Procol Harum: Simple Sister Score
Gary Brooker's hand-written orchestral score ... now sold
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Only very rarely does a Procol Harum item come into circulation that the collector can be absolutely certain is unique.
This is Gary Brooker's 12-sheet, 23-page orchestral score of the Procol classic Simple Sister, hand-written in pencil on Panopus 30-stave manuscript and Alpheus 30-stave pre-printed manuscript.
This is a substantial, exciting Harum document, which Gary presented to 'Beyond the Pale' specifically so that it could be sold at auction when we next needed to raise money for a Procol event, such as the Manchester Fans' Convention on 16 June.
We are very grateful to Gary, and delighted to offer his score for sale according to his instructions: visit the eBay auction page here to place your bid |
Picture to show the size of the pages, which are ideal for framing
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The first illustration, below, shows a small detail of the first page with Gary's signature and the title.
Gary's hand-written statement of provenance, included for sale with the score, specifies that he used Panopus scoring-paper for the first page (bars 1 - 12), Alpheus paper for pages 2 to 7 (bars 13 - 76), and Panopus again for the rest (pages 8 - 23, bars 77 - 202).
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Panopus: First page (bars 1 - 12)
Alpheus: pages 2 to 7 (bars 13 - 76)
Panopus: pages 8 - 23 (bars 77 - 202) |
Panopus 58 x 40 cm
Alpheus 47 x 30 cm |
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Music written on both sides
except page 1 and page 23 |
10 double-sided manuscripts and 2 (pages 1 and 23) single-sided ... ie 23 pages over 12 sheets |
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Hand-written by Gary Brooker in Guildford and Amsterdam, March / April 1994.
Recorded for The Symphonic Music of Procol Harum at Abbey Road Studio No 1
on 25 April 1994 with the London Symphony Orchestra,
conductor Nicholas Dodd, producer G Brooker |
The score is extremely detailed and makes a fascinating accompaniment to the recording, enabling the reader to hear a tremendous amount of intricate detail.
The next illustration shows a detail of the choral writing. The pages themselves are too large to show in full here (see illustration above), but would be very suitable for framing: the entire set would make a marvellous series of decorations for a music room or studio.
The illustration below shows a detail of the percussion writing (in addition to the drum kit (not playing here) and the timpani (marked 'Roll'), it's scored for four players: gran casa is 'bass drum' and piatti are 'cymbals') and the intricacy of some demanding vocal parts, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass.
Though the lead vocal is not shown in these excerpts, the eventual owner will find that Gary has written out Keith Reid's words in full and that they are not exactly as most fans hear them.
Finally a glimpse of the writing for flutes and oboes ... an intriguing view of the complexity of the parts, and an insight into the composer's attention to detail: he spent many weeks working on these unique sheets.
The score pages are presently scrolled in a robust tube with the composer's note, and will be mailed thus to the eventual owner by Registered Post from the UK.This is an exciting opportunity for any Procol Harum / Gary Brooker fan! Visit the eBay auction page here to place your bid.
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