PRELUDE FESTIVO

Prelude Festivo is intended to be performed in concerts and in competitions as well. The work includes solo passages for most instrument groups. Duration 7 ½ minutes.
Form: Fast – slow – fast.

The piece is built around two themes.
Theme 1 (Allegro con spirito) is the first one presented as a clarinet solo after a fanfare-like opening.
Theme 2 is hinted at in the opening bars, but presented fully in the slow (Andante) section (bar 141).
This theme is developed and also appears as melodic and rhytmic fragments throughout the composition. In the concluding section (bar 196) both themes are played in conjunction before the piece concludes with the fanfare theme from the opening bars.

The solos for cornet and euphonium may be played by saxophone soli cued in at bars 114 and 128.

Parts that are marked piu mosso ed leggiero should be played in a cheerful light staccato style in contrast to Andante cantabile.





JOHN BRAKSTAD

John Brakstad lives in Bergen, Norway.
John Brakstad gained much of his muiscal experience as bandmaster, composer and arranger for the Salvation Army, and from studies at the Bergen Musikk-konservatorium.
He has also been working as a conductor for several Norwegian ”Contest bands”, and is regularly used as an adjudicator at The Norwegian Band association’s contests and championships.
Brakstad has written many compositions for brass- and concert bands published by Norsk Noteservice as. Several of these has been test pieces at the national championships and later performed regularly at the same competitions. Among his original works are Variations for Band, The Old Railwaystation, Musica Tripartite and Cobalt.
He has written music for the Military band in his native Bergen and The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces which has been performed at the Bergen International Festival. Brakstad also wrote music (Prelude Olympic) for the opening ceremony at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
He also wrote a large work for choir and band for the Arne Garborg 150th Anniversary in 2001.



SOUND SAMPLE RECORDED BY NOTESERVICE WIND BAND, CONDUCTED BY REID GILJE

Full recording available on "Tales and Myths of Gothia - New Music for Concert Band - Demo Tracks 2018-2019"
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