The 2016 Championships section British Regional test-piece, Cambridge Variations, has entered contesting
folklore - composer and conductor, Tom Davoren, examines the reasons why and delves into the score...

For as long as I’ve trodden the boards of British brass band rehearsal rooms, there has been an aura surrounding Philip Sparke’s Cambridge Variations. As a younger bandsman at the turn of the Millennium, I clearly remember my peers putting the work forward for selection at own-choice competitions. They placed it on a technical pedestal with the most fearsome and current examples of brass band repertoire, despite the fact that it was then rarely performed, had not been selected as a test-piece in recent memory and that they had never actually seen a part or score!

Part of this immortalisation of the work must be attributed to seminal performances by Williams Fairey and Leyland at the European Championships and the All-England Masters, both of which are now etched deep into contesting folklore in their own right. There have, though, been a number of contesting works associated with blockbusting performances that have failed to capture the imaginations of players and audiences at the time, let alone those of a following generation. What is it, then, that makes Cambridge Variations an exception?

The answer, in my mind is, the composer. Whilst the impressive history of the work’s performances in competition speaks for itself, it’s a sense of curiosity, perhaps spiked by the unique ability of Sparke’s voice to instantly connect with performers and audiences, that can evolve a feeling of reverence towards a historical statistic into a true hunger to experience the work first-hand.

Philip Sparke is a composer of predominantly absolute music, so here there is no extra musical programme or concept to influence interpretation. The music itself, though, is extremely rich in possibility for drama and colour, both within and outside the scope of the composer’s meticulous markings.

Each of the work’s four contrasting sections has its own internal shifts in musical character. One key skill required in conductors will be...

 

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