Results
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£29.50Eden (Score Only)
This work was commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust as the test piece for the final of the 2005 Besson National Brass Band Championship, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London.The score is prefaced by the final lines from Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (completed in 1663), in which Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, make their uncertain way into the outside world:"...The world was all before them, where to chooseTheir place of rest, and providence their guide:They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow,Through Eden took their solitary way."My work is in three linked sections. In the first, the characters of Adam, Eve and the serpent guarding the Tree of Knowledge are respectively represented by solo euphonium, cornet and trombone. The music opens in an idyllic and tranquil mood and leads into a duet between euphonium and cornet. Throughout this passage the prevailing mood darkens, though the soloists seem to remain oblivious to the increasingly fraught atmosphere. A whip-crack announces the malevolent appearance of the solo trombone who proceeds to engage the solo cornet in a sinister dialogue.The second section interprets the Eden story as a modern metaphor for the havoc mankind has inflicted upon the world, exploiting and abusing its resources in the pursuit of wealth. Though certainly intended here as a comment on the present-day, it is by no means a new idea: Milton himself had an almost prescient awareness of it in Book I of his poem, where men, led on by Mammon:"...Ransacked the centre and with impious handsRifled the bowels of their mother earthFor treasures better hid. Soon had his crewOpened into the hill a spacious woundAnd digged out ribs of gold."So this section is fast and violent, at times almost manic in its destructive energy. At length a furious climax subsides and a tolling bell ushers in the third and final section.This final part is slow, beginning with an intense lament featuring solos for tenor-horn, flgel-horn and repiano cornet and joined later by solo baritone, soprano cornet, Eb-bass and Bb-bass.At one stage in the planning of the work it seemed likely that the music would end here - in despair. Then, mid-way through writing it, I visited the extraordinary Eden Project in Cornwall. Here, in a disused quarry - a huge man-made wound in the earth - immense biomes, containing an abundance of plant species from every region of the globe, together with an inspirational education programme, perhaps offer a small ray of hope for the future. This is the image behind the work's conclusion and the optimism it aims to express is real enough, though it is hard-won and challenged to the last.John Pickard 2005
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£24.95SNARING OF THE SUN, The (Brass Band Extra Score) - Roberts, Stephen
2015 National Championships Finals Testpiece - Second Section - Extra Score. The Graces of Love (Le Gratie d'Amore) is the title of a book published in 1602 by Cesare Negri, the famous dance master of the Milan court in the Renaissance. It contains numerous dance tunes and precise descriptions of courtly dances. It also includes the tune Il bianco fior (The White Flower) on which the first movement of the present piece is based. A vigorous dance in three-four, it leads to an acceleration and a sudden shift to an even meter towards the end. The second movement, calm and contemplative in character, features the tune Vaghe bellezze ... (Veiled Beauty ...). Widely spaced melodic parts surround two solos during which the tune is varied and developed. Finally, the third movement contains a saltarello with a hypnotic rhythm, ending the work with flair and gusto. Duration: 11:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£99.95
SNARING OF THE SUN, The (Brass Band Set) - Roberts, Stephen
2015 National Championships Finals Testpiece - Second Section. The Graces of Love (Le Gratie d'Amore) is the title of a book published in 1602 by Cesare Negri, the famous dance master of the Milan court in the Renaissance. It contains numerous dance tunes and precise descriptions of courtly dances. It also includes the tune Il bianco fior (The White Flower) on which the first movement of the present piece is based. A vigorous dance in three-four, it leads to an acceleration and a sudden shift to an even meter towards the end. The second movement, calm and contemplative in character, features the tune Vaghe bellezze ... (Veiled Beauty ...). Widely spaced melodic parts surround two solos during which the tune is varied and developed. Finally, the third movement contains a saltarello with a hypnotic rhythm, ending the work with flair and gusto. Duration: 11:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£12.00Heroes (Brass Band - Study Score) - Broughton, Bruce
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.Dedicated to Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band, Heroes pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the incredible achievements of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.The piece is cast in three continuous sections:Ignition, which launches the work, propels us into orbit with dynamic rhythmic writing before transitioning into the second section...Tranquility, provides the soloists an opportunity to revel in a contrasting sound world, reflecting the remarkable quiet and stillness of The Sea of Tranquility.Return, the find section is a technical tour de force, developing material from the earlier sections before a reprise of the Tranquility theme brings the work to a resounding conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£39.95
Heroes (Brass Band - Score only) - Broughton, Bruce
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.Dedicated to Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band, Heroes pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the incredible achievements of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.The piece is cast in three continuous sections:Ignition, which launches the work, propels us into orbit with dynamic rhythmic writing before transitioning into the second section...Tranquility, provides the soloists an opportunity to revel in a contrasting sound world, reflecting the remarkable quiet and stillness of The Sea of Tranquility.Return, the find section is a technical tour de force, developing material from the earlier sections before a reprise of the Tranquility theme brings the work to a resounding conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£120.00
