Howard Burrell: The Hatfield Procession (1985)
Written in 1985 for the graduation ceremony of the Hatfield Polytechnic (now University of Hertfordshire), at the request of the then Director, Dr John Illston, The Hatfield Procession has been used not only for every graduation ceremony since, but also for innumerable Polytechnic and University occasions subsequently. Recently, after the ceremonies moved to St Albans Abbey in 1993, a version for brass quintet and organ has been used. There is also a version for brass band, however this recording uses an update of the original for large orchestral brass; 4 trumpets, 3 french horns, 3 trombones 2 tubas and timpani. Using the form of the traditional march, incorporating a trio and a truncated Da Capo with a short coda, it is a festive piece, reflecting the pomp of the academic procession as it parades to the stage, headed by the Secretary carrying the Mace, in front of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor.
Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) (arr. Howard Burrell): Intrada (1617)
Johann Hermann Schein was born in 1586 in Grünhain, near Annaberg (later moving to Dresden) and died in Leipzig in 1630. Grounded in the principles of music from a young age, he received instruction in both theoretical and practical music from the Kapellmeister (director of music – a distinguished position) Rogier Michael, and became acquainted with an extensive repertory of both secular and sacred choral music in Latin, German and Italian. In 1613 Schein went to Weissenfels to become house music director and tutor to the children of Gottfried von Wolffersdorff, a friend from his Schulpforta days who soon recommended him for his first purely musical position, as Kapellmeister to Duke Johann Ernst the Younger at Weimar. He took up this post on 21 May 1615. Subsequently, in 1616 he became Cantor (singing/choir leader) at St Thomas’ Church in Leipzig (succeeding Sethus Calvisius), a position which over a century later was occupied by JS Bach. There his duties included directing the choral music, in the Thomiaskirche and the Nicolaikirche, and teaching fourteen hours of Latin and singing a week in the Thomasschule, where his most illustrious pupils were the poet Paul Fleming and the composer Heinrich Abert.
Schein was one of the first German composers to benefit and absorb the new ideas and innovations from Italian Baroque music. At first an adherent of the traditional Orlandus Lassus-inspired prima prattica, Schein quickly came to favour up-to-date Italian styles of emotional declamation, combining these with the setting of German Lutheran chorale melodies, heard in a most original way in the Opella nova (1618, 1626). In his sacred madrigals he adopted the Italianate idiom of Luca Marenzio and early Claudio Monteverdi, making use of dramatic contrasts of texture and harmony and handling contrapuntal ideas in masterly fashion. Schein is also remembered as a member of a famous German composing tri-umverate, with Heinrich Schutz and Samuel Scheidt. They were all born between 1585 and 1587, worked in close geographical proximity and knew one another.
Schein suffered from poor health, afflicted with tuberculosis, gout, scurvy and kidney stones. In addition he suffered great sorrows in his family life (his first wife died, and most of his children did not reach adulthood). Illness forced him to cancel the performance of a large work composed for the Reformation Jubilee of 1617 and postponed the publication of the first part of Opella nova; it also appears to have sapped his creative energy from about 1626. Two visits to the springs at Carlsbad were of no avail, and he died at the age of 44. Johann Höpner, pastor of the Nicolaikirche, preached at his funeral, and the sermon (reprinted in Spitta) includes an account of his life that provides valuable biographical information. His successor as Thomaskantor was Tobias Michael, son of Rogier Michael.
Intrada, which was written for the old wooden "cornetto" (an early woodwind instrument), is taken from a collection of suites written around 1617 (Banchetto musicale). Instrumental music accounts for only a small portion of Schein’s output. Nevertheless, his one instrumental collection marks a highpoint in the history of the variation suite. This arrangement utilises the whole ensemble and is freely adapted from the original.
Howard Burrell: Fanfares and Fugues (2009)
This short piece is one of a number of tracks written or arranged specifically for this CD. It mixes elements of fugue (fugato) technique with motifs from the opening fanfare. Keeping up the festive ceremonial atmosphere, the fanfare and the fugue crash headlong with each other to create a bright and thrilling feel.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) (arr. Howard Burrell): Air and Hornpipe from the Water Music (1717)
The origin of the suites commonly entitled Water Music is unknown, save that Handel provided the music for the newly arrived Elector of Hanover, (later King) George I, for a journey down the Thames on the 17th July 1717. The concert was performed by 50 musicians playing on a barge close to the royal party from which the King listened with some close friends. George I was said to have loved it so much that he ordered the exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip. The music in each of the suites has no set order today. It is believed that during the original performance for the King, slow, often soft music was played when the King's boat and the orchestra's boat were close together, while louder, brisk passages were played when the boats drifted apart.
