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£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
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£29.95
The Land of the Long White Cloud (Score Only)
Dating from 1979, The Land of the Long White Cloud (Aotearoa) was Philip Sparke's first test-piece. It was commissioned by the New Zealand Brass Band Association for their 1980 National Championships (their centenary year) and set for the European Brass Band Championships, the same year, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Aotearoa was the name given to New Zealand by its Polynesian settlers whose first sight of the islands was a long, flat cloud lying low over the land. The work has no specific programme although many have seen pictures of the surging ocean in the opening bars. A faster dance-like section leads to a slow, haunting solo for soprano cornet; this is taken up by the whole band before earlier material returns. The dance-like tune is, this time, given a fugal treatment and the opening bars return to close the work.Philip Sparke was born in London and studied composition, trumpet and piano at the Royal College of Music, where he gained an ARCM. It was at the College that his interest in bands arose. He played in the College wind orchestra and also formed a brass band among the students, writing several works for both ensembles.At that time, his first published works appeared - Concert Prelude (brass band) and Gaudium (wind band). A growing interest in his music led to several commissions, his first major one being this featured piece for the Centennial Brass Band Championships in New Zealand - The Land of the Long White Cloud. He has written for brass band championships in New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and the UK, including three times for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall.In September 2000, he was awarded the Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to brass bands and in 2005 Music of the Spheres won the National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. In 2011, he received the BUMA International Brass Award for his contribution to brass music.His conducting and adjudicating activities have taken him to most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada and the USA. In May 2000, he took the major step of becoming a full-time composer by founding his own publishing company, Anglo Music Press. The company is devoted to publishing his brass band, concert band, fanfare band and instrumental publications as well as recordings dedicated to his latest works.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£61.00Postcards from Tomorrow - Gauthier Dupertuis
During their childhood, some people have the tradition to put their toys, drawings and wishes for the future into a timebox that they bury somewhere to dig up when they are adults. This has inspired Gauthier Dupertuis for the title of this work: Postcards from tomorrow. What wishes would we put in those boxes for the future; what kind of postcards would we send to our grandchildren? To compose this work, Gauthier Dupertuis was also inspired by three pictures that have some symbolic meaning linked to the question above and that give the names to the three movements that make up this piece.The first movement, Abandoned Blockhouses, refers to war and other horrors in the history of humanity, while Pagoda at the Lake, the second movement, was inspired by the pagoda, a religious building whose function is to house the relics of holy people in Asian worship. The third and last movement, Building Bridges, is a call for hope. In July 221, Postcards from Tomorrow was awarded the first prize at the "La Bacchetta d'Oro" international composition contest in Italy.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£271.60Aubade - Dawn Songs of the Fabulous Birds - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Commissioned by The Norwegian Band Federation for The European Brass Band Championship 2003, in Bergen, Norway (Third edition) I remember as a kid the very early morning wake-up ceremonies caused by Seagulls having a "party" outside our home. Very few would describe it as beautiful, particularly not at 4:30 in the morning... But by listening carefully to birds I was fascinated by their diversity and musical language: they dont sing tunes or long phrases, they rather make sounds and signals, based on short motives. Aubade is based on musical pictures of the imaginary birds: the creatures with wings that exists only in myths and legends. The whole story starts with aBaritone-cadenza that evoke all the sleeping creatures. Very soon they all start to sing their songs in one way or another. The composition has a burlesque scherzo-character including slow espressive intersections. Traditional elements like melody and harmony is combined with extensive sounds and textural effects created by use of multiple muting, singing and playing at the same time. I am not too concerned about having a program for the piece. I just know that by thinking of the unheard dragon-songs, griffin-songs, the sound of the dodo, my creativity was stimultated. As a piece of music, Aubade follows its own rules based on well-known elements like melodies, arpeggio-figures, harmonies, rhythms, variations and recapitulation of ideas. - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£40.00
Millennium Bridge - Nigel Hess
Millennium Bridge describes the pedestrian's journey across this wonderful new landmark bridge over the Thames, starting at the imposing Tate Modern, crossing the busy river, and on to St. Paul's Cathedral with its bells ringing out over the great city. This piece is the first movement of Nigel Hess's New London Pictures, which represents elements of London in the 21st Century.Brass Band Grades 4/5: Premier Youth and 2nd SectionDuration: 4 minutes.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£40.00
London Eye - Nigel Hess
London Eye is an incredibly large rotating wheel situated on the South Bank of the River Thames. This movement depicts a 'flight' on this riverside wheel, at the top of which the panoramic view of London is breath-taking and the expanse of the music is a suitable depiction of that view. This piece is the second movement of Nigel Hess's New London Pictures which represents elements of London in the 21st Century.Brass Band Grades 4/5: Premier Youth and 2nd SectionDuration: 4 minutes.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£23.00King Lear Fanfare (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Debussy, Claude - Wilson, Duncan
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Lear descends into madness bringing tragic consequences for all. Based on a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors. Its first known performance was in 1607, George Bernard Shaw wrote, "No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear". Originally orchestrated for 2 flutes, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, side drum, 2 harps, and strings, Debussy wrote five minutes of incidental music for a production of King Lear, produced at the Theatre Mogador Paris in 1904. Duration: 1.30. Suitable for 4th Section Bands and above.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£20.00King Lear Fanfare - Claude Debussy
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Lear descends into madness bringing tragic consequences for all. Based on a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors. Its first known performance was in 1607, George Bernard Shaw wrote, "No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear". Originally orchestrated for 2 flutes, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, side drum, 2 harps, and strings, Debussy wrote five minutes of incidental music for a production of King Lear, produced at the Theatre Mogador Paris in 1904.
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£88.00Winter from the Four Season (Trombone Solo)
In 1723 Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) composed four concerti for violin and small orchestra entitled The Four Seasons. Winter is the fourth of these. Each concerto is comprised of three movements and paints sound pictures of the particular season. In this one we hear music describing harsh winter winds and icy snows, enough to make teeth chatter, in the first movement, a cosy scene by the fireside watching the falling rain (second movement) and the harsh winds, ice and snow return in movement 3.This arrangement was prepared at the request of Brett Baker and has been recorded by him accompanied by Brass Band Of The Western Reserve, musical director Dr Keith M Wilkinson, on the CD Slides Rule!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£95.00Gallery (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
The commissioned test-piece for the Scottish Open Contest 2015, Gallery was welcomed as a great success both by performers and audience. The title refers to six pictures, four of them by Scottish artists. Each picture has a movement, in addition to which there is a very short introduction. They are all linked, though there are short gaps between each movement, the lengths of which are at the conductor's discretion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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