Results
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£74.99Rhythm Forever - Andreas Ludwig Schulte
With this surprising little work, the composer not only intended to write a delightfully swinging composition. he also had an educational message up his sleeve. Especially as far as timing and rhytm are concerned there is plenty of action. Rhythm Forever might very well be an absolute showstopper on your next concert. Met dit verrassende werk, was het niet alleen de bedoeling van de componist om een heerlijk swingende compositie te schrijven, hij had ook een educatieve boodschap in petto. Vooral wat timing en ritme betreft is er volop actie. Rhythm Forever is een absolute 'showstopper' op uw volgende concert.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£109.99The Power of the Megatsunami - Carl Wittrock
The word 'tsunami' is of Japanese origin. When you look it up in a dictionary, you will find that it means 'a great sea wave produced by submarine earth movement or volcanic eruption'. A megatsunami is the superlative of this awesome expressionof power that nature can create, and has catastrophic consequences. When Carl Wittrock completed this composition not many such big earth movements had occurred, but since then we have become all too familiar with the disastrousconsequences which a tsunami may have. On the 26th of December 2004 a heavy seaquake took place near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Tidal waves 10 meters in height ravaged the coastal regions of many countries for miles around. The tsunamitook the lives of thousands of people and destroyed many villages and towns. There are more areas which run the risk of being struck by a tsunami, such as the island of La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. This island is based on oceaniccrust at a fracture zone and as such is one of nature's time bombs. The consequences of a natural calamity like a megatsunami are immense. In the case of La Palma, the tidal wave will move in the direction of South America, where it may reach 50km inland, destroying everything on its way. In his composition Wittrock describes an ordinary day which will have an unexpected ending. Right from the beginning there seems to be something in the air, the music creating an oppressiveatmosphere of impending disaster. Themes are interrupted, broken off suddenly, followed by silence, suggesting the calm before the storm. Suddenly a short climax (glissandi in the trombone part) indicates the seaquake, and the megatsunami isa fact. Hereafter follows a turbulent passage symbolising the huge rolling waves. After nature's force has spent itself, resignation sets in and the composition ends with a majestic ode to nature.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£124.95The Triumph of Time - Peter Graham
Like The Essence of Time, The Triumph of Time is a set of variations for band which follow roughly the same moods and characteristics of its older relative. Many years ago as I took up a university post and embarked on postgraduate compositionalstudy, my friend and colleague Ron Holz offered me some sage advice; to explore and assimilate unfamiliar compositional concepts and to develop and strengthen my technique, but never to stop writing tunes! This piece is dedicated to Dr Ronald W. Holzin gratitude.Peter Graham, June 2015
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£74.99Kingdom of Dragons - Philip Harper
The 'Kingdom of Dragons' is Gwent in South Wales, known in ancient times as the Kingdom of Gwent, and more recently home to the Newport Gwent Dragons Rugby Union team. This piece was commissioned by the Gwent Music Service with additionalfunding from Ty Cerdd - Music Centre Wales to celebrate the 50th anniversary in 2010 of the formation of the Gwent Youth Brass Band. Although the music is continuous, it is divided into four distinct sections, each one representing one of theunitary authorities which make up the County of Gwent. I. Monmouthshire, which has a large number of ancient castlesII. Blaenau Gwent, an historic area of iron and coal miningIII. Torfaen, where Pontypool Park is a notablelandmarkIV. Newport, the largest city in the region. The music begins with a two-bar fanfare, which sets out all the thematic material of the piece. The mood of pageantry that follows describes some of the ancient castles inMonmouthshire, with rolling tenor drums and fanfaring cornets. After a majestic climax the music subsides and quite literally descends into the coal mines