Results
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£30.00A Short Ride in a Brass Machine
DescriptionA Short Ride in a Brass Machine was written in 2006 to mark the 140th anniversary of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band and first performed in the Central Methodist Church in Brighouse by Brighouse and Rastrick conducted by James Gourlay. The title refers to the orchestral composition A Short Ride in A Fast Machine by the American composer John Adams which provided some of the inspiration for the work. The music is a simple celebratory prelude consisting of two main ideas, an expansive melody full of open fifths (giving the music a slightly "American" feel) and a short fanfare figure. After these are both heard for the first time a brief development of the fanfare material leads to a broader, warm harmonisation of the opening melody and the pulse relaxes a little before tension builds to a reiteration of the fanfare and a final triumphant version of the opening theme.Performance Notes:Percussion instruments required are 4 Timpani, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, 3 Tom-toms, 3 Wood Blocks, Suspended Cymbal, Clash Cymbals, Tubular Bells, Glockenspiel, Tam-tam.Soprano, repiano, 2nd solo cornet, 2nd and 3rd cornets will require metal straight mutes; 2nd and 3rd cornets will require harmon mutes with the tubes removed (indicated by 'TR').Duration approximately 3'30"Follow the score in the preview video below!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00Deus in Adjutorium
DescriptionMonteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope, style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice with a dedication to Pope Paul V dated 1 September 1610 as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata ("Mass for the Most Holy Virgin for six voices, and Vespers for several voices with some sacred songs, suitable for chapels and ducal chambers"), it is mercifully regularly shortened to Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.Monteverdi was born and spent the first part of his working life in Cremona before moving to Mantua (where he composed the Vespers) and finally attaining one of the top jobs in Italian renaissance music as Maestro di Capella at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. He is most famous for his vocal music, notably his madrigals and the earliest surviving opera, Orfeo.Performance notes:The opening "versicle" on euphonium should be declamatory, in a recitative style - i.e. in free tempo and not conducted. Ideally the player should stand for this.Where practical, the soprano and 1st & 2nd solo cornets should stand to the left of the band, and the repiano and 3rd & 4th solo cornets to the right. If three percussionists are available, the third player should double the Percussion 2 part, and in that event it is often effcetive to have the 2nd and 3rd percussion players stand to the left and right of the band with the cornets.Watch a preview video of the score below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£35.00Ascend the Brightest Heaven...
DescriptionThe band's uniform badges feature a significant local landmark, a transmission tower officially known as The Arqiva Tower but known more colloquially to locals as 'Emley Moor mast'. The current elegantly tapered concrete sculpture, the tallest freestanding structure in the UK at 1084 feet, is the third mast on this site and was built between 1969 and 1971 after the catastrophic collapse of the previous structure.On 19 March 1969 a combination of extreme icing and strong winds caused the tubular mast to collapse across Jagger Lane and the chapel opposite - fortunately, despite the fact that the organist was in the chapel practising, nobody was injured. Several million people lost their BBC2 and ITV signals, until the Independent Television Authority managed to set up a temporary transmitter nearby!Just over two years later the new mast was operational, and despite initial opposition from some locals who feared another, potentially worse, collapse, Emley Moor Mast is now a popular local landmark and a grade II listed building. In 2015 the mast was illuminated with coloured lights at night to mark the 'Grand Depart' of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire.You can listen and follow the score in the video below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£16.00Sonata Pian'e Forte
DescriptionSonata Pian'e Forte means an instrumental piece using soft and loud dynamics. A "Sonata" (at this time) meant a piece for instruments (as opposed to voices). It was probably written to be played as part of a service at St Mark's, Venice. This is the earliest known piece to specify both the instruments to be played AND the dynamics in the written music.Gabrieli was born in Venice sometime between 1554 and 1557 and studied with the renowned Dutch composer Orlando di Lassus. He also studied with his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, and eventually succeeded him as the organist and composer at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Already renowned as a musical centre, Venice became a magnet for composers wishing to study with Gabrieli after 'Symphoniae Sacrae' was published.Like many of his works, Sonata Pian'e Forte was written to take advantage of the unique layout of St Mark's, which had galleries on three sides where the musicians could be placed to create novel spatial effects - utterly new and exciting for sixteenth century listeners. Sonata Pian'e Forte has two different antiphonal 'choirs' and in this arrangement the band is split into two groups to reflect Gabrieli's innovative idea. Ideally the two groups should be clearly separated so the the antiphonal effect comes across clearly, although this will of course depend on the performance space. On no account should the band remain in its normal seated formation!As Gabrieli didn't have any percussionists (and percussion was widely thought inappropriate for music performed in church anyway) there are no percussion parts in this music.This arrangement is available for full brass band or 8-piece brass ensemble andwas first performed by the Blackley Band conducted by Andrew Baker in 2004.Listen to a computer realisation and follow the score in the video below:Duration approximately 4'20".
