Overture on God Save the Queen
Composer Jonathan Bates describes his Overture on God Save the Queen as "a messed up take on the UK national anthem!" The work takes the well-known melody and goes as wildly different from the original as possible.
Much of the music is written in a deep ethereal funk in 13/16, before a heavy, grungy half-time feel section featuring the euphonium and baritone, with the tune still dominating the harmonic structure of the accompaniment.
With great scope for choreography the work is extremely clever, entertaining, and proved the perfect vehicle to open both Flowers Band's 2014 Brass in Concert programme, and their 2015 Butlins Mineworker's Championship winning programme.
The piece features on the Prima Vista Musikk CD, Stratos.