Product Description
Flexible quintet, parts for oboe, 1st and 2nd trumpet, trombone and timpani supplied. Solo oboe set against the rest in antiphony. A fanfare for a graduation ceremony is unusual in celebrating the whole assembled company: students, their supporting families, distinguished guests and the staff. Wishing to make the piece relevant to York St John's University, I considered its religious foundation and dedication to St John, the apostle. I was delighted to find reference to a Missa Brevis by Robert Hugill, which has never been performed and may never have been published: this includes an Agnus Dei. The composer very generously sent me a copy, and I have inserted a well-disguised quotation from it. Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, is taken from the Gospel of St John, Chapter 1 Verse 29. My central section is a slow "peacock" processional pavane, as I anticipate the parade of begowned personages. I wanted to avoid unnecessary dissonance and confusion to be created by York Minster's echo. I hoped the echo would enrich the texture rather than muddy it, therefore, I used a scale without semitones--the whole-tone scale, and the lack of rapid passage-work will also help in this acoustic. I love the antiphonal works of, for instance, Giovanni Gabrieli, which were intended for cathedrals, and Decani-Cantoris antiphony appears in, for example, Orlando Gibbons' O Clap Your Hands, which can be found in the 17th century Bing-Gostling part-books at York Minster.
The Graduation Fanfare lasts about 1 minute 50 seconds.
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