Results
-
£40.00The Unfortunate Traveller (Brass Band - Score only)
Imogen Holst (1907-1984) submitted The Unfortunate Traveller (1929) as her final work as a student portfolio at the Royal College of Music, where her composition teacher was Gordon Jacob. The title was taken from Thomas Nashe's famous 1594 picaresque novel of the same title. The Suite was first performed on 12 February 1933 at her Majesty's Theatre, Carlisle, by the St. Stephen's Band, with the composer conducting. Te concert was given in memory of Holst's uncle, Dr. H.A. Lediard. Holst had been impressed with the band's performance of his A Moorside Suite at the 1928 National Brass Band Championships (The Crystal Palace, South London) and was keen to work with them. Writing in Imogen Holst, a life in music, Christopher Grogan indicates that it was Gustav Holst's suggestion to include his daughter's work in the programme, quoting Imogen Holst's remarks made in interview to The Daily Mail as follows: "....it is the first time, so far as I know, that a woman has conducted a brass band at a public concert....It has been a delight to rehearse the St. Stephen's Band. It was their performance at the Crystal Palace Festival that inspired me to write this Suite, which I have dedicated to them."Imogen Holst accompanied her father to the Crystal Palace in 1928 to hear the performances of A Moorside Suite, and was so excited by the played and, audibly, by her father's music that she decided to write a brass band piece for her final examination. Te result was The Unfortunate Traveller (1929). However, it was not possible for her to present a brass band work for examination. She arranged it for string orchestra so that it could be played before she left the RCM in July 1930. Following the premiere of the original in 1933, the manuscripts did not resurface until 1969 Imogen found them among her late mother's effects. Although she requested score and parts be destroyed, they ended up in the possession of Manchester composer John Golland, who marked up the score presumably with the intention of creating a new performing edition. The original scoring reveals a lack of experience with what can be a tricky medium.With the agreement of the Holst Foundation, a revised edition, with additional percussion, was prepared in 2011 since when the work has been fortunate to travel round the world as a concert and contest piece. The original includes drums in the March only. The title was taken from Tomas Nashe's famous 1594 picaresque novel of the same title. Several Morris Dance tunes are introduced during the course of the four short movements, including Bonnie Green Garters, Shepherd's Hey, The Rose and The Wind Blaws Cauld. Quirky twists and turns of harmony and spirited rhythms that remind us how much Imogen Holst loved tradition English dance music.In September 2025, I made a performing edition of the composer's arrangement for string orchestra. The manuscript lacks the final movement, which I arranged in a similar style, ie. without extending the upper ranges. Making this edition raised some issues regarding the accuracy of my band version and some of the solutions I used to smooth out the voicing. I have used the composer's second thoughts to refine my performing edition and to correct a textual errors.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£77.00General Series Brass Band Journal, Numbers 2265 - 2268, April 2026
2265: Holy God, we praise your name (Micael Dikantsa)This bolero introduces composer Micael Dikantsa of the Amriswil Corps, Switzerland, and is based on the hymn Holy God, We Praise Your Name (Grosser Gott, wir loben dich). Set in the traditional slow, dramatic bolero style, the work builds steadily from a distinctive percussion figure as the melody passes through different instrumental groups. With its growing intensity and rich scoring, this piece offers an engaging and atmospheric addition to concert programmes.2266: Tell the story (Barrie Gott)This work continues the Swing series that began nearly 40 years ago with Light'Walk. After a bold introduction, the melody unfolds through unison and close'harmony writing, leading to a Flugel Horn solo with scope for improvisation. The well'known hymn I Love to Tell the Story is heard in a New Orleans style before a modulation launches an energetic shout chorus and lively coda. Smooth, relaxed swing style is key throughout.2267: The old rugged cross (Erik Leidzn)This arrangement by Erik Leidzn is an early and lesser'known setting of a well'loved hymn, rediscovered during research into his work. Edited from a rare score found in the USA East Music Department archives, it demonstrates Leidzn's economical and effective style, creating a practical and expressive arrangement at a time when concise, serviceable hymn settings were greatly needed.2268: Heaven came down! (Michael Cooper)Inspired by William Booth's famous challenge to use contemporary styles for sacred purpose, this piece blends high'energy jazz'fusion big'band writing with a joyful gospel hymn. Driven by rhythm, syncopation and precision, the music proclaims its message of transformation and spiritual joy with vitality, clarity and infectious swing.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£64.95
Proverbially
Proverbially is a concertino for euphonium and brass band composed for Glenn Van Looy. The piece is structured in three individual movements, each around 3 minutes. Each movement is based on a particular modern proverb: Between the Lines, inspired by the phrase, reading between the lines; Red Sky, inspired by the proverb, red sky at night, shepherd's delight; A Stitch in Time, inspired by the proverb, a stitch in time saves nine.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£35.00strange geometry
