After months of waiting and speculation, the regional test pieces have been announced today and I'm thrilled to finally be able to share the news that I have had a piece chosen for the 4th section regional championships, 2025!
In fact, "I, Daedalus" is my first test piece. I recently set out on a project of composing a test piece for every section, mostly as a personal challenge, but also in response to a number of discussions at contests and conferences about the gender imbalance in UK contesting.
Composing a test piece was a very different challenge to working on a commission for a particular band or soloist. It's not easy to 'get it right', and now I enter the nail-biting phase of finding out whether or not my music will find favour with the 3000 or so people who will soon be dedicating a couple of months of their lives to rehearsing it!
Here's the synopsis of the work, and for those of you kind enough to read this post, there are a few additional bits of insight into the music.
I, Daedalus is a programmatic test piece that is inspired by the mythology of Daedalus, father of Icarus. The music is through-composed with a short introduction leading to five main sections, as follows: I – Inventor in the Tower; II – Father and Son; III – Flight and Fall; IV – Lament; V – Seeker of Knowledge.
The introduction is stately and dramatic; based on a four-note motif 'G-E-C-Eb' that represents Ancient Greece. To let you into a bit of secret, the section 1-4 test pieces are all going to be based on Greek myths, and this 'Ancient Greece' motif will appear in some form or other in each of them!
This introduction leads to 'Inventor in the Tower', a fast-paced, rhythmic section with fanfare-like ideas and some melodic moments as Daedalus plans his escape and builds the famously ill-fated wings. There is a hint of 'steam punk' towards the end of this section with plenty of driving percussion, gradually evolving ostinatos, and even some 'mechanical' input from the brass players. Might be time to break out the steel toe-cap boots! In this build-up I imagined a movie-like montage of Icarus impatiently pacing back and forth whilst Daedalus tinkers endlessly with the wings, until finally we reach the grand reveal.
Then follows a short slow section, 'Father and Son', in which the euphonium and solo cornet take the lead, representing Daedalus and Icarus respectively in their final moments before they make their escape. Some of the rhythms are almost lyrics here; I imagined Daedalus trying to temper Icarus' excitement and plead with him to be careful. Well, of course, he promises... but we all know what happens next.
'Flight and Fall' sets off in a quick compound metre, with driving rhythms propelling the music forward, accompanying playful then soaring melodies shared across different sections of the band as the pair delight in their successful flight. As this section progresses, the tension builds, leading to one of the most famous moments in Greek mythology as Icarus falls from the sky. The music becomes dissonant, then despairing. Hopefully you can hear Daedalus shouting out Icarus's name, just before he starts his seemingly slow-motion plunge into the ocean.
The 'Lament' is hymn-like, with a euphonium cadenza and slow, plaintive music from the band signalling Daedalus' grief and remorse. At the start of the final section, 'Seeker of Knowledge', the music returns to a major tonality and brings back some of the musical material of the introduction, before building to a triumphant finale featuring a tutti version of Daedalus' theme, heard earlier in the euphonium solo. The music comes to a close in triumph, with a final fanfare declaring Daedalus' legacy.
The piece has plenty of technical and musical challenge for everyone, and lots of rhythmic complexity, moments of harmonic intrigue, and detailed articulation and dynamics for conductors to work on. I really hope it can be enjoyed by players, MDs, and audiences alike.
I'd like to congratulate Sophie Milton (@daehwisdays) on her stunning cover art work, and thank the friends who badgered me to start this project in the first place.
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