Suite for Concert Band

Composer Kevin Riley

Arranger: Kevin Riley

Description: Origional work for Concert Band

Duration: 12 mins 10 secs

About this work:

Kevin Riley originally conceived his 'Suite' as a one-movement piece, ‘The Prelude’ and was written for the Senior Wind Band at the Newbury Music Centre. He added two further two movements, ‘Pastorale’ and ‘Partita’ following the premiere of the first movement.
All three movements use a simple theme as a basis. This is expanded throughout to use all the forces available in the modern symphonic wind band. Throughout each movement, there are chances for soloists to shine and for each group of instruments to come to the fore.

Prelude should be approached with care! An easy theme is suddenly blown away with the whole band vying for attention. A reflective passage follows, solos for oboe, flute etc. The ending is a recapitulation of the opening.

Pastorale requires great control and balance. Large open spaces throughout the movement need care with tuning.

Partita is the final movement and this gives each section a chance to show their metal! The short 7/4 in the middle is a little respite from the fugal work at the beginning and end.

The whole piece ends with the theme from the first movement being brought out and given a final airing.

Difficulty:

This piece has difficulty rating of 4.5 on a scale one through 6, with 6 being the hardest. Click here to see how we grade our band sets.

Price: £30.00