As top section bands rehearse Cambridge Variations for the forthcoming British Regional Championships -
a work commissioned by the All-England Masters Championship nearly 25 years ago, Christopher Thomas caught up with its composer, Philip Sparke

CT: As hard as it is to believe, it’s nearly a quarter of a century since you wrote Cambridge Variations for the 1992 All-England Masters, a contest won by BNFL/ Leyland under Richard Evans. What are your recollections of that day and the performances?

PS: Well, as you say it was some time ago, but I can remember a few things about the day. Firstly, I was lucky that Grimethorpe drew number one and the first performance of the piece was a cracker that set the tone for the day. The ‘Major’ and Fairey were imperious. They gave a beautifully controlled performance that even Frank Renton graciously admitted had surpassed that of Grimethorpe.

The winning performance from BNFL was more visceral and Richard Evans later told me they had been struggling with the piece in the run-up to the contest, and only really got through it successfully on the day itself. I think that showed in the white-knuckle aspect of their performance. The piece certainly divided opinion, with one eminent conductor calling it not much more than ‘a technical exercise.’

CT: Given that it is an essentially abstract work, how does a piece like Cambridge Variations begin? Does the music grow from a motif or cell, or do you map the whole piece out in your mind very early on?

PS: Usually the only planning I do (and this will sound odd, but it’s the only way I can describe it) is to decide on a ‘colour’ for the piece. Will it be dark and sombre, bright and ‘silvery’ or noble and ‘blue’, etc. in both colour and texture. This is a purely personal thing and probably doesn’t mean much to others, or probably even to the outcome of the piece itself. However, Cambridge Variations was unusual in that...

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