Though best known for his television and film scores – ten Emmys, plus an Oscar nomination for Silverado and a Grammy nomination for Young Sherlock Holmes – Bruce Broughton has also composed a distinguished body of concert music, including several concertos and works for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Debussy Trio. Fanfares, Marches, Hymns & Finale was composed for the Bay Brass in 2002, and was premiered and recorded by that ensemble with the composer conducting.
The title is eminently self-descriptive of the style or attitude of each movement, which also correspond roughly to a classical symphony. The energetic Fanfares form a bright and positive opening. The jazz-inflected Marches make a sort of scherzo, off-kilter in a Prokofiev manner, and the Hymns are the slow movement, featuring expansively lyrical horns and prominent percussion decoration in a broad, Coplandesque soundscape. The dramatic Finale is the dark side of the opening movement, a relentlessly driven tour-de-force of tightly integrated ensemble and individual virtuosity.
- Program Note from Los Angeles Philharmonic Brass concert program, May 5, 2016