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£40.00Last Night of the Proms Medley - Traditional
The quintessential most English of English classical music concerts and the self-styled world's largest and most democratic musical festival". The "Proms", originally known as The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts are an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Founded in 1895, each season now consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall, a series of chamber concerts at Cadogan Hall, additional Proms in the Park events across the United Kingdom on the last night, and associated educational and children's events. Often held as outdoor concerts in London's pleasure gardens, where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing, this tradition has once again been revived in parks and stately homes not only in the UK, but across the world. The first series of promenade concerts were held indoors at the Queen's Hall in Langham Place. The idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low-ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to "promenading" or "promming"; eating, drinking and smoking was all allowed. Many people's perception of the "Proms" is taken from the "Last Night", although this concert is very different from the others. The concert is traditionally of a lighter vein, with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. This second half sequence traditionally includes most of the works included in this medley. Many in the audience use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness. Union Jack Flags are carried and waved by the "Prommers", especially during "Rule, Britannia!". Balloons and party poppers are also in abundance.
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£72.00
Bring Him Home (From "Les Miserables") - Boublil-Kretzmer-Schoenberg - Bjorn Morten Kjaernes
The novel by Victor Hugo which the story of this musical is based on, received only limited success in France when it was published. After translating the entire piece into English and adding a a great deal of new material it was still very poorly recieved in London ad well. But satisfied audiences spread the word and soon the ticket sales went through the roof. The show is now in it's 25th year in London!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95Fanfare: The Crowning - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 3 minutes. DIFFICULTY: Championship. "Trumpets sound in the Abbey, bells ring out, & a 62-gun salute booms from the Tower of London.". 'The Crowning' is a ceremonial fanfare and chorale based upon the hymn tune 'Westminster', the London Abbey in which coronations and subsequent 'crownings' take place at the change of every Monarch. You will hear 62 bass drum strikes in the intrada representing the 62 gun-salute which accompanies the ceremony as the 'trumpets sound and bells ring out in the Abbey'. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£107.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£57.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£124.95Hyperlink - Peter Graham
Hyperlink was commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education) for its 70th Anniversary Year. Since the anniversary coincided with other significant celebrations in 2022 (including the Royal Albert Hall/Ralph Vaughan Williams 150th and the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II) it was requested that these also be recognised in some way.
Where better to begin this challenging brief but with a computer search for the NYBBGB founder Dr Denis Wright (coincidently born in Kensington, home of the RAH). The subsequent rabbit warren of hyperlinks led me to structure the work through a series of "associations":
Movement I - The Voice of Jupiter.
Alongside the discovery that Denis Wright had been a church organist was the realisation that while the RAH has hosted thousands of musical events the fabric of the building actually incorporates a musical instrument, the famous Henry Wills organ (aka The Voice of Jupiter).Organ and J S Bach are synonymous (e.g. Toccata in D min) and so both become fundamental to the content of the movement. An opening 7 note quote from the Toccata leads to a mammoth sound cluster, as if every note on the huge RAH organ is sustained. The material which follows is based upon the notes BACH (in German notation). The notes are manipulated in various ways in a 12 tone matrix; reversed, inverted and so on. Other techniques employed in the movement are ones of which Bach was master, including ground bass and fugue.
Movement II - Remember Me.
The lives of Salvationist composer Ray Steadman-Allen (born 1922) and Ralph Vaughan Williams are remembered here, with "RSA" in musical notation and fragments of RVWs famous Tuba Concerto providing the source material.While writing the movement my father passed away and to close his funeral service the family chose the uplifting Robert Lowry hymn They'll sing a welcome home. It seemed fitting to conclude the movement with a reflective setting of the chorus, the repeated phrase "Welcome, welcome home" eventually disappearing into the ether.
Movement III - Vivat.
The finale takes the form of a short fantasy upon Hubert Parry's marvellous coronation anthem I Was Glad, truly a celebratory note with which to conclude.The first performance of Hyperlink was given by the NYBBGB conducted by Martyn Brabbins at the Royal College of Music, London on August 6th 2022.
Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£20.00Edward Gregson: Music of the Angels, for Symphonic Brass and Percussion
DescriptionProgramme NoteMusic of the Angels is a dramatic work of some 16 minute's duration, scored for a large symphonic brass ensemble, including seven trumpets, and percussion. The percussion section deploys 'dark' instruments such as three tam-tams, a bass drum and two sets of timpani.The title of the work is based on a quotation from the Book of Revelations:And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpetsThus, the idea behind the work is a dramatic one and the composer has emphasised this by the partial spatial arrangement of the ensemble, with six solo trumpets standing centre stage, but behind the main ensemble, and the seventh trumpet off-stage throughout.The work opens with a four-note motif, dominant throughout the work, announced initially by four off-stage horns and answered by fanfare figures on four solo trumpets. Then in turn each of the first four solo trumpets announce their own cadenzas before joining together, independently playing their own music. This reaches an intense climax before subsiding into slow music which might be described as a Kyrie eleison - a lament for humanity - a cantilena for flugel horn and euphonium, accompanied by trombones. The drama soon returns with the entry of trumpets 5 and 6, playing music that is fast, more urgent and foreboding, and describing in musical terms the horsemen of the Apocalypse.At the climax of this section trumpet 7 enters dramatically, representing the words of the seventh angel ... and time shall be no more. The opening four-note motif is here transformed into a cadenza of epic proportions, to the partial accompaniment of three tam-tams (representing the Holy Trinity). The ensuing scherzo, scored for the ensemble, is fast and furious, but despite the somewhat desolate mood of this music (briefly interrupted by the re-appearance of trumpet 7), it slowly moves towards a more optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'lament for humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant climax.This work has been commercially recorded on a critically acclaimed CD from London Brass on the Chandos label, available HERE.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£38.95Unity Series Band Journal - Numbers 530 - 533, June 2024
530: Carol Arrangement - God rest you merry, gentlemen (Noel Jones)This swing arrangement of the traditional English carol also features references to O come, all ye faithful (C.C. 61) and Jingle Bells (C.C. 121). Play with imagination and a sense of style!531: Go, tell it on the mountain! (Nathanael Watchorn)Historically, the passion of enslaved people in America for singing about the Gospel of Jesus is well documented, but it was men of three generations, each named John Wesley Work, who enabled spirituals to become more widely known. John Wesley Work Sr, a church choir director in Nashville, Tennessee, wrote and arranged music for the pioneering Fisk Jubilee Singers whose early repertoire consisted largely of spirituals. This passion and knowledge of spirituals was passed down through the generations. John Work III travelled hundreds of miles to collect songs by attending church services in remote areas. In 1940, he published a collection of 230 songs which included a setting of Go, tell it on the mountain! that is still performed today.Nathanael Watchorn, a Bandsman at Regent Hall Corps in London, is a new contributor to the journals. He originally wrote this as a vocal arrangement for the group FourHymn, subsequently transcribing it for the corps' Young People's Band, while he was Band Leader.532: Carol Arrangement - They all were looking for a king (Stephen Hull)At the North American Composers Forum, Major Len Ballantine challenged participants to find an unfamiliar song in the Salvation Army Song Book and try to write an arrangement of the listed tune. Stephen Hull happened across They all were looking for a king (S.A.S.B. 128) and the tune Childhood (T.B. 421) which lead to this arrangement.533: March - Washed and healed (Eiliv Herikstad)The Christian experience of many people will have been positively impacted by the life of the late Bandmaster Eiliv Herikstad, either personally or through his musical leadership and compositions. This march is the second publication from this well-known Salvation Army composer since his Promotion to Glory last year. This march is more traditional in style that many of his compositions but contains a strong Christian message and demonstrates his compositional expertise.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Unity Series Band Journal February 2014 Numbers 414-417
No.414 March - Zambia Salute (Paul Drury)In April 2009, a group from Chelmsford Citadel Corps visited Zambia. The purpose of the visit was to assist in the leadership of the Zambian Territorial Music School, held at Chikankata. This march was written to commemorate the event and received its premiere performance at the final festival. The melody featured is the chorus of the song, I know not why Dod's wondrous grace (S.A.S.B. 730).No.415 A Joystrings sing-along (Erik Silfverberg O.F.)This piece represents the first published work since the sudden Promotion to Glory of Bandmaster Erik Silfverberg O.F. The Joystrings made Salvation Army history about fifty years ago, introducing rock music on the Christian music scene. Many of their songs have become classics and have been used as thematic material in our brass music. Here is a selection of three of their songs, to be used either as a band piece or as accompaniment to a sing-along. The three songs are:- 'I want to sing it', 'It's an open secret' and 'Have faith in God'.No.416 Festival Arrangement - At the cross (Martyn Thomas)The well-known song, 'At the cross' (T.B. 580), is given a lively new setting by Martyn Thomas. The rock and swing treatment of this old melody should appeal to many!No.417 Lord of all (Martin Cordner)This piece was written for the 120th Anniversary of Balham corps (London Central Division) in 2011. In terms of a theme, the anniversary occasion prompted the primary thought that the piece should first be a praise-offering to God, acknowledging him for who he is. Therefore songs referenced in the piece are praide songs: 'Lord, reign in me', 'He is Lord', 'All hail the Lamb', along with a song of testimony, 'I'm a soldier bound for Glory' (T.B. 382),which speaks of the Christian hope in Heaven and challenges Salvationists to influence others by living out that hope. There is also a brief reference to the National Anthem of the Democratic Republic of Congo (4 bars before D)- man acknowledgement to the faithfulness of corps soldiers who in recent years have arrived from that country.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£94.95Dances and Arias (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This work was commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals (with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain) for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 7th October 1984.Dances and Arias is in one continuous movement, but as the title suggests is a series of alternating fast and slow sections as follows: Dance - Aria I - Dance (scherzo) - Aria II - Dance. The opening dance is energetic and introduces a four-note motif (on trombones) which is the basis for much of the melodic material in the work. Throughout, there is a continuous process of thematic cross-reference and transformation.The first aria unfolds a long melody on solo cornet, eventually continued by all the solo cornets, and dissolving into a shimmering harmonic background (muted cornets, horns and baritones) over which is heard a brief self-quotation on solo tuba. This leads into the second dance, a frenetic scherzo, followed by the second aria, in the style of a lament (solo euphonium, followed by two flugel horns). This builds to a powerful climax which subsides, leaving the percussion to introduce the final toccata-like dance. It transforms material from the opening before a coda brings the music to a triumphant close. The large percussion section is an integral part in the work and uses a wide variety of instruments including timpani, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, tom-toms, snare drum, bongos and tam-tam.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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