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Festive Music for Singapore
Composers:- Barnes, James
Duration: 10
Description:
FESTIVE MUSIC FOR SINGAPORE, op. 120, was commissioned in 2004 by the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band. It premiered on May 27, 2005 in Singapore with the composer conducting. The work was commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Singapore’s independence from the United Kingdom. It received its international premiere by the Armed Forces Central Band at the W ASBE convention on July 15, 2005, with Major Philip Tng, the band’s conductor and music director, conducting. This is a work based on the minimalistic principles of repetition, frequent ostinati and rhythmic evolution and transformation. It is both Eastern and Western in concept, with the minimalism coming from the East and the harmony being much more American in flavor. Because it is highly melodic and contrapuntal, however, it remains “Barnes” to the core. In a letter to Major Tng written while he was composing the work, James Barnes described it as “engaging, rhythmic and unlike anything I have written before.” While Festive Music from Singapore seems to sound much like a large overture, it is, in fact, a theme with a set of variations (which is indicated in the score), a technique which propels the work with great force and vigor.