Heroes (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Broughton, Bruce
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.Dedicated to Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band, Heroes pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the incredible achievements of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.The piece is cast in three continuous sections:Ignition, which launches the work, propels us into orbit with dynamic rhythmic writing before transitioning into the second section...Tranquility, provides the soloists an opportunity to revel in a contrasting sound world, reflecting the remarkable quiet and stillness of The Sea of Tranquility.Return, the find section is a technical tour de force, developing material from the earlier sections before a reprise of the Tranquility theme brings the work to a resounding conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95
Trailblazers (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Mackereth, Andrew
This overture draws its inspiration from the story of the first Household Troops Band. It tells the story of the 1887 band, the subsequent lull of nearly a hundred years and the re-awakening of the Troops phenomenon in 1985. It was originally written in 1995 and featured prominently by the band on its North American tour of 2002. Given the history of the Household Troops Band, it is fitting that this composition is preoccupied with marching. It begins with a marching song played by a solitary muted cornet, symbolic not only of the call to bandsmen to join the evangelical effort but also a muso-dramatic device to indicate the steady increase in members and technical ability! The music quickly develops into stirring versions of 'A robe of white' and 'Storm the forts of darkness' with two early day Salvation Army tunes crucially adding to the narrative; 'Marching on in the light of God' and 'Soldiers of our God, arise!' The second section is a reflective setting of the Herbert Booth song, 'The penitent's plea'. This song serves to represent the many people who were 'saved' during those early day campaigns. The expressive music transports the listener through a period of uncertainty and angst until finally reaching the song, 'There is a message, a simple message, and it's a message for us all'. The final section deals first with the emergence from the annals of history with the muted cornet figure again before, symbolically, the present day band bursts forth with an emphatic statement of 'Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood'. The stirring climax represents a fitting tribute to those gallant pioneering musicians and their equally impressive and dedicated contemporaries.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£22.50
Trailblazers (Brass Band - Score only) - Mackereth, Andrew
This overture draws its inspiration from the story of the first Household Troops Band. It tells the story of the 1887 band, the subsequent lull of nearly a hundred years and the re-awakening of the Troops phenomenon in 1985. It was originally written in 1995 and featured prominently by the band on its North American tour of 2002. Given the history of the Household Troops Band, it is fitting that this composition is preoccupied with marching. It begins with a marching song played by a solitary muted cornet, symbolic not only of the call to bandsmen to join the evangelical effort but also a muso-dramatic device to indicate the steady increase in members and technical ability! The music quickly develops into stirring versions of 'A robe of white' and 'Storm the forts of darkness' with two early day Salvation Army tunes crucially adding to the narrative; 'Marching on in the light of God' and 'Soldiers of our God, arise!' The second section is a reflective setting of the Herbert Booth song, 'The penitent's plea'. This song serves to represent the many people who were 'saved' during those early day campaigns. The expressive music transports the listener through a period of uncertainty and angst until finally reaching the song, 'There is a message, a simple message, and it's a message for us all'. The final section deals first with the emergence from the annals of history with the muted cornet figure again before, symbolically, the present day band bursts forth with an emphatic statement of 'Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood'. The stirring climax represents a fitting tribute to those gallant pioneering musicians and their equally impressive and dedicated contemporaries.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95
Concert Piece (Morceau Symphonique) (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Guilmant, Alexandre - Steadman-Allen, Ray
Guilmant was an organist of the Church of Trinity, Paris and was also a staff member at the Paris Conservatoire. Concert Piece (also known as Morceau Symphonique) consists of a slow prelude followed by a quicker, more brilliant section, the two linked by a cadenza. A lyrical element persists in the second section and there is a brief return to the theme of the prelude following which the music is brought to a fiery and exciting conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£17.50
Concert Piece (Morceau Symphonique) (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score only) - Guilmant, Alexandre - Steadman-Allen, Ray
Guilmant was an organist of the Church of Trinity, Paris and was also a staff member at the Paris Conservatoire. Concert Piece (also known as Morceau Symphonique) consists of a slow prelude followed by a quicker, more brilliant section, the two linked by a cadenza. A lyrical element persists in the second section and there is a brief return to the theme of the prelude following which the music is brought to a fiery and exciting conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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