Extracts from Peter Graham's Z1920 (Scenes from a Silent Movie) performed by the Brighouse & Rastrick Band, conductor Prof David King. Premiered live at the 2024 European BB Championships in Palanga Lithuania, the work provided "the weekends talking point" (4barsrest.com) - it's light-touch concert design blurring the boundaries of European test-piece convention.
Z1920 is inspired by the genre-defining 1920 Douglas Fairbanks silent movie The Mark of Zorro, an adaptation of Johnston McCulley’s 1919 pulp fiction novel The Curse of Capistrano. The main characters are represented within the piece as follows:
Don Diego - Cornet 1 (played by Tom Smith)
Zorro (Don Diego’s alter ego) - Cornet 2 (played by Roger Webster)
Lolita (love interest) - Flugel Horn (played by Mike Eccles)
Captain Ramon (the oppressor) - Euphonium (played by Chris Robertson)
The narrative of the movie translates to a musical journey in five scenes with a degree of creative license employed in ordering the sequence of events:
00:00 Scene 1 - Capistrano - a people oppressed - the arrival of Zorro
03:30 Scene 2 - Lolita, a damsel in distress
03:54 Scene 3 - Captain Ramon and Zorro prepare to duel - the sword fight
06:28 Scene 4 - Don Diego’s broken heart - a tango at the hacienda
09:42 Scene 5 - The final duel - the oppressor vanquished - Zorro unmasked and Lolita reunited
The era of the swashbuckling hero, adventure, romance and passion find echoes in traditional brass band values of lyricism, virtuosity and bravura.
Music available from: www.gramercymusic.com