The suites are scored for quite a full orchestra although various brass and wind instruments feature. Many arrangements have been made of the music, most notably by Sir Hamilton Harty and Leopold Stokowski. More recently, attempts have been made to reconstruct a more historically accurate rendition of the suites, with original orchestrations and authentic-era instruments used.
This arrangement simply scores these two movements for brass, making no pretense of baroque performance practice. The Air is beautifully reflective (colloquially given the words "Please remember me") whilst the Hornpipe is full of pomp and triumph ("I am so happy").
George Frideric Handel was born (in the same year as JS Bach and Domenico Scarlatti) in Halle, Germany, but trained in Italy and lived most of his life in England. His works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. Strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers of the Italian Baroque era, as well as the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, Handel's music became well-known to many composers, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Handel's early interest in music was at first frowned upon by his father; he was denied access to musical instruments and encouraged to study law. The Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, having heard Handel playing the organ aged nine, persuaded Handel Sr. to give him a musical education under Friedrich Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche at Halle, who subsequently gave Handel excellent tuition on organ, harpsichord and in composition. On the death of his father in 1697, Handel gained new responsibility for the maintenance of his family. He enrolled for Law studies at the University of Halle in February 1702. A month later, however, he was appointed organist at the Calvinist Domkirche (Cathedral Church), influencing his decision to devote himself to music. A talented musician, Handel showed remarkable maturity and established his reputation as an opera composer.
Handel travelled to Italy in 1707 and found work as a composer of sacred music for the church, perhaps a surprise in view of Handel’s Lutheran faith, nevertheless signifying a determination to display the full range of his compositional skills.His earliest patrons there were the cardinals Carlo Colonna, Benedetto Pamphili and (probably) Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. The famous Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. Because a papal ban forbade public operatic performances in Rome, oratorios and cantatas became increasingly in demand. Later, Handel drafted the score of his first all-Italian opera, Rodrigo. The opera shows the benefits of his Italian studies, showing touches of new elegance in several arias and confident handling of the language in the recitatives. He was in Venice at the end of 1709 when his second Italian opera, the satirical comedy Agrippina, opened the carnival season at the S Giovanni Grisostomo theatre with enormous success. This was the season most popular with visitors, and Handel’s triumph before the international audience at once established a worldwide reputation and provided him with influential contacts.
In 1710 Handel became Kapellmeister to George, Elector of Hanover, who eventually became King George I of Great Britain. After being dismissed, he settled permanently in London in 1713, receiving a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne. In 1726 Handel's opera Scipio was performed for the first time—the march from which remains the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards. In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of these, Zadok the Priest, has been played at every British coronation ceremony since. Handel was director of the Royal Academy of Music from 1720 to 1728, and had a long association with the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, where many of his Italian operas were premièred.
In April 1737, at age 52, Handel suffered a suspected stroke, which left his right arm temporarily paralysed – preventing him from performing. He died in 1759, in London. More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Howard Burrell: Entry of the Mace (2007) and The Mayor’s March (2009)
Howard Burrell: "At the commencement of full council meetings at Stevenage Borough Council, there is the solemn moment of the entry of the Mayor preceded by the Mace, the symbol of Office. It takes about thirty seconds and is exceptionally sombre. So I suggested a fanfare and this is it - in a rather longer than thirty second "full" version. The letters of the name SBC and Stevenage are used in the motif that creates the fanfare reaching a bright and triumphal conclusion in C major.
The Mayor’s March also uses the Eb(S) Bb C motif referred to above, in a joyful celebration of the role of the Mayor throughout the Borough and elsewhere."
