Mercury Rising - Philip Sparke

Mercury Rising was commissioned by sinfonisches blasorchester wehdel and its conductor Thomas Ratzek, to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2018. They premiered this piece in their half-century concert on 2nd November 2018 in the Bremerhaven Stadttheater in Germany. Designed as a virtuosic and lively opener, Mercury Rising opens with nervous energy and driving, syncopated rhythms in a blaze of colour. The horns and saxophones then introduce a broad melody, which the trumpets subsequently take up after a change of tonality. A quieter moment introduces a distant fanfare on muted horns over bubbling semiquavers in the low clarinets. This is interrupted by a passionate tenor melody but soon returns on the full brass section, accompanied by echoes of the opening woodwind figuration, and is extended to bring the piece to a triumphant close.

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