Results
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£69.95Decade - Jonathan Bates
DIFFICULTY: 3rd+. DURATION: 10'00". 'Decade' was composed to mark the 10th anniversary of the Foden's Youth Band in 2022 and was premiered by the band, Foden's Band and Foden's Junior Band at Manchester's Stoller Hall. The work is in 3 clear movements - yet is through-composed, each movement based around the figure 10. Right from the initial 10 bell strikes at the opening of the piece, the musical material is also derived from the number 10 with the main 'motif' in the piece spanning an interval of a 10th - and the piece lasts 10 minutes!. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£29.95El Torero - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 4'00". DIFFICULTY: 3rd Section+. 'El Torero' was commissioned by the Elland Silver Youth Band for their appearance at the 2019 Brass in Concert Youth Championships, held at The Sage, Gateshead. 'Torero' is the generic term referring to any individual who takes part in bullfighting on foot, with this definition acting as an umbrella term for all ranks of Matador (whom often might sit on a horse for the fight). It also acts as the modern-day alternative to the popular 'Toreador', popularized by Bizet in his opera, 'Carmen'. . 'El Torero' paints every aspect of a bullfight, from the cautios and steady entrance into the bullring, the wild frenzy of the bullfight and ultimately the grandioso conclusion as the bull is slain and the Torero rises victorious. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£79.95Grieg Variations - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 12'30". DIFFICULTY: 2nd+. . 'Grieg Variations' is a through-composed work in the traditional style of a 'theme & variations'. The work opens with the main melodic fragment featured throughout Grieg Variations which comes from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.2; the final movement - 'Solveig's Song'. . This theme is followed by a set of 9 variations, each taking inspiration from various melodies and styles found within the Peer Gynt Suite. The first variation, a light-footed scherzo based upon the tonal line of Solveig's Song is followed by an 'Alla marcia' variation - in which the music is inspired by the 2nd movement - 'Arab Dance' - of the original suite. The 3rd variation takes a far darker and more aggressive turn in a variation set around the music of the 1st movement of the Peer Gynt Suite before a relaxation into a solemne revisiting of the original theme. Opening with a sombre and longing solo for Flugel horn, the focal point of this 4th variation is an extended solo for the Solo Euphonium, marked 'molto espressivo'. The new material here is used as a theme throughout this variation, being reprised by the full band immediately after as the music builds to a climax point at the top of the musical line. . Following this, there are 2 cadenzas for the Solo Horn and Solo Cornet respectively; the former inspired by the thematic material of Solveig's Song, and the latter from the Oboe cadenza at the beginning of Grieg's '2 Lyric Pieces, Op.68'. These cadenzas lead swiftly into the 7th variation, a bustling rhyhm-driven movement set in complex time. The 3rd movement of the Peer Gynt Suite No.2 - 'Peer Gynt's Homecoming' - makes it's first appearance in variation 8 in a triumphant battle-like setting before a combination of both this material and the Solveig's Song combine to bring Grieg Variations to it's close -not without a little nod to potentially Grieg's most famous work - In The Hall of the Mountain King. . .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£34.95Hallelujah, I Love Her So - Jonathan Bates
DIFFICULTY: 2nd+. DURATION: 2'30". 'Hallelujah, I Love her So' was originally a poplar hit by American singer and songwriter Ray Charles in 1975 on album of the ame name and was arranged for the Foden's Band at the 2023 Brass in Concert Championships, held at The Glasshouse, Gateshead.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£34.95Night Flight! - Jonathan Bates
'Night Flight' was composed for the Foden's Band's appearance at the 2021 Brass in Concert Championships held at The Sage, Gateshead. The band's theme encompassed a large range of monsters and creatures and this work depicts one of the most notorious monsters in folklore; Count Dracula. Throughout this short, virtuosic showpiece for Soprano Cornet and Euphonium, you can hear multiple strains of Mussorgsky's 'Night on a Bald Mountain' (with which Foden's Band opened their programme). . .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£29.95One Bitter December's Night - Jonathan Bates
