Test Piece Preview: Diversions by Derek Bourgeois

4 min read

An Exploration of Bourgeois' Playful Yet Tricky Test for Brass Band

Derek Bourgeois is known to have penned some of the brass band world’s most distinctive works, including Blitz, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and the work that has been selected for the Championship Section of the 2025 Regional Brass Band Championships, Diversions. After spending the last few weeks becoming acquainted with this deceptively challenging work, I wanted to take a deep dive into the test piece, its background and what makes it a test for performers.

Who was Derek Bourgeois?

Derek Bourgeois (1941-2017) was a well-known composer in both the brass band and the wider musical world with 116 symphonies, 17 concertos, 7 major works for chorus and orchestra, two operas, a musical and 15 extended works of brass band to his name. Born in Kingston-on-Thames in 1941, Bourgeois is a graduate of Cambridge University, where he earned a first class and a subsequent Doctorate degree in music. He then spent a further two years at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition under the tuition of Herbert Howells and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult. In 1993, he became the Director of Music at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London - a position that was once held by Gustav Holst and Herbert Howells.

His writing style is distinctive with no two pieces being the same, from the lighthearted, fun little ditty that is Serenade, to the intimidating and fiendishly challenging Blitz, displaying the versatility of his writing capabilities for brass band. Despite his works for brass band making many an appearance on the contest stage, and he himself achieving contest success with the Sun Life Band, Bourgeois was skeptical about the contesting element of brass band life. When asked by Chris Thomas in an interview for 4barsrest in 2009 about whether he ‘felt at home in the contest arena’, Bourgeois said:

“Not really. Contesting obviously kept the standard high, but I was never comfortable with music being more of a sport than an art.”

When was Diversions Composed?

Diversions was commissioned by the New Zealand-based Skellerup Band in 1985. Bourgeois’ previous work for brass band was the technically and musically intimidating work, Blitz in 1981. He wanted this piece to be the complete antithesis to the aggressive and forceful nature of this previous work, whilst still being technically demanding.

It was then selected as the set work for the 1986 National Finals and again in 1989 for the British Open Brass Band Championships, and has since been picked as a set work for various contests a further 10 times, including the Championship Sections of the 2025 NEMBBA contest and Regional Brass Band Championships.

Exploring Diversions by Derek Bourgeois

The piece is made up of three movements, each with their own distinguishable personality and differing musical tests. Compared to some of Bourgeois’ more heavier works, Diversions is certainly lighter and more melodious, which makes the piece look deceptively simple at first glance. However, make no mistake, there are significant challenges hidden behind the characterful nature of this work.

Movement 1: Allegro Vivace

The first movement is a lively affair, written in sonata form, starting with a flourish and a jaunty first theme that is full of pomp and pagentry. It’s thicker in scoring compared to the other movements, with bold dynamics, technical passages in the upper band, and layered rhythmic patterns in the lower and mid sections.

The second theme, introduced by the solo horn, is wistful, with a tricky flugel line featuring interval jumps. I,and I’m sure many other flugel players in the Championship section, are losing sleep over this bit! The theme is passed through various soloists, including trombone, flugel, and soprano, before ending in a thinly scored soprano cornet solo with a rallentando.

We return to the opening theme with more gusto, developing it with melodic lines and a chromatic crescendo into the last recapitulation of the movement's melodies. A final emphatic descending semiquaver statement and flourish from the soprano cornet brings the movement to a close.

Movement 2: Andante Con Moto Molto Expressivo

The second movement is a complete contrast to the faster, more colourful movements either side of it. It’s cold and thinly scored in most places with many exposed solo moments that are as much a test of nerve, as they are technique. However, despite its rather bleak mood, it is a beautiful piece of brass writing with emotive melody lines that, as much as they leave room for error, provide a lot of opportunity for soloists to stretch their musicality and make them their own.

Speaking specifically about the melody lines in this work, the true test is bringing this seemingly simple writing to life. Without an injection of careful musicality, these solo lines can be a bit bland, but find the music in them and they are so gorgeous. It’s a tricky tightrope walk where bands, their soloists in particular, need to find the balance between breathing life into the melody with tasteful phrasing and rubato, without compensating tempo and pulling it back so much that it stagnates. As a flugel player that’s known to milk a melody line for all its worth - the struggle is real.

Movement 3: Allegro Vivace

In terms of tempo, we’re back where we started with the same marking as the first movement. However, that is the only characteristic the final movement of Diversions shares with the first.

This movement reminds me of the Simpsons Theme, with its jaunty melody line and playful nature. As a player, it may seem like you’re out of the woods after the subtle dynamics and nerve-testing moments of the second movement, but the unpredictable time signatures and finding the light and shade in a movement filled with full-bodied dynamics is a true and final test to finish off the piece. Bourgeois’ use of articulation, particularly accents, within this piece offers the footholds for performers to make this final movement colourful and characterful rather than a sea of loud, bold statements with very little distinction. As a player, the level of adrenaline experienced, as you anticipate the finish line, can easily throw this last movement into the realms of rushing or missing the intricate rhythmic and articulation details that the composer has sprinkled throughout. It’s a showstopper finale of a detailed and contrasting work.