Difficulty: Grade 5

Only after John Golland passed away in 1993 the score of his Tuba Concerto Op. 46 was found. The first performance of this work was given by Andrew Duncan and the Halle Orchestra at the Halle Proms at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, in July 1997. The work is considered as a revelation. It is a colorful piece with many fine touches of effective scoring and full of melodic charm. The slow movement is a beautifully atmospheric, exquisitely scored Nocturne.

Publisher: → Baton Music

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) regained great successes as a composer of church music and as an organist soon after graduating at the Paris Conservatory. The ‘Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile’ dates from the 1850s. Almost four years passed before, in 1855, the ‘Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile’ was heard in its entirety in Paris. It was the custom to celebrate the feast of St. Cecilia, the patron Saint of music.

Publisher: → Baton Music

Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar (1862 – 1941) parodied the conventions of Romantic opera in his own operas and secular cantatas, his music itself is staunchly Romantic in voice, little troubled by even the chromaticism of Wagner, let alone subsequent developments in the 20th century.  Although his symphonic poem ‘Saul and David’, written in 1906 to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth, is considered his most ambitious work, it is this overture inspired by Rostand’s ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ that was his most successful piece. The overture recalls the spirit and style of Strauss’s brand new tone poems, which Wagenaar openly admired, and it captures both the heroicism and poetic character of Rostand’s hero.

Publisher: → Baton Music

(from 5th Symphony)

The famous Adagietto is the fourth part of Mahler’s Symphony nr. 5 and the tempo is ‘Sehr Langsam’. Only strings and harp are playing and the long upbeats and expressive appogiaturas of the very slow melodic lines give the music a yearning, almost heartbreaking quality. The Adagietto functions as a slow interlude in F major, between two faster movements in D major, but it also has an expressive weight sufficient for it to stand on its own; indeed, it is often performed by itself.

Publisher: → Baton Music

‘Sensemayá’ (1938) of Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas is a dance of archaic nature rooted in primitivism. It is a kind of Latin Rite of Spring, full of the mythological dances of the Mayas and the Aztecs and based on the poem Chant to kill a snake by the Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén.

Recording: by Banda de Lalin (E) – conducted by Bram Sniekers.

Full Recording: CD ➞ “Danzon”. 

Publisher: → Baton Music