Tyrolean Variations

Tyrolean Variations (Arban spent much of his working life as a professor of trumpet, firstly at the Ecole Militaire and later at the Paris Conservatoire where he succeeded in setting up the class for cornet. Apart from his teaching he was a renowned conductor of salon music and also directed at the Opera. His compositions are mostly slight and he is mainly known for his version of the Carnival of Venice and his extremely thorough, and still much-used instruction manual, The Complete Method, in which this Theme and Variations appears. The solo part retains Arbans original music but the accompaniment was newly written for performances by Frank Lloyd and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in Japan in 1982. This version for Horn and Piano was made for Frank to use in recitals. Performance notes: The solo part is, of course, for players with a virtuoso technique. The main technical concern in the accompaniment is to keep the volume at a level at which the horn player can play without undue strain. However, the interludes should be stronger and well characterised.)