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) (arr. Howard Burrell): Funeral Music for Queen Mary (1695)
Queen Mary II of England (b.1662 – d.1694) ruled with her husband King William III from 1689 until her death from smallpox, which is reported to have plunged the nation into genuine grief. She was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 5th March 1695, where music from several notable musicians and composers of the time was performed, including this March and Canzona by Henry Purcell. Much has now been documented about the music and the ritual of the Funeral, though precisely what was performed is a matter of argument as no autograph scores exist and Purcell left no account of his own of the ceremony. Trumpets and drums are known to have participated in the event, but Purcell's funeral March and Canzona for the occasion are scored for "flatt trumpets," which were similar to sackbuts or trombones, and no timpani part has been connected to the brass movements – however, Timpani are often included in modern performances, especially since Thurston Dart made a reconstruction in the 1950s. It is believed today that the March was probably played "before her chariot" (the horse-drawn hearse), and the Canzona at the point of "interment". Purcell had time to compose music especially for the ceremony, and he did write two brass canzona's and the anthem Thou know'st, Lord, the secrets of our hearts for the burial. The March, however, was originally written as incidental music for a scene in Thomas Shadwell's play The Libertine (1692), an adaptation of the Don Juan legend. This arrangement, for the full ensemble, freely adapts the original and adds an elaborated timpani part. The March is repeated after the Canzona.
This piece has influenced and been heard in several recent incarnations. The song Procession by British rock band Queen is heavily influenced by the piece, and it also served as the main theme for the soundtrack of the film A Clockwork Orange, adapted and electronically transcribed for the moog synthesizer by Walter (a.k.a Wendy) Carlos in 1971.
Henry Purcell was born in Westminster, England, and is attributed as "one of the most important 17th-century composers and one of the greatest of all English composers". At an early age, following his father and uncle, he became a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, at which time he became assistant 'without fee' to John Hingeston, the wind and keyboard instrument keeper for the King (finally succeeding to the salaried position in December 1683).
On 10 September 1677 Purcell replaced Matthew Locke as composer for the violins at court. In the mid-1670s Purcell was closely involved with music at Westminster Abbey, and in 1679 he succeeded John Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey, a post he retained for the rest of his life. That same year he composed the music to John Dryden's Aureng-Zebe and Thomas Shadwell's Epsom Wells and The Libertine. These were followed in 1677 by the music to Aphra Behn's tragedy, Abdelazar; perhaps the most recognised of Purcell's works, it has been adapted numerous times, most famously by Benjamin Britten for his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, as well as continued incarnations in film music and popular culture.
Between 1680 and Charles II's death in 1685 Purcell was primarily a court composer. Purcell had devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music, and for nearly six years severed his connection with the theatre. However, the accession of James II led to a reorganization of the court musical establishment. Purcell'ssecular music position in the court was probably unaltered (although his title was changed from composer to ‘harpsicall’), and he retained his post as organist of the Anglican Chapel Royal, but the status of the chapel was diminished under the new Catholic monarch. Perhaps for this reason, Purcell's position as instrument keeper responsible for organs appeared to have been forgotten until early in 1688, when he successfully petitioned for back payments and the restoration of this salary. The exile of James II in 1688 finally ended Purcell's career as a composer working mainly for the court, though he was to remain on the royal payroll under William and Mary.
From 1690 he was heavily involved in composing for the theatre, although he continued his series of odes for Queen Mary and wrote other major works for organizations outside the court. His chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera, though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis.
Funeral Music for Queen Mary was performed again in November 1695 at Purcell's own funeral. Purcell's will, in which he left all his possessions to his wife, was made in evident haste and signed on the day of his death, suggesting that an apparently minor infection took a severe and unexpected turn for the worse. He died at his house in Dean's Yard, Westminster, in 1695, at the height of his career; he was in his mid-thirties.
Andrew Hugill (b. 1957): St George’s Chorale (1995)
St. George's Island is located off the Cornish coast at Looe. In 1994/5, Andrew Hugill composed an electro-acoustic piece called Island Symphony at the request of the Atkins sisters, who owned the island. This was subsequently orchestrated, and became a variation in the second movement, which focused on the island's history.
Howard Burrell: Fantasia: Shining (2000)
A set of symphonic variations on the hymn tune Picardy, this was originally composed for communion at the blessing of the marriage of Philip and Mandi Sturrock and is scored for 2 trumpets, 2 French horns, 2 trombones, tuba and timpani. There is now a full brass band version available.
The title Shining comes from verse 3 of the hymn with which this tune is associated ("Let all mortal flesh keep silence"): "Shining in the light exalted, friends and loved ones in embrace".
Fantasia incorporates symphonic variations as opposed to strophic variations, and these make no attempt to follow the flow of the theme or tune but instead use small motifs or fragments to create a patchwork built round it. There is an introduction and seven variations before eventually the theme is stated in full as a prelude to the exhilarating coda. The recording uses the original ensemble of eight players.
