Britten Benjamin - Irish Reel - Symphonic Wind Band

Britten wrote Irish Reel in 1936 as the title music for a documentary film entitled Around the Village Green. It is a bravura piece exhibiting all the energy and strong orchestral colours typical of the composer at that time and makes good use of a traditional reel tune with the evocative title The Bottom of the Punch Bowl.Guy Woolfenden's transcription for symphonic wind band skilfully captures all the fun and sparkle of this ebullient score.

Britten's Irish Reel was composed in 1936 as title music for a documentary film made by Marion Grierson and Evelyn Spice. Around the Village Green was made for the Travel and Industrial Development Association which explored the changes to rural life in East Anglia after the increased mechanisation of agriculture. In his incidental music Britten incorporated a riotous medley of folk songs and other traditional tunes (including 'Early One Morning' 'The Vocar of Bray' and Sheild's 'The Plough Boy') many of which were suggested to him by the Norfolk-based composer E.J.Moeran.