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  • At the Top of the Tide
    At the Top of the Tide ThumbnailAt the Top of the Tide Thumbnail

    David Mitcham

    At the Top of the Tide

    • £15.95

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    • Product Details
    • Composer Biog
    • Instrumentation

    Instrument: 3 trumpets (score and parts)
    Catalogue No: 9301
    ISMN No: 9790570660063

    At The Top Of The Tide was written in response to the Bristol Proms call for entries to a competition to find the official fanfare for the City of Bristol in 2015. The piece won the competition and has now been adopted as the city's official fanfare for the next 100 years. The judging panel was chaired by trumpeter Alison Balsom who gave the first concert performance with Adam Wright and Ross Brown at the Bristol Proms in the Bristol old Vic in July 2015.

    In the piece David Mitcham seeks to portray Bristol's maritime, industrial and cultural heritage. You can hear sea shanty-like motifs and the sound of waves rippling over the sea which might suggest the era of the Tall Ships and Bristol's days of sea trade. The central section has a triple echo effect which could represent sound echoing round the docks as but equally might allude to the multicultural nature of Bristol. This central section uses a scale with a Middle Eastern feel and was actually prompted by hearing the Muslim call to prayer echoing around the mountains in Turkey when David was writing the piece. There are also mechanical pulsing rhythms redolent of train travel that hint at Brunel's great railway from London to Bristol. Overarching this is a feeling of celebration of the energy and creative vibe of the City of Bristol.

    The players should stand with the first trumpet in the centre flanked by the second and third trumpets who should angle their bells outwards slightly.


    David Mitcham
    David Mitcham is an award winning film composer. His musical training began as a trombone player in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He was awarded his ARCM at the age of 17. He then studied for his B Mus Tonmeister degree at Surrey University which involved a year working at Abbey Road Studios.

    He became a professional composer in the mid 1980s. His scores for natural history films have won numerous awards at international film festivals. These include an Emmy in 2016 for "The Last Orangutan Eden", a Golden Panda at Wildscreen for "The Elephant, the Emperor and the Butterfly Tree" (2004), and in America, Best Music at both the American Wildlife Film Awards Jackson Hole ("Danger in Tiger Paradise" 2003) and the Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival ("South Pacific" 2010). He was nominated for an Ivor for "Danger in Tiger Paradise" in 2003 and at the Emmys for "Mississippi : Tales of the Last River Rat" in 2006.

    His concert music includes "At The Top Of The Tide", premiered by Alison Balsom and her ensemble at the Bristol Proms (2015) and "Ricercare" for Brass quintet and Organ written to mark the 30th anniversary of London Brass (2016). Both pieces are published by Brass Wind as are collections of his Flute ensemble music and Trombone pieces.

    Over the years he has developed performing skills on many instruments. He likes to relax by playing jazz double bass.

    David is based in England in the heart of historic Wiltshire.
    Web link: http://www.davidmitcham.co.uk


    Instrumentation Sample

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