The Fenlands 'Symphonic Suite for organ and brass' by Arthur Wills (b1926) Performed by Lithuanian National Youth Brass Band at the Rolduc abbey church, Kerkrade city (The Netherlands) - 12 July, 2017. organ soloist / solo vargonais Jo Louppen (The Netherlands), conductor / dirigentas Tadas Šileika (Lithuania) Video by Wolfgang Pütz, 2017 WMC Kerkrade-2017. Project of young generation "WMC on Tour". Pasaulio muzikos konkurso Kerkradėje projekto "WMC on Tour" dalyviai: Lietuvos nacionalinis vario dūdų orkestras ( vadovas Remigijus Vilys) Anglų kompozitoriaus Arthur Wills (g. 1926 m.) simfoninė siuita vargonams ir variniams pučiamiesiems instrumentams “Fenlandsas” Vaizdo įrašas iš Lietuvos nacionalinio vario dūdų orkestro koncerto 2017. 07.12 d. Kerkradės miesto (Nyderlandai) XII a. Rolduco Romos katalikų vienuolyno bažnyčioje. Su istoriniais bažnyčios vargonais solo partiją atliko žymus olandų vargonininkas Jo Louppen. The Fenlands (Dr Wills thought at first he might call the work ‘Fenlandia’!) is a sinfonia concertante for organ and brass band, and it requires both technical skill and imaginative musicianship from the soloist and brass players. The first movement, ‘The Vikings’, is powerful, sombre and vigorous, expressing as it does the ‘dynamism and vigour of the pagan culture of this energetic and warlike race’. Wagnerians will readily recognize the ‘Fate’ motif from ‘The Ring’ which is skilfully woven into the texture and developed alongside a brusque rhythmic motif in the band and a quotation from Dr Wills’s own Carol of King Canute (Canute was also associated with the Fens). The second movement, ‘Wicken Fen’, is a compositional tour de force in that it is a palindrome—halfway through, the music is reversed, retracing its steps to the beginning. Wicken Fen is one of the few areas of fenland that has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, being totally unaffected by the reclamation through drainage that took place from the seventeenth century onwards. It is an eerie place whose flatness and apparent featurelessness have a remote, gaunt majesty which is superbly captured in this atmospheric music, the organ weaving shimmering figures against the band’s soft chords that build up into a climax of almost frightening power. The third movement, ‘Oliver Cromwell’, portrays a fenland figure who combined energetic and extrovert resolution with dour and sombre devotion to a grim, tenacious religious faith; and the vigorous, tuneful finale, a march named after the City of Ely, captures the spirit of a vigorous musical tradition established by Elgar and Walton—tuneful, self-confident and full of ceremonial colour. Thus, in the composer’s words, it ‘pays homage to the City, the Band, and a great musical heritage’. Dr Arthur Wills OBE (born 1926) is a musician, composer, and professor. He was Director of Music at Ely Cathedral from 1958 to 1990, and also held a Professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1964 until 1992. He has toured extensively as a recitalist in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, and has broadcast, appeared on TV and made many recordings, both as a soloist and with the Ely Choir.

• published: 11 Oct 2017
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