Reminiscing Dance - Brass Band - LM983

COMPOSER : Chris Allen

Reminiscing Dance is the most traditional of all the brass band works I have written so far, but it contains beautiful melodies that should appeal to most audiences. The piece is similar in nature to 'The Three Bells',

the central movement of Gordon Langford's Three Haworth Impressions, and is inspired by rural imagery and the idea of a widow recalling their precious experiences with their loved one. The general mood of the piece is one of happiness tinged with wistfulness and longing, beginning with a lilting, but not jolly triple time melody in the soprano cornet.

This melody gives way to a more jovial tune at bar 56 which can afford to be played with more humour and freedom, but at bar 86 the atmosphere should darken again, with a subdued dynamic and smoother articulation.

At bar 114, the upbeat music of the opening returns but bolder than before, to represent a feeling of anger that the opportunity to spend cherished time with a loved one has been stripped away by death. An intense countermelody in the euphoniums and baritones grinds painfully against the main tune in the cornets, before a soft close that suggests ultimately the dominant emotion of the piece is one of happy memories rather than loss.

Chris Allen, December 2021