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- Helen Grime
Fanfares (2017)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned for Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra by the Barbican
- 4(2pic).2+ca.3(Ebcl:bcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.cel/str
- 4 min
- 22nd May 2025, Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Programme Note
Fanfares was commissioned by the Barbican for the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle and received its premiere at the opening concert of the LSO’s 2017-18 season on 14 September 2017. It is the first movement of a larger orchestral piece, Woven Space, but can also be performed as a stand-alone work.
Media
Helen Grime: Fanfares
Helen Grime on Fanfares
Scores
Preview the score
Reviews
Helen Grime’s short, dancing, air-filled Fanfare, a world premiere, cast a brief spotlight on each area of the orchestra.
17th September 2017
...an iridescent and scintillating opener, lyrically infused at its mid-point, and if the ending leaves the musical door ajar, then there is more to come, for which Fanfares is a tasty appetiser.
15th September 2017
[The programme] put down a welcome marker for contemporary British music. Helen Grime’s scintillating Fanfares, with eloquent lyrical core and upbeat ending, might have stood as an emblem of things to come.
15th September 2017
...but a fizzy little showpiece for all sections of the orchestra...
15th September 2017
This is intoxicating music that, in its riotous display of orchestral colour, harnesses the LSO’s exuberance.
15th September 2017
...far more than a fanfare, exuberantly juxtaposing scything wind and percussion chords with sinuous string counterpoints.
15th September 2017
Exuberantly colourful and displaying a real melodic gift, this five-minute work traversed a series of sound-worlds before ending in mid-phrase – appropriately, since this is theoretically the embryo of a larger work to come.
15th September 2017