Philip Sparke: March of the Robot Army: Concert Band

March of the Robot Army was commissioned by Linda Anzolin & Giordano-Bruno Tedeschi for Campobanda 2019, with funds made available by JUST ITALIA. Campobanda is an Italian summer music camp for 8- to 18-year-olds (held in Camposilvano in 2019) which has a different theme every year. The theme for 2019 was ‘science fiction’, so composer Philip Sparke chose to write a robot march. After a quirky introduction featuring trumpet calls and chromatic figures, the main theme appears in a minor mode on clarinet and tenor sax and is then taken up by the full band. A change of key heralds a new theme, led by the trumpet and again repeated by the full ensemble. A further change of key introduces a legato ‘trio’ melody over a rather robotic accompaniment: instruments are added bit by bit until a climax is reached. Small motifs from the introduction then lead back to a full recapitulation, revisiting the first two themes in new guises before finishing the march with a flourish.