Journey of the Lone Wolf (Brass Band/Score & Parts) Simon Dobson
Journey of the Lone Wolf tells the story of the hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs for Black Dyke Band, who gave the first performance on Sunday 26 January 2014 at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester as part of the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass.
Duration: 15 minutes.
Level: Championship
Also Available:
Journey of the Lone Wolf (Brass Band Score)
Genre(s): Contemporary
Difficulty Level: Advanced
Grade(s): Grade 6
Score/Parts: Score & Parts
Instruments:Brass Band and Percussion Ensemble
Set as the CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION test piece for the 2016 Finals of the British Brasss Band Championships.The Lone Wolf of the title is the great Hungarian composer and folklorist Béla Bartók.
Bartóks journey took him from the hills of the Balkans to the heart of the new world. His singular vision may have meant a life out in the cold, a life without warmth and love, a life without true happiness, a death mourned by a few in a strange land. The first of the three linked movements is capturing the Peasants Song and follows the young Bartók and fellow composer Zoltan Kolday as they embark on Summertime adventures through the Hungarian countryside to collect and catalogue the astonishing variety of Gypsy and folk music heard in the Balkan hills. The arrival of WW1 plunges Bartóks beloved Hungary into chaos. Bartók was at times a cold man, aloof and lonely. The occasional moments of tenderness he showed are portrayed in Night Music. His brief but intense affairs speak of a love he could only long for. Jazz is my night music and here there are hints of what Bartók may have heard in the USA later in his life. Having been forced by the worlds evils to leave his homeland of Hungary for America Bartók, the anti-fascist, felt isolated and angry. In the finale, Flight and Fancy, we hear his longing for a simpler time of Gypsy folk dances as well as his maturity and depth as a composer finally exploring deeper colours and darker themes. Simon Dobson
Notes to Performers:
Journey of the Lone Wolf, Simon Dobson, for Brass Band and Percussion.
First published 2014 by Faber Music Ltd. Revised edition 2016.
Percussion instrumentation
Timpani
Percussion 1: Bongos, crotales, cymbals, hi-hat cymbals, snare
drum (medium high), suspended cymbal, tambourine, tam-tam.
Percussion 2: Concert bass drum (shared), brake drum (shared),
kit bass drum (with double-kick pedal), snare drum (shared),
suspended cymbal (shared), tam-tam (shared).
Percussion 3 (optional): Brake drum (shared), crotales (shared),
snare drum (shared), suspended cymbal (shared), tam-tam
(shared).
Percussion 4: Tubular bells, vibraphone, xylophone, crotales
(shared).
Percussion requirements
The percussion requirements for this work were amended in 2016 at the request of Kapitol Promotions
Music Panel, which has selected the work as the test-piece for the 2016 Championship Section finals of the
National Brass Band Championships, 8 October 2016.
With the co-operation of the composer, Percussion 3 material has been re-assigned, where possible, to
Percussion 1 and Percussion 2, either as a re-write or cue. The reduced Percussion 3 part now becomes an
option and is not to be performed on 8 October. Percussion 4 (for tuned instruments) is unchanged.
Performance notes
During the second movement, Night Music, Percussion 2 is instructed to play a backing track (manipulated
samples of bowed crotales and nature sounds) from a CD player linked to speakers. This is to add atmosphere
and a sense of physical space during the flugel horn solo. The CD is provided with the performing material.
Minor revisions have also been undertaken to the cornet, horn and baritone parts in the last four bars of the
work. Any band that has purchased the 2014 publication should contact Kapitol Promotions Music Panel
Secretary, Alan Hope, and alternative material including percussion parts will be supplied by the publisher.
The 2016 revised edition is presented with a new cover image. See below.
