Dynasty was premiered at the 2019 British Open Brass Band Championships and pays tribute to one of the brass community's legendary figures, Harry Mortimer (1902 - 1992). Using key passages from Mortimer's autobiography On Brass as the source for the narrative and in keeping with the "heritage" nature of the subject, the work takes the form of a Symphonic Poem, a musical structure first introduced to contest audiences at the Crystal Palace in 1913. The work opens with a four-note leitmotif and the timeline unfolds as follows:
0:06 1 - Harry (One's destiny decided at birth “I'll make him the best cornet player in England”).
2:21 2 - War (Why do the nations so furiously rage together? Fred volunteers for military service)
3:50 3 - Theatre (And suddenly “I dashed to the rescue like a hero in the silent movies I was about to get to know so well”)
4:34 4 - Journey (Rejoice greatly “A new life in Cheshire with a promising band called Foden's”)
6:45 5 - Together (Come unto me “A golden age”)
7:48 6 - Farewell (For behold, darkness “Fred's death surely marked the passing of an era”)
11:30 7 - Amen (The Trumpet shall sound - Farewell reprised)
Extracts from the score can be downloaded here:
www.gramercymusic.com/image/D...
(Video footage by kind permission of www.worldofbrass.tv)