PopMarket - Higgins: Fanfaire, Air & Flourishes for solo euphonium - Multicolor

Fanfare, Air and Flourishes is a suite originally for solo horn made from three pieces written during the COVID-19 pandemic for different purposes. The first, 'Fanfare', was written to a commission from the Royal Academy of Music, who invited two hundred composers to write pieces for all of the instruments taught at the Academy in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the institution. 'Fanfare' leans into one particular aspect of the horn's personality it's assertive, loud and urgent. The expression mark at the start is 'bold and brassy'. 'Air' celebrates the horn's mellow tone; semplice espressivo is the instruction at the start of the piece and the horn plays a melody as expressive as anything you'd hear as a solo in a brass band. 'Flourish', the third piece, was a commission from BBC Radio 3 during lockdown. Rising melodies - or flourishes - run up and down the horn, returning even more elaborately after a simpler middle section. Flourish was written at the same time as Gavin was writing The Faerie Bride, and these flourishes appear in the oratorio to mark the turn of the seasons.

Fanfare, Air and Flourishes is a suite for solo horn made from three pieces written during the COVID-19 pandemic for different purposes. The first, 'Fanfare', was written to a commission from the Royal Academy of Music, who invited two hundred composers to write pieces for all of the instruments taught at the Academy in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the institution. 'Fanfare' leans into one particular aspect of the horn's personality it's assertive, loud and urgent. The expression mark at the start is 'bold and brassy'. 'Air' celebrates the horn's mellow tone; semplice espressivo is the instruction at the start of the piece and the horn plays a melody as expressive as anything you'd hear as a solo in a brass band. 'Flourish', the third piece, was a commission from BBC Radio 3 during lockdown. Rising melodies - or flourishes - run up and down the horn, returning even more elaborately after a simpler middle section. Flourish was written at the same time as Gavin was writing The Faerie Bride, and these flourishes appear in the oratorio to mark the turn of the seasons.

Dacw 'Nghariad (there is my love) is a beautful Welsh folk song that I discovered whilst working on a cantata for the Aldeburgh Festival based on the Welsh myth of Lyn y Fan Fach. The song is about longing; longing for something that is unreachable and distant, for the moment at least. © Gavin Higgins