Archival recording: Hobbs, Fanfares

Christopher Hobbs, Fanfares for 2 Eb clarinets (1987); Jane Aldred and Virginia Anderson, Eb clarinets, British Music Information Centre, 4 April 1988 

This track of Christopher Hobbs’ three-movement piece Fanfares comes from a Hartzell Hilton Band concert in 1988, and may be its premiere. The Hartzell Hilton Band was a group consisting of two E flat clarinets, two violas, mallet percussion and piano.

In Fanfares, the aggressive nature of the little instruments comes to the fore at the beginning, followed by Hobbs’ characteristic swing styles, ending with a whimsical Satiesque movement.