Howard Burrell: Sturrocks’ Parade (2000)
Howard Burrell: "When Philip Sturrock - publisher, dilettante and entrepreneur - asked me to "sort out the music" for the blessing of his marriage to Mandi, I realised there had to be a final procession. I originally titled this Sturrock's Parade, however he immediately came back to me to say that all the Sturrocks would be participating therefore correctly it should be Sturrocks’ Parade. The change was made. Originally for seven brass, timpani and organ, this special version is for the full ensemble."
George Frideric Handel (arr. Howard Burrell): La Rejouissance from Music for the Royal Fireworks (1748)
In 1748 the second 'Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle' (Aachen) ended the War of the Austrian Succession, a conflict lasting 8 years which involved most European powers and saw battle on more than one continent. Six months later, to celebrate the Peace of Aix, a huge event was arranged by King George II to take place in Green Park. Thomas Desguliers, son of the cleric and scientist John Theophilus Desaguliers, was commissioned to design and arrange the fireworks, while Handel was commissioned to write the music, with the performing musicians playing in a specially constructed building designed by Cavaliere Servandoni (a renowned Theatre designer).
The celebration (27th April) did not, however, go smoothly and suffered the misfortune of having the large wooden building housing the fireworks catch fire during the event (after the collapse of a bas relief of King George II). The music proved more successful. A few days before the official celebration, to satisfy the enormous public interest, a full rehearsal of the music was heard in public at Vauxhall Gardens, attracting over twelve thousand people. Despite a charge of half-a-crown per person the audience rushed for it, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages (the main route to the area south of the river was closed due to the collapse of the central arch of newly-built London Bridge). The work rapidly became one of Handel's most loved and well-known compositions. When published, Handel wished to present the work as an overture, but the Crown had it given the title Music for the Royal Fireworks as propaganda in favour of an otherwise unpopular Treaty and monarch.
The orchestral suite contained a substantial overture and five short movements. Handel’s original intention (as confirmed by the indications in his autograph score) was that it should be performed by a massive wind band of 24 oboes, 9 horns, 9 trumpets, 12 bassoons and three sets of timpani, but before completing the score he decided to reduce the numbers and to double the woodwind with strings. This caused annoyance, as (according to letters written by the Duke of Montagu to Charles Frederick, ‘Comptrollor of His Majesty’s Fireworks’) it was the king’s wish that there should be ‘martial musick’ only, without ‘fidles’. It seems, however, that Handel had his way. La Rejouissance is the third of these and is originally scored for just oboes, trumpets, timpani and double bass. This arrangement is for brass alone but captures the festive and celebratory mood.
Howard Burrell: Three Fancies (2009): St Andrew and St George
The Leader’s Waltz
Roaring Meg
Written specially for this CD, these Three Fancies are three pen sketches of Stevenage.
St Andrew and St George Church is a 'cathedral-like' Grade 2 listed building; the largest parish church to have been built in England since World War 2. Impressive within, it has an atmosphere of prayer and welcome. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother laid the foundation stone in July 1956 and was also present at the consecration by the Bishop of St Albans, the Right Reverend Michael Gresford-Jones, on Advent Sunday 27 November 1960. The building frame is constructed from a 'continuous pour' of concrete into moulds creating interlacing arches and leaving no apparent joints. There are twelve Purbeck marble columns about the High Altar and the external walls are clad in panels faced with Normandy pebble. The campanile houses the loudspeakers for an electro-acoustic carillon.
The current Leader of Stevenage Borough Council is Sharon Taylor, and this little satirical waltz depicts her leading the members on a merry jig round the council chamber. Roaring Meg is in fact a canon situated at Edinburgh Castle, but also a retail park in Stevenage. This short fantasy mixes the two ideas together.
Howard Burrell: Hatfield Procession Remake (2009)
"It was Friday afternoon and everyone had had a lot of fun so Howard asked everyone to ‘let their hair down’. This was the result!"
Solos: Philip Bainbridge (Trumpet), Paul Wright (Trombone)
Performers:
Trumpet
Julian Poore (10th June only)
John MacDomnic
Phillip Bainbridge
Mark Kesel
Antony Cross (26th June only)
Horn
Gillian Jones
Simon de Souza
David Bentley
Trombone
Emily White
Paul Wright
Graeme Boyd
Tuba
James Doherty
David Powell
Timpani/Percussion
Dan Earley
Conductor: Robin Browning