Simon Dobson wrote his 'Four Sketches' at the request of Peter Bossano Head of Brass at the Royal College of Music in recognition of the 25th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death. The first movement 'Fanfare' quotes directly from the opening violin melody from Britten’s song cycle Les Illuminations. This melodic line is superimposed upon sonorous Lydian mode chords to project a majestic sound. The second movement 'Prayer' is a definite contrast being and much more reflective and pensive in it’s mood and featuring a dream like euphonium cadenza. The third movement 'Funeral March' builds from a soft chordal opening to a chaotic and confusedfortississimo climax with flourishes in the cornets and pounding tri-tones across the basses before plunging into silence for a flugel cadenza to finish. The final Finale movement is much more positive from the off with its jaunty melodies over a Brittenesque ostinato. The block chordal passages offer a crashing climax making for an exciting conclusion to an excellent new work for the medium. Simon Dobson’s 'Four Sketches' was the winning entry in the European Brass Band Composer Competition held in Brussels in March 2002.

The birth of Philip Sparke’s second son Benjamin was the inspiration for composing Ballad for Benny. A short calm introduction leads to the main ballad theme a gentle waltz melody. Following the work’s climax in which the complete band plays the main theme the sound fades and the piece ends in calm and serenity.

Music of the Spheres was commissioned by the Yorkshire Building Society Band and first performed by them at the European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow May 2004.The piece reflects the composers fascination with the origins of the universe and deep space in general. The title comes from a theory formulated by Pythagoras that the cosmos was ruled by the same laws he had discovered that govern the ratios of note frequencies of the musical scale. (‘Harmonia’ in Ancient Greek which means scale or tuning rather than harmony - Greek music was monophonic). He also believed that these ratios corresponded to the distances of the sixknown planets from the sun and thatthe planets each produced a musical note which combined to weave a continuous heavenly melody (which unfortunately we humans cannot hear). In this work these six notes form the basis of the sections Music of the Spheres and Harmonia.The pieces opens with a horn solo called t = 0 a name given by some scientists to the moment of the Big Bangwhen time and space were created and this is followed by a depiction of the Big Bangitself as the entire universe bursts out from a single point. A slower section follows called The Lonely Planet which is a meditation on the incredible and unlikely set of circumstances which led to the creation of the Earth as a planet that can support life and the constant search for other civilizations elsewhere in the universe. Asteroids and Shooting Stars depicts both the benign and dangerous objects that are flying through space and which constantly threaten our planet and the piece ends with The Unknown leaving in question whether our continually expanding exploration of the universe will eventually lead to enlightenment or destruction.