Arnold, Malcolm : The Forces Fanfare

Sir Malcolm Arnold composed fanfares for Various Composers occasions, ranging from military ceremonies to Gerard Hoffnung’s celebrated comic musical extravaganzas. This 3-minute work was written in 1991 for the United States Air Force Band. With the American origin of the commission in mind, Sir Malcolm thought it appropriate to use a motif from his Sixth Symphony, a work written 25 years earlier whose second movement is an affectionate homage to a great American musician, Charlie Parker. This motif (taken from the Symphony’s finale) becomes the main theme in the central section of the Fanfare, launched by the first pair of trumpets to an accompaniment of driving energy and vigour. Here, and in the slower sections that surround it, Sir Malcolm makes full use of the serried ranks of brass at his disposal, to which he adds timpani and a substantial array of percussion, all of which come into play as the Fanfare broadens out into its appropriately grandiose conclusion.