'One Bitter December's Night' was composed for the Elland Silver Youth Band's appearance at the 2018 Youth Brass In Concert Championships, held at The Sage, Gateshead. This piece is a graphic description of the evening of 29th December, 1940 when over 100,000 bombs were dropped on London overnight in the height of the Blitz leading to the Second Great Fire of London. The music is set from the viewpoint of a young child sleeping peacefully in central London as the sound of bombs and sirens get closer and closer. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£34.95Pall Mall - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 3'00". DIFFICULTY: Champ. 'Pall Mall' was composed for the Flowers Band's Monopoly themed set at the 2021 Brass in Concert Championships held at The Sage, Gateshead. This short showpiece is composed in a similar vein to a work of similar influence - 'Pel Mel' by W. Hogarth Lear - in which each section of the band is allowed to show off their technical prowess in a whistlestop tour of the brass band. 'Pall Mall' takes a similar form, with each section of the band taking it in turn to show off their skills with a flourish!.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£29.95Prayer to St Michael - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 4'00". DIFFICULTY: Moderate. 'Prayer to Saint Michael' is a solo for Euphonium, composed for the Wantage Band and inspired by the life of a young Johann Sebastian Bach, who following the death of both parents by the age of only 10 moved to live with his older brother - Johann Christoph Bach - who was the church organist at St Michael's Church in Ohrdruf. It was in this church where Bach spent many hours studying and performing, being instructed by Johann Christoff on the clavichord. Within 6 years, the young Bach had been enrolled in the prestigious St Michael's School in Luneberg. . "St. Michael the Archangel, illustrious leader of the heavenly army, . defend us in the battle against principalities and powers, . against the rulers of the world of darkness and the spirit of wickedness in high places. Come to the rescue of mankind, . whom God has made in His own image and likeness, . and purchased from Satan's tyranny at so great a price. The Holy Church venerates you as her patron and guardian. The Lord has entrusted to you the task of leading the souls of the redeemed to heavenly blessedness. Entreat the Lord of peace to cast Satan down under our feet, . so as to keep him from further holding man captive and doing harm to the Church. Carry our prayers up to God's throne, . that the mercy of the Lord may quickly come and lay hold of the beast, . the serpent of old, Satan . and his demons, casting him in chains into the abyss, . so that he can no longer seduce the nations. Amen.". .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£34.95Real Northern Powerhouse, The - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 4'00". DIFFICULTY: Championship. Commissioned by the NASUWT Riverside Band for their 2019 appearance at the Brass in Concert Championships, held at The Sage in Gateshead, 'The Real Northern Powerhouse' is a musical representation of the huge impact various forms of industrial life had on the history, and indeed future of the North East of England. Defined into 3 clear sections - By Sea, By Land, and By Rail, the music paints a picture of the various scenes in the dockyards, coalfields and rail stations as the industrial revolution boomed. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£89.95Songs of Ascent - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 14 minutes. DIFFICULTY: Championship. 'Songs of Ascent' was composed for the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band, as part of their programme for the 2019 RNCM Festival of Brass. In my view, the festival itself is the leading showcase for original contemporary music for the medium (in a concert setting) in the world and therefore an ideal place to explore new ideas and sounds, which was a notion fundamental to the construction of this work. The piece is subtitled 'Out of the Depths, I cry to you, O Lord'; the opening line of Psalm 130 (which forms part of a set of 15 psalsm, 120-134 known as the Songs of Ascent") which forms the main inspiration for much of the musical material. Following an extended opening for four individual tuba lines, there are a number of solos for members of the band off stage, with bleak and deep accompaniment lines, reflecting the words of Psalm 130. Amongst these 'songs of ascents', the most common and strong themes are repentance and redemption; with the central core of this work emerging 'from the depths' to reveal one of very few calming and reflective passages of the work utilising the tune of 'Guide Me O Thy Great Redeemer' in a new setting, featuring the Solo Horn and Bass Trombone, before returning to the ethereal and dark timbres that form much of the music up to this point. In terms of compositional technique, this work is solely based on a set of 4 9-note scales in their various unique transpositions (below). Each of these scales provide a set of 2 whole tone scales, 6 minor triads, 6 major triads and is built on 9 augmented triads. Whilst most of the music in this work is based melodically on the set of notes (heard right at the outset in the motif in the tuba line), the central section delves into the harmonic capabilities of these 'modes', using a number of the 7 'keys' which can be derived from the minor & major chords derived in each scale. All 4 scales are used independantly to each other, with whole sections of the work focussing on each mode. 'Songs of Ascent' was selected as the set work for the Championship Section at the Butlin's Mineworker's Championships in 2020.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days