Descriptionstrange geometrywas commissioned by Morgan Griffiths and the Hammonds Saltaire Band for their performance at the Brass in Concert Championships of 2015.As a bit of a space/sci-fi geek, as well as a musician, two events during the summer of 2015 had a particular effect on me. The first was the tragic early death in a plane crash of the famous film composer James Horner. Horner's music, particularly in films like 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan', 'Avatar', 'Apollo 13' and even his debut in Roger Corman's 1980 budget film 'Battle Beyond the Stars', defined for a generation the sound of sci-fi at the cinema. Along with John Williams he created the vocabulary for those who wish to express other-worldly wonder in music and his inventive talent will be much missed in an industry where originality has become something of a dirty word in recent years.The second event was the epic flyby of Pluto by the NASA New Horizons spacecraft. There are many reasons to find this mission inspiring - for example, the scientists and engineers behind it created a craft that has travelled at 37,000 mph for nine years and three billion miles to arrive within seventy-two seconds of the predicted time for the flyby. That they achieved this with such accuracy is an outstanding tribute to humanity's ingenuity and insatiable curiosity. However, the most exciting aspect of the mission was the clear, high resolution pictures of this unthinkably remote and inhospitable world beamed back to mission control. The best previous image of Pluto was an indistinct fuzzy blob - suddenly we could see mountains made of ice, glaciers of methane and carbon monoxide and nitrogen fog - features previously unimagined on a world thought to be a slightly dull ball of cold rock. The BBC's venerable astronomy programme 'The Sky at Night' waxed lyrical about these newly discovered features, referring to "the surprising discoveries of mountains and strange geometry on the surface of this cold distant world".I like to think that Horner would have been as inspired as I have been by this real-life science story, and this piece uses some of the vocabulary of the sci-fi movie soundtrack in a tribute to the memory of a great musician and to the inspirational geeks at NASA who have boldly taken us where no-one has gone before.Note: This work comes with a B4 portrait score. Listen to a preview and follow the music below!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£35.00
Elegie - Peter Meechan
The opening unaccompanied passage of this work was originally written as a short memorial piece for saxophone, but was later adapted as the basis of this more developed work for solo euphonium or trombone.The work uses a variation structure, with both the soloist and the accompaniment changing throughout the piece; the harmony, rhythm and melodic lines leading somewhere new and different each time they are heard - similar to the way our memories of a person often wander in different directions, but are still always focused on that person.
Estimated dispatch 12-14 working days
-
£30.00Aviator - Keiron Anderson
Aviator is a bright, lively piece, which attempts to show the fast moving and complex world of the stunt pilot who mixes simplicity and style with mad aerobatic prowess. The work shows the take-off and landing, but in the middle, a multiple time signature section mixes cut common and triple time signatures to take the Band on a white-knuckle ride before returning to the main theme for a safe landing.
-
£37.95The Year of the Dragon (Score Only)
The highlight of Cory's centenary celebrations throughout 1984 was a concert held in St. David's Hall, Cardiff, in March. The band, with the aid of funds provided by the Welsh Arts Council, commissioned Philip Sparke to write a work for first performance at this concert. The result was "The Year of the Dragon" of which the composer writes:"At the time I wrote The Year of the Dragon, Cory had won two successive National Finals and I set out to write a virtuoso piece to display the talents of this remarkable band to the full."The work is in three movements:TOCCATA opens with an arresting side drum figure and snatches of themes from various sections of the band, which try to develop until a broad and powerful theme from the middle of the band asserts itself. A central dance-like section soon gives way to the return of this theme, which subsides until faint echoes of the opening material fade to a close.INTERLUDE takes the form of a sad and languid solo for trombone. A chorale for the whole band introduces a brief spell of optimism but the trombone solo returns to close the movement quietly.FINALE is a real tour-de-force for the band with a stream of rapid semi-quavers running throughout the movement. The main theme is heroic and march-like but this is interspersed with lighter, more playful episodes. A distant fanfare to the sound of bells is introduced and this eventually returns to bring the work to a stirring close.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£19.95As The World Falls Apart... - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 4 minutes. DIFFICULTY: Moderate. 'As The World Falls Apart' was composed for David Maxted as part of the programme for his BMus Final Recital at the RNCM in May 2017. The work was composed in a time of real political and social divide, with chaos only ever seeming minutes away, and the base of the piece is one of serenity and traniquility amongst the bedlam which is occurring around us all. Originally, the work was planned to be a totally free unaccompanied work for solo horn, however I wanted to make use of the vast space the RNCM concert hall can offer with the surround-sound speakers and decided to utilise a short sound effect track to enhance the feeling of chaos as the music reaches it's peak in dynamic and intensity. AUDIO FILE AVAILABLE FROM COMPOSER - [email protected]. . . .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
-
£20.00Pioneers (Ensemble) - Steve Robson
The 19th Century was a time of great pioneering spirit, where developments in industry, and transport were to begin a process, which was to transform societies around the world beyond recognition.In the vast, so-called "New World" of America these changes were exemplified as the railways spread out to reach hitherto remote and largely unexplored expanses.Steve Robson has written Pioneers as a three movement piece for brass and percussion ensemble (and also now available as a full brass band version), written in the spirit of John Philip Sousa (1854 - 1932), Stephen Foster (1826 - 1864) and Scott Joplin (1868 - 1917).The three movements have been written for the following instrumentation:2 x Bb cornet1 x flugelhorn1 x Eb Tenor Horn1 x tenor trombone1 x euphonium1 x Eb Bassdrumkit and percussionand consist of:March - The US Marine Band (1880)Spiritual - I'm Lookin' Up To HeavenRagtime - Canonball RagAlso available for brass band.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
-
£58.00
St. Louis Blues - William C. Handy - Oystein S. Heimdal
This song was composed by W. C. Handy and published in 1914.The style is typical blues and it has been a standard for jazz-musicians for decades.Many famous musicians and singers has recorded- and performed it. Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Count Basie and Glenn Miller are among the greatest ones.This arrangement switch between 6/8 and 2/4 time signature bur the tempo is the same throughout the piece. The arrangement is suitable for both marching and concert purpose. When performed at a concert, the drum kit can be used instead of separate snare drum, bass drum and cymbals.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
View Music