Derek Bourgeois was born in Dulwich, studied music at Cambridge, and lectured in music at Bristol University for some years before becoming Director of the National Youth Orchestra. As a composer his energy is directed into major forms such as the symphony, oratorio and sonata, but he also has time for a joke in the true Haydn tradition and a sense of joie de vivre. His less 'serious' works incude a 'Wine' Symphony and a Cantata Gastronomica.

His Serenade has become very popular in an arrangement for brass band, but it was composed as an organ piece, a bridal march for his own wedding. It is the sound of steel drums that comes to mind, though, as the music unfolds, for this march swings in Caribbean style. As the number of beats in a bar becomes increasingly odd, the listener is left wondering whether the music was designed to amuse the composer's musical bride as she walked up the aisle, or confuse his eminent Director of Studies who was in the congregation. Certainly he would have been able to unravel a hint or two of a famous Bolero from the music …

from notes by Ian Carson © 1988