of Blaenau Gwent. The percussion provides effects that suggest industrial machineryclanking into life, and the music accelerates to become a perilous white-knuckle ride on the underground railroad. There is a brief respite as a miner's work-song is introduced and, after a protracted build-up, this is restated at fortissimo beforethe music comes crashing to an inglorious close, much like the UK's mining industry itself. The middle sonorities of the band portray the tranquillity of Pontypool Park, a place of great natural beauty. Brief cadenzas for cornet and euphoniumlead to a full band reprise of the pastoral mood. At the end of this section we find ourselves at the top of the park's 'Folly Tower' from which the distant castle turrets of Monmouthshire are visible. Pontypool RFC was one of eleven clubs inthe first Welsh league in 1881 and a brief but bruising musical portrayal of the formidable Pontypool front-row, the 'Viet Gwent' leads into the work's final section. This portrays Newport, a symbol for progress and optimism for the future, idealsshared by the Gwent Youth Band itself. The music is a vigorous fugue which advances through various keys and episodes before the final triumphant augmented entry which brings the work to a magnificent conclusion. NOTES ONPERFORMANCEPercussion requirements: (3 players) Timpani, 2 Tenor Drums, 2 Tom toms, Snare Drum (sticks and brushes required), Bass Drum, Clash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Hi-hat, Sizzle Cymbal, Tambourine, Metal block with metalbeater (eg hammer), Rattle (eg football rattle), Glockenspiel, Xylophone
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£104.99The Divine Right - Philip Harper
At the time of composing this piece, the Arab Spring was sweeping through the Middle East. It seemed that almost every week a new countrys people had risen up against the regimes and dictatorships which had prevailed for generations, leaving manynations at a defining crossroads in their history. There were so many possible ways ahead: so many hopes, yet so many uncertainties.My music is a depiction of these revolutionary times, and several musical themes are in turn presented, discussed, considered, fought over, altered, rejected or accepted. Most nations have had, or probably will have, their own Arab Spring, including my own, the United Kingdom. Events of 17th Century Britain provide the context for this piece, particularly those following the execution of the tyrant King Charles I on30 January 1649. The regicide was in part due to Charless steadfast belief in the Divine Right of Kings, and led to a tumultuous interregnum, where England stood at its own defining crossroads.The music begins turbulently, before King Charles appears and is led to the gallows outside Banqueting House in central London where he is brutally decapitated. From the assembled crowd rose, according to one observer, a moan as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again.The music descends to emptiness. The musical argument which follows is not strictly programmatic, but a number of musical themes are all thrown into the melting pot, representing ideas such as: religion; military force; reasoned Parliamentary debate; and the chattering,irrepressible voice of the people. Additionally, there are some quotations from the music of royalist composer Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), who was often in tune with the feeling of the times. This defining episode in Englands history was brought to a close with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and as the exiled King Charles II rode back into London the diarist John Evelyn wrote: Never was so joyful a day seen in this nation. I stood in the Strand and beheld it, and blessed God.At the end of the piece the bells ring out, and the musical appearance of the King has transformed from turbulent to triumphant. Philip Harper, 2013
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£93.50Last Christmas - George Michael
Who does not know the big hit Last Christmas from the pop group Wham! The duo sold 25 million albums between 1982 until they dissolved in 1986. The front figure, vocalist George Michael and guitarist/singer Andrew Ridgeley is also known for hits such as Club Tropicana and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go which was their first song to reache the top on both the UK and US hitlists. Last Christmas is a natural choice for the next Christmas concert. And the audience will definitely sing along....
