Magdalena Bay
Tone Poem for Brass Band
Tone Poem • 2024
Grade 5-6 (very difficult) • ca. 12-13 min. • FC Music Publishing
Instrumentation : Standard BB instrumentation + 4Perc. (5Perc setting available from composer)
During my last trip to Paris, I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum. If it is best known for exhibiting the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, it is full of gems that you discover while getting lost in its different galleries. Among these lesser-known paintings, one of them particularly touched me : Magdalena Bay, by French painter François-Auguste Biard (1799-1882).
The work depicts a magnificent snowy landscape on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. However, in the foreground, the presence of the wreckage of a ship, bodies covered in snow and a visibly dying character make us understand that tragic events took place there. Thus, a strong contrast is formed between death and the sublime, between the desolation of the survivors of the shipwreck and the magnificence of the landscape. When we look in more detail at the painting, we notice that footprints have been made in the snow: so, could someone have gone to get help? This little glimmer of hope makes the picture even more touching.
In this work, I tried to describe the different elements of the painting, using contrasting sections and dissonances (in particular, the conflict between the minor and the major) to convey the duality between death and the sublime. The work also attempts to highlight a wide palette of orchestral colors, from the most shimmering lines to the darkest low brass colors.
In 2024, this work was awarded the first prize as well as the band prize in the 9th European Composition Competition for Brass Band, which was held in Palanga (LT). It was premiered on May 2, 2024 by The Cory Band, conducted by Philip Harper.