Nigel Clarke’s Diary of A Madman
Here below is the winning performance of my ‘Diary of a Madman’ at the French National Brass Band Championships in 2023 by Hautes-de-Hauts-de-France Brass Band under the baton of Luc Vertommen. `DIARY OF A MADMAN’ depicts Ukrainian resistance against the unjust despotism of Putin’s Russian invasion of 24th February 2022.
The are various musical quotes used throughout `DIARY OF A MADMAN’ to emphasis Ukraine’s resistance. It opens with almost toy-soldier like percussion, before an agressive outburst that represents the first days of invasion back in 2022. Rising above the smoky theatre of war, we hear a distant cornet give a rendition of the Ukrainian Nation Anthem (The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished. Luck will still smile on us brother-Ukrainians). The solo cornet soon enters a fragile duet with a second cornet accompanied by dark undertones. One by one, we hear short shards of aggressive fanfare-like figures from various instruments in the band. The mood breaks – we hear strident fortissimo whole-tone scales representing pealing church bells, warning of danger. In contrast, we also hear pianissimo whole-tone scales announcing that the enemy’s troops are falling back. A counter-offensive soon takes centre stage, and battles and skirmishes are heard, with short quotations from Mussorgsky’s `Great Gates of Kyiv’ symbolising the defenders’ heroic struggle. All sides are victims of the Dictator’s ambition! The slow central section offer us moments of melancholic beauty and utilises Henry Purcell’s `When I am laid in earth’ (`Dido’s Lament’ from Dido and Aeneas 1688). This music represents the loss of homes, dignity and loved ones. There are occasional hints at better times as the theme of the parading toy tin soldiers is heard from afar, like a distant memory. Here is quote from the tryrant Julius Caesar, which should still give us sleepless nights. To announce the final push, we hear a church bell strike and an air raid siren signalling a ferocious musical counter-attack. After one final rendition of the Purcell theme, Diary of a Madman closes with a mood of triumph over tyranny.
“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar”.
Watch `DIARY OF A MADMAN’ performed by Hautes-de-Hauts-de-France Brass Band with conductor Luc Vertommen
