Gary Brooker's latest work

Le Bourdon des Alpes

10 May 1998: Gary has just rung 'Beyond the Pale' with details of the forthcoming première of his new commission, a piece for monster Brass Band, which is entitled Le Bourdon des Alpes.

A full account of this wide-ranging telephone-call will appear at BtP before the end of the month. Meanwhile we thought fans would appreciate the bare facts about the performance of Bourdon in case they are able to make arrangements to hear it.

It is being played, in the open air, on Sunday 7 June 1998 at 11.30 am at Gryon, Switzerland, at a festival of brass band music. The commission was 'to write something a bit different from the usual'. For precise performance details Gary suggests contacting the Gryon Tourist Board: the event in question is the annual 'Giron des Musiques' (address below).

Le Bourdon des Alpes lasts about 4 minutes 20 seconds ('if they get the tempo right') but 'has got so much in it that it sounds as if it lasts twenty minutes'. It will be performed by a gigantic 450-strong aggregation of all fifteen bands taking part in the 46th annual 'Giron des Musiques du District d’Aigle', the largest ensemble by far ever to tackle a Brooker work.

So far the finished piece has been tackled by only the 30-piece Gryon band (it was test-driven by the Godalming brass band back home in Surrey) and preliminary reports in the Swiss Press (La Presse Rivière de Chablet, I think) suggest it is 'a masterpiece'.

Gary sounds very proud of this new work, and will be there in person to hear it. We hope some of our European correspondents will be able to cover this extraordinary event and send us a full report.

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