby street, you will see the gangs pass, see the banners and your ears will ring as all the songs and shouting accompany the horses to the course. Then suddenly they are gone and you are left alone with the church bells ringing and the distant roar of the crowd surging like the sea.

Notes on Performance

The piece was written for a massed trombone choir to play at a British Trombone Society event in Birmingham in November 1999. It will work perfectly well as an octet but larger numbers are to be encouraged, particularly as in places it is rather tiring to play. It is convenient for the performers if they are arranged in two choirs but the groups should not be widely separated.

The performers must stand on a wooden stage or floor, otherwise the stamping will not be resonant enough. Pieces of staging or trestle table tops can be stamped on instead but the piece will not work without an impressive bang from the performers' feet. It is easy for the marching section to rush but this will be less of a problem if you keep to the rather slow marked speed.

When I write "exceedingly coarse", I mean it!

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SKU: TB247
Composer: Simon Wills
Difficulty: Advanced
Instrumentation: Trombone Octet (6 Tenors, 2 Bass)
Range: F1-C5