This little march was written in 1975 and was commissioned for the Jönköping Summer School, Sweden, where Edward Gregson was guest composer and conductor. It incorporates the old Swedish folksong Britta at its heart, but otherwise is quite conventional in every aspect.…

Building musical paragraphs using short, irregular rhythmical patterns became a favourite Gregson formula in the early 1970s. The work called Patterms is the clearest and most disciplined example. By limiting himself to a single musical motif, heard at the outset on trombones, Gregson was able to offer a true test of technique and musicianship in a concise three part structure. The opening is another Gregson prelude. The alternating patterns of 3s, 4s, 5s and 7s are bonded by a constant quaver pulse.

The music here possesses a neo-classical, pristine quality. In the central episode, the same triadic figure is transformed …

The Plantagenets was Gregson’s first major test piece, written specially for the 1973 National Brass Band Championships.

In this ambitious symphonic study he turned his attention to music which sets out to create a mood or atmosphere, in contrast to his earlier brass band works such as Essay and Partita where the underlying concerns are technical rather than expressive. However, Gregson is at pains to emphasise that The Plantagenets is not programme music. ‘Symphonic’ is the optimum word here. In its textural and harmonic complexity, its rhythmic and melodic variety, this was his most ambitious brass band piece so far. …