Realms of Asgard
Realms of Asgard is the culmination of approximately ten year’s research and experimentation composing for championship section brass band. The work was commissioned by Jaren Hornmusikkforening and premiered at the 2015 Norwegian National Brass Band Championships.
A considerable amount of contemporary contest music for the elite or championship section brass band is written in a ‘high-art’ vein, despite the majority of its readership being unscholarly musicians. The research aim for this work was to re-evaluate the approach of the championship section test-piece aesthetic, with a clear audience development agenda from the perspective of both performer and spectator which focuses on entertainment value and reintroduces the core ethos of brass band literature to its audience. The work intentionally functions on multiple levels; robust, complex dialectic arguments for the musical aficionado, performance challenges that are practical to overcome and arise naturally from the fabric of the music and at the broadest level, evocative, lyrical themes and melodies that are interspersed with intelligible metaphor and common semiotic references.
The cinematic approach demonstrated in this work is both current, popular and provides a balance of musical sophistication achieved by the combination of both art- and commercial music practices.
In the context of the brass band test-pieces, the work is still in its infancy and time is needed to gauge what impact the piece will have on the development of repertoire. Since the compositions premiere however it has been acknowledged favourably and is currently under review for use at several national and international competitions.