Large ensemble

Fanfare of Hope was composed in 2003. It was commissioned by the Elgin, Illinois Youth Symphony Orchestra for their brass choir and premiered by that group. ​Community youth orchestras are an important part of the music education fabric of the... Read more

FANFARE FOR AN UNCOMMON MAN is a work for orchestral brass and percussion composed in 2011. It was commissioned by the Wisconsin School Music Foundation for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and premiered by that group in a concert honoring... Read more

In the first piece Allegro meccanico I used a very rhythmic and incisive style mixed with a variety of fascinating timbric and percussive effects to capture the attention of the listener. The dreamy Adagietto sognante features a melancholic melody... Read more

Ghost Riders for brass octet and optional tenor voice was based on an old Western American folk song called Riders in the Sky. The song tells of a man of dubious morals who, while riding out on the range one day beheld a most frightening vision of... Read more

The work is in one movement but divided into three parts, fast, slow, fast, with the final fast section reprising and developing the first. The title refers to the energetic, dance-like nature of the fast music which is balletic and highly rythmical. Read more

Stylistically, Simon’s compositions for brass instruments can be situated between the twelve brass quintets by Jean Bellon, the Twelve Little Pieces by Ludwig Maurer and the first quintet by Victor Ewald. Simon’s melodic and harmonic writing are... Read more

Stylistically, Simon’s compositions for brass instruments can be situated between the twelve brass quintets by Jean Bellon, the Twelve Little Pieces by Ludwig Maurer and the first quintet by Victor Ewald. Simon’s melodic and harmonic writing are... Read more

Antiphonies is a work for two brass quintets and, although there are occasional sections where the two quintets play together as one large ensemble, for most of the piece they play together in an antiphonal fashion.  At times these antiphonal... Read more

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These three short movements are like three subtle and delicate sound kaleidoskopes which illustrate the considerable resources in macro and micro contrasts (sound colors, articulations, dynamics) of brass instruments. Read more

The “Symphony for Brass” op. 80 was commissioned by Philip Jones, premiered in Regensburg Feb. 21st, 1980, and recorded in 1981 on “Focus on PJBE” by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. Today it has become a masterpiece of the international brass... Read more

At London Brass’s request I have composed these pieces especially for their “in memoriam Philip Mark Jones” concert given in 2001 in London. The Fanfare is the traditional brass cliché. Philip would have found (as I do myself) an irony in my choice... Read more

«Epitaph for PJ» is a tribute to Philip Jones. Philip, perhaps more than any other musician raised the status of the playing of brass instruments to a new and elevated level. This short piece is tranquil and ecstatic in mood. Read more

“Fierabrass” is inspired by the adventures of Don Quixote, and the title of the piece is taken from an episode in which he is given a placebo called the “Fierabras potion.” It has a free structure, divided in 3 movements which, in a very capricious... Read more

An exciting and virtuosic showpiece composed for the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble which stems from the famous Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Grand Fanfare gave its name to a DVD of the ensemble et also appears on an Album released by EMI. Read more

«Song» was written in the form of a passacaglia in which the typical character of slow traditional Bulgarian songs has been preserved. Read more

“Dance” was written in rondo form with uneven measures typical of the traditional Bulgarian dances, like “Raceniza” (7/8) and “Paidushko horo” (5/8). Read more