California Concerto
This work was written in 2007 for Linda Taylor and the Golden State British Brass Band of California, USA. It was first performed by them under the composer's direction at a concert in Fullerton in 2012.
It is a concerto for brass band, featuring individual instruments and the various sections of a band. The first movement is lively with plenty of American 'whee-ha!' The second movement acknowledges the Scottish ancestry of a member of Golden State's trombone section and is based on the song, Black is the Colour of my True Love's Hair, which originated in Scotland but was taken to the New World and was adopted as an American folk song. The final movement is a jaunty march in which the various sections of the band 'strut their stuff'.
Rodney Newton, February 2023