The Beacons
by Ray Steadman-Allen
Brass Band - Sheet Music

Brass Band - Advanced

SKU: WO.0066PTS

Composed by Ray Steadman-Allen. Four-movement suite for band. Serious Concert. Instrumental Parts. With Standard Notation. Duration 13:30. Winwood Music #0066PTS. Published by Winwood Music (WO.0066PTS).

For centuries hilltop beacon fires blazed across the land signals of important happenings or warnings of invasion. This music tells no specific story but the titles of the four thematically related sections are a guide to the idea: The Beacons; Far Horizons; The Invaders; Celebration.
The first movement has something of the character of the march and the fanfare; spirited and tightly driving, it promises most of the thematic material of the work. The second is largely tranquil and is thinly scores with solo passages. The third has the most dramatic potential; its energy and conflict subsides to a lament and a tolling bell before a vigorous rounding off. Appropriately, the fourth movement is in a merry-making mood, and the jubilant music concludes with fragment statements of the main themes.
The Beacons was first performed by IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band (James Scott) at the ‘Concert of the Century’, celebrating the Centenary of the British Bandsman, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 5 September 1987.