Dynasty (Peter Graham) - Black Dyke Band conducted by Nicholas Childs

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.gramercymu...
(Video footage by kind permission of www.worldofbrass.tv)