Pomp and Circumstance Marches the program notes that "Nowhere else in the Pomp and Circumstance marches does Elgar combine compound and duple metres in this way". Payne concluded the piece with a brief allusion to the first Pomp and Circumstance March. The world premiere was on 2 August 2006 with Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra at The Proms at Royal Albert Hall. The first recording was by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Richard Hickox. The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B, bass clarinet in B, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3
Pomp and Circumstance Marches that year. The tune soon became "de rigueur" at American graduations, used primarily as a processional at the opening of the ceremony. March No. 1 opens with an introduction marked "Allegro, con molto fuoco." The introduction leads to a new theme: strong pairs of beats alternating with short notes, and a bass which persistently clashes with the tune. The bass tuba and full brass is held back until the section is repeated by the full orchestra. A little rhythmic pattern is played by the strings, then repeated high and low in the orchestra before the section is concluded by a