Three More Cats, Chriz Hazell 10 Brass + optional Percussion
Scored for 4 trumpets 1 horn 4 trombones 1 tuba
This set includes additional parts for horn in Eb, trombones in treble clef and Eb bass.
Flora, Tubby Mousetrouser and Homepride are the latest additions to this popular family of felines. Flora was found in a dustbin as a kitten. She liked nothing better than to rush around, but would suddenly stop and fall asleep and almost as quickly be up and off again. If you wanted to find her, she would usually be in amongst the bushes in the garden, hence her name.
Tubby Mousetrouser is a name I would love to be credited with, but alas is not mine, nor indeed was the cat. He belonged to a friend of mine who was a record dealer and avid fan of Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. He loved the original Cat Suite so, in honour of his loyalty, I included Tubby. The name has never been explained to me, but the tubby and mouse seem fairly self-explanatory. Where did the trouser come from? Who knows? A gentle animal who loved nothing better than to sleep and eat.
Homepride, a huge pale ginger cat, was found one early morning in the kitchen, helping himself to food. I thought it was Mr. Jums (one of the original cats), covered in flour or something. As it turned out, a completely new cat had arrived, but the flour image stuck, so he was named after a well-known English brand of flour and bread.
There is one high trumpet part (piccolo or Eb) and a flugelhorn part
Chris Hazell studied composition with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music before joining the Argo division of Decca in 1973 as a producer. There he continued the legendary recordings of Sir Neville Marriner, Philip Jones, King's College Cambridge and Peter Hurford amongst others. As the Decca Group labels evolved his artist base widened to incorporate such names as Sir Georg Solti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Charles Dutoit and Sir Charles Mackerras, the Berlin, Chicago, and Montreal Symphonies and all the major London Orchestras, becoming Senior Producer in 1992. His many recordings with David Zinman in Baltimore have continued (after he went freelance in 1997) with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, on their award winning Beethoven Symphony cycle.
Parallel to this has been his work as arranger and composer. His 'Brass Cats' (written for Philip Jones) is standard repertoire world-wide. He has worked extensively with Dame Kiri te Kanawa, and was both producer and arranger on Bryn Terfel's best-selling Welsh album. He also works regularly with Angela Gheorghiu. He has written music for television, including the title theme for the late Desmond Wilcox's award winning documentary series 'The Visit.'
He has received many commissions, including large-scale children's choral pieces, having regular performances at major venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.
He lives near Whipsnade Zoo (not in it!).
