Circles of Fire (Brass Dectet)

The idea behind Circles of Fire began with reading about ancient pagan and Celtic festivals, in particular the Celtic festival of Samhain. This was sometimes known as ‘3 nights of the end of summer’ as it was the time when night became longer than day and summer finally ended. It was also believed to be the time when spirits of the Otherworld became visible to humans. To protect themselves from evil spirits, men would run around the boundaries of their farms after dark with blazing torches. The circles of fire which would have lit up the night sky became the inspiration behind the title of the piece.

Circles of Fire captures the essence of a short moment in time during such a festival. As the title suggests, references to circles play a large part in the construction of the musical material. The piece falls into two main sections followed by a short coda. Both the main sections are constructed using the idea of ‘ritornelli’ – bringing back aspects of the material at intervals to give the impression of the music returning full circle. There are also many circular references in the musical material itself.

The first section of the piece conjures up the feelings of transition and drifting between two worlds associated with the approach of winter. Towards the end of the section the music builds to the first real tutti – suggesting a chain of fires linking up the country and providing hope and protection during the difficult and harsh time of winter. The second section is based around the idea of a short ritual dance. During some ritual dances, an effigy, representing an undesired spirit or person, was burned or destroyed. This is represented by the destruction of fragments of material from the first section during the dance.