Works for Symphonic Band

I have composed four works for symphonic band, the most works I have written for the same medium. This is rather ironic, since I am not particularly fond of the traditional style of band repertoire. As a result, my works for band are much more symphonic, providing the performers with challenges that they do not normally meet in the regular repertoire. I tend to treat all the instruments and sections equally, giving them solo lines or featured moments within the work as a whole. Comments from the performers and conductors tend to indicate that they find the works sometimes perplexing and difficult at first reading but that after learning the works they find them very rewarding and exciting. I owe this relatively large output to three progressive and courageous Newfoundland artists: Paul Woodford, Gerard Walsh and Grant Etchegary. These three individuals commissioned all of these works for their high-school level bands in the province. I thank them for the opportunity to write for a medium I would not otherwise have explored.

4. Landscapes, Op. 59(2002) Landscapes describes three regions of the country: Edmonton, Ottawa and Newfoundland and Labrador. It was commissioned for a high-speed internet performance uniting three high-school bands from these three areas of the country. This is a major work for band, its three movements taking about 25 minutes to perform. Each movement (about 8 minutes long) could be performed separately but I conceived of the work as a unified whole (with elements of the first two movements appearing in the third).

3. Terra Incognita, Op. 55(1997) Nine years after Chorale, I was asked again to write a piece for symphonic band. Terra Incognita is one of my favourite works. It was written to commemorate the arrival of John Cabot to our shores in 1597 and I tried to represent that historic voyage musically in this work. It contains some improvised passages for the band.

2. Chorale: Homage Anton Bruckner, Op. 39 (1989) Chorale is a 9-minute work for high school bands based on the fourth symphony of Anton Bruckner.

1. Ovation, Op. 37 (1988) My first work for band is a 5-minute representation of the ancient Roman triumphal parade known as an ovation.