Lively, rhythmic and jazzy, with all the fun you would expect from Tony Osborne's music. A BIBF commission in 1997, Blue Sunday is great fun to play and has been performed throughout Europe and America. Popular in performance, its 7/8 time signature offers few problems once the energy and momentum build towards a fast and rousing climax. A pizzicato line underpins the whole work and this has great rhythmic drive and momentum. The composer describes the style as 'gritty and hard-rock'.

Blue Sunday was premiered on 31 August 1997 at Leighton Park School (Reading, UK), as part of Bass-Fest '97, by Martin Gregg, David Heyes, Nic Hyde, Louise Walter, Ray Walter, Alex Forbes, Stephen Pearce and Rosamund Scatterfood.

'Blue Sunday is a driving, single jazz-rock movement, again demonstrating Osborne's fluency in popular styles...Real satisfaction comes at the end when, like some great unstoppable engine, all eight voices sing in two-octave unison.' [Double Bassist]

Performance Level: 6;8

Tony Osborne is an important educationalist and prolific composer who has made a significant and unique contribution to the double bass repertoire over the past 35 years. His solo music for young bassists is included by many international examination boards, and his many ensembles pieces are performed at workshops and concerts throughout the world. Tony Osborne notes the influences of Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein, alongside some of the Russian masters, on his music, which he combines with a jazzy, rhythmic and energetic style that has been popular with players and audiences worldwide.

Born in 1947 into a musical family, Tony Osborne studied at the Royal Academy of Music (London) with John Walton (double bass) and Richard Stoker (composition), and divides a busy career between composing, teaching and performing. A very prolific composer and arranger, Tony's original compositions include works in almost every genre, notably Chaconne Syncopations and Wainwright's Ways for brass quintet, Celebration Fanfare for brass ensemble, the musical A Fine Time for Wine, a beautiful and dramatic Requiem and many works for string orchestra.

In 2001 Tony Osborne was elected an ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) for his pioneering and important work for double bass, and has been a featured composer at Bass-Fest for the past decade. He was a very successful BIBF Composer-in-residence in 2002-3 and wrote a number of impressive and innovative works for the project. He has been a judge for the British Composer Awards over the past few years and has been a judge for the BIBF Composition Competition since 1999. Recital Music is planning a major festival of Tony Osborne's music in 2012, to celebrate the composer's 65th birthday, and has formulated a 10-year project to publish all his works for double bass.
www.tony-osborne.com