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£68.99Flying the Breeze - Philip Sparke
Flying the Breeze opens with three repeated B's (representing the initials of the Breeze Brass Band from Japan who commissioned this work). A short introduction leads to a robust theme from the baritones and euphoniums which is taken up by cornets and trombones. A restless bridge passage leads to a syncopated tune from the solo cornet and then to a third theme from a solo trombone. A graceful second subject leads back to a recall of the introductory material before a full-scale recapitulation. An intense allargando leads to a full-band version of the second subject under a running cornet passage, which leads to a short coda.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£25.00Accolade - Phillip Littlemore
Accolade - meaning an award, an honour or a laudatory notice. This fanfare for brass band literally builds from the bottom up as a battery of percussion leads to the lower band's statement of the theme before passing through the middle of the band that builds with a series of interjections. The theme is then restated in the upper band before the battery of percussion returns to end.The fanfare was written for Regent Brass as the title track for their 1990 recording to celebrate both their 5th anniversary and to being crowned 3rd Section Champion Band of Great Britain in 1988 - an accolade indeed!Duration: c.1'00"Diffiiculty: Suitable for all grades
Estimated dispatch 5-7 working days
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£40.00Finale from Symphony No. 1 - Sergei Rachmaninov arr. Phillip Littlemore
Rachmaninov composed his First Symphony in 1895, at the age of just 22 years. It received its first performance on March 27, 1897, at a Russian Symphony Society concert in St. Petersburg with Alexander Glazunov conducting. The premiere was not well-received, and Rachmaninov himself blamed Glazunov for a lacklustre approach for beating time rather than finding the music. Some contemporary reports even suggested that Glazunov was inebriated when he took to the stage!Despite the disappointment of the premiere performance, Rachmaninov never destroyed the score but left it behind when he left Russia to settle in the West, eventually it was given up for lost. After the composer's death, a two-piano transcription of the symphony surfaced in Moscow, followed by a set of orchestral parts at the conservatory in Saint Petersburg. In March 1945, the symphony was performed in Moscow for the first time since its 1897 premiere. It was a grand success, and this led to a new and more enthusiastic evaluation of the symphony. In March 1948 it received a similarly successful American premiere and the work proceeded to establish itself in the general repertory.The final movement (Allegro con fuoco) is colourful and grand but not without its darkly contrasting, menacing episodes that intensifies its malevolence. It is a work overflowing with ideas demonstrating a strong, highly individual, and self-assured young talent.Duration: 5'40"Difficulty: 2nd Section and above
Estimated dispatch 5-7 working days
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£60.00Suite from 49th Parallel - Ralph Vaughan Williams arr. Phillip Littlemore
Vaughan Williams was in his late sixties when an opportunity to write for the cinema materialised. He was approached by his former pupil Muir Mathieson, the director of music for the Ministry of Information, to write the score for the film 49th Parallel .The plot for 49th Parallel is set in the early part of World War II, when a German U-Boat sinks allied shipping in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then tries to evade capture by the Canadian Military by sailing up to Hudson Bay. A handful of crew disembark to look for supplies and no sooner have they reached shore when the U-Boat is spotted by the Canadian Armed Forces and sunk. Leaving the shore party stranded in Canada they have no other option but to head for the neutral United States and, as their ill-fated journey unfolds, they meet a variety of characters whom they alienate due to their reprehensible actions. They These include a pacifist in the Canadian wilds played by Leslie Howard, a Hutterite leader, and a French-Canadian fur trapper, played by Laurence Olivier. The film premiered in the UK in October 1941 and in March 1942 for the US, when it was retitled The Invaders .The brass band suite to 49th Parallel, devised by Paul Hindmarsh and arranged by Phillip Littlemore, takes the Prologue from the cinematic score as its starting point. Stretches of pastoral musical themes depict the Canadian landscape before the atmosphere is broken with a menacing rendition, albeit briefly, of the Lutheran chorale Ein Feste Burg depicting the surfacing of the German U-Boat in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This gives way to the mechanical, jaunty section Control Room Alert with its persistent drive and energy. A brief interlude of The Lake in the Mountains leads into the most recognised piece of music of from the film, the Prelude, which accompanied both the opening and closing credits, and adds a most fitting conclusion to this suite.The suite has been recorded by the Tredegar Town Band, under their musical director Ian Porthouse, on the Albion Records CD Vaughan Williams on Brass
Estimated dispatch 5-7 working days
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