National Finals 2025

Symphony 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

CHECKMATE (Four Dances from) (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bliss, Arthur - Ball, Eric

Music by Arthur Bliss, arranged for Brass Band by Eric Ball

Suite from "Adam Zero" (Arthur Bliss, Arr. R Childs)

based on Bach's Chorales 'Alle Menschen mussen sterben'Johann Georg Albinus wrote a number of Lutheran hymns set to music by various composers. Johann Sebastian Bach reworked and inserted some of these hymns into his cantatas, particularly the chorale 'Alle Menschen mussen sterben' in BWV 162. Albinus Variations opens with a solemn cadenza followed by five contrasted variations on this chorale. Both versions of the chorale, in major and minor keys, were used as a reference for this work.Duration: 12.45

Music from "The Royal Palaces"

**Available now to pre-order** -

The death of Sir Arnold Bax in 1953 opened the ceremonial post of Master of the Queen's Music. Sir Arthur Bliss (he had been knighted in 1950) received the appointment as his successor. He took the position (which is analogous to that of Poet Laureate) seriously, and composed ceremonial music as needed for royal occasions. Therefore, he was already linked to the institution of Royalty when, in 1966, he was engaged by the BBC to write the soundtrack for a documentary film telecast on Christmas Day of 1966. The film explored several important palaces belonging to British monarchs and historical events occurring therein. In its original full orchestra form it comprises the following movements:

Queen Victoria's Call to the Throne

The Ballroom in Buckingham Palace

Joust of the Knights in Armour

Melodrama: The Murder of Rizzio in Holyrood House

The Royal Palace Theme

Partita (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward

Partita dates from 1971, when it was commissioned by the Redbridge Youth Band. The musical thread that runs through the work is the 13th century plainsong Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass. This gives the work a rather sombre tone which is audible right from the start of its first movement Intrada. The initial hammer-like chords of the opening and conclusion are only interrupted momentarily by a more lyrical modal tune. Even here, on its repetition, it is surrounded by more insistent textural patterns.The second movement, Chorale and Variations, uses the Dies Irae as the basis for an extended melody in the manner of a baroque sarabande. The five variations that follow are varied in texture, tempi, and dynamics. The final March is more optimistic in mood and presents as its main idea a rather jaunty theme which gets developed throughout the movement. However, the ominous presence of the Dies Irae has the last say with a final statement to round off the work.Duration: 11.00