Pastiche
Composed by Mark Ford for Brass and Percussion.

Pastiche was written in 2024 for my son Broden Ford - Musical Director of Whitehorse Brass in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, upon them winning the 2024 Australian National C Grade Championship Title in Adelaide at Easter. Whitehorse Brass was realised by Broden as the ancillary band of the Box Hill City Band organisation. 

As the title suggests, ‘Pastiche’ is a series of musical ideas taken from other works performed in my own musical experience as a conductor performing many works over the years from composers such as; Phillip Sparke, Jacob de Haan, Martin Ellerby and Jan Van der Roost. 

The opening is Mysterious but quickly transitions to a Majestic fanfare of full block chords. The 2nd section provides an opportunity for the sections to perform ‘bread & butter’ band ensemble work around bass, chordal rhythms and melodic lines that all need to be balanced.  The central slow section marked ‘Largetto Espressivo’ features a haunting cornet solo backed by a minor syncop accompaniment. This is passed on to the tutti ensemble at G. The section closes with a cornet cadenza echoing the original melodic motif of the movement. Between the 2nd and 3rd section there is a short aleatoric section marked ‘Senza misura’ - the percussion parts are very important here. The final section commences featuring the trombone section in a section that can be described as a tour de force in a Van der Roost style, taking material from his magnificent work “Excalibur” a work not accessible to regular C group bands. All of these ideas are massaged to fit consistently with of an ensemble working at this level. 

~ Mark Ford

Melbourne, Australia