Northern Lament

SKU: CN.S11214

Adapted from the slow movement of Bourgeois' own Sonata for Brass Quintet, Northern Lament is a powerful work with a fiery climax in the middle and thematic material derived from a simple & memorable melody.

This piece originated in the slow movement of Sonata for Brass Quintet, which I wrote in 1965 whilst still a pupil of Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music, London. It had been commissioned by the Halle Brass Quintet, although they never performed the work. In 1997, Timothy Reynish suggested that I should arrange the work for wind orchestra. I decided to expand the movement into something more than double its original length, adding a fiery climax to its central section. The whole movement derives from the simple melody stated at the beginning. Because of Timothy Reynish's association with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England and because the original sonata was never played by the northern-based Halle Brass Quintet who invited me to write it, I decided to call the new piece Northern Lament..