John Brakstad

Celebration for Band

Many Norwegian bands have grown up around factories; but Norwegian factories are often located in the countrysides - by a fjord or lake, by a river or waterfall that provided power for the factory.

The factory was the foundation for the existence of the community, but it was also essential for the community's cultural life; choirs, bands etc. (cp. British brass bands and mining).

'Celebration for band' tries to give a picture of the environment and life around a band like this, with both factory noise and the natural world (Pastorale), as well as the challenges and development of the band itself.

The composition is built up of five connected episodes:

- Fanfare and Prologue (concludes with a feeling of the untamed power of the river)

- Pastorale I: ' At the river'

- Intermezzo: ' The Factory' (starts with the opening of water for the turbines: snare drum.

Factory whistle and bell call to work, and the spinning and weaving machinery starts up.)

- Pastorale II: ' Summer evening on the fjord.'

- Finale: ' Challenge and Progress'