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£18.00Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen
DescriptionEs ist ein Ros Entsprungen is sometimes sung to the English words "A Great and Mighty Wonder". This tune to the reformation era German carol first appeared in the Speyer Hymnal in Cologne in 1599. This harmonisation of the tune by Michael Praetorius in 1609, one of his earliest publications. Praetorius was, along with his slightly younger contemporary Heinrich Schutz, the foremost German composer of the day, and became famous for his choral music. Much of this was written for multiple groups positioned around the church and conducted by a central conductor, giving a multi-phonic effect similar to the Venetian music of Gabrieli. Today his most famous music is Terpsichore, a collection of over 300 secular dances.You can follow the preview video of the score below.PercussionPercussion required are timpani and clash cymbals only; if clash cymbals are not available this part should be omitted (rather than played on a suspended cymbal).Mutes2 x solo cornets, second cornets and all trombones will require cup mutes
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£32.00The Cistercians
DescriptionThe Cistercianswas written during December 2003 and January 2004 as an entry for Morecambe Band's Centenary New Music Competition, which it went on to win. The first two performances were at the final of this competition, part of the band's 100th Anniversary Concert at The Dome in Morecambe on 9 July 2004.The music was inspired by visits to three of Britain's great Cistercian Abbeys; Valle Crucis, Fountains and Rievaulx. The Cistercian Order was founded at Citeaux in France in the 11th Century and was based on the principles of austerity, humility and piety. Cistercian Abbeys were deliberately sited in remote, difficult areas. Despite this many of them, especially Rievaulx, became immense centres of commerce and power, with ever more complex administration and hierarchies.In a way the music reflects this; all the material in the piece is derived from two simple motifs played by flugel and solo horn in the opening bars and becomes more complex and further removed from the original material as the piece develops. After a tranquil opening section a fugal chorale develops over a medieval-style "tenor" - a stretched out version of one of the original motifs. A burst of semiquavers leads into a faster, folk-dance type section - our medieval abbey has become a bustling trade centre - before rhythmic quaver pulses in the horns and cornets accompany powerful chords in the low brass; this is another "tenor" derived from the opening motifs. A short development section, including the folk dance "hocketing" round the band and a slightly disjointed 10/8 section leads to a restatement of the fugal chorale from the beginning before a frenetic coda brings the work to a triumphant conclusion.Performance Notes:Percussion instruments required are Bass Drum, Suspended Crash Cymbal, Glockenspiel, 2 x Tom-toms, Snare Drum, Tambourine, Tam-Tam, 2 x Timpani (G-C, C-F), Triangle, Wood Block. All cornets will require metal stratight mutes and all except soprano require cup mutes. All trombones require cup and metal straight mutes.You can follow a preview of the score in the video below.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00Finale from Tosca, Act 1 (Te Deum)
DescriptionPuccini's opera Tosca, one of his most successful and popular works is set in 1800 in Rome, as Napoleon's invading army is approaching. There are rebels in Rome who see Napoleon as a liberator from Neapolitan rule and are plotting secretly. One of those is the young firebrand artist Cavaradossi. He and his lover, the beautiful and tempestuous Tosca, are being pursued by the evil chief of the secret police, Scarpia. At the end of Act 1, Scarpia is revelling in his plot to capture Cavaradossi and trick Tosca into sleeping with him to buy her lover's freedom, all inside a church in Rome while a Te Deum service is being sung; in the background the bells are tolling and we hear distant cannonfire from the approaching army.In this arrangement the part of Scarpia is played mostly by the solo trombone. There is an optional organ part, although all of the organ part is covered in the band parts.This arrangement was first performed by the Harrogate Band conducted by Andrew Baker in 2022. Watch a video preview of the score below!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00La Musica Notturna Delle Strade di Madrid
DescriptionLuigi Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy, into a musical family. His father, a cellist and double-bass player, sent him to study in Rome at a young age. In 1757 they both went to Vienna, where the court employed them as musicians in the Burgtheater. In 1761 Boccherini went to Madrid, entering the employ of Prince Luis Antonio of Spain, younger brother of King Charles III. There he flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion into his art, doubled the passage instead, which led to his immediate dismissal. Then he accompanied Don Luis to Arenas de San Pedro, a little town in the Gredos mountains, where Boccherini wrote many of his most famous works. Although neglected after his death and throughout the 19th and early 20th century (he was known mockingly as 'Haydn's Wife' for a time), Boccherini's music has been rediscovered in recent decades.La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid('Night Music of the Streets of Madrid') is a string quintet of seven short movements composed during Boccherini's exile in Arenas, no doubt to remind him and his prince of happier times. The music is reminiscent of "the gaiety and bustle of Spain's capital, recalling the sound of the city's church bells ringing for evening prayer, the popular dances that were the delight of its young people, and the blind beggars singing their typical songs". This arrangement excludes the first and last two movements, comprising the middle four:Il Tamburo di Soldati(The Soldier's Drum)Minuetto dei Ciechi(The Minuet of the Blind Beggars)Il Rosario(The Rosary)Passe Calle(The Passacaglia of the Street Singers)The music was featured in the Russell Crowe filmMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World(2003) set during the Napoleonic Wars and featuring the adventures of the Royal Navy ship HMS Surprise and her captain Jack Aubrey as they pursue the French ship Acheron into the Pacific Ocean.You can listen to an audio preview while following the score in the video below!Duration approximately 5'00".
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£10.00Kopanitsa
DescriptionKopanitsa was commissioned by Gavin Pritchard, who is also the work's dedicatee and gave the first performance with the Tongwynlais Temperance Band conducted by Gareth Pritchard at the Butlins Mineworkers Championship on 20 January 2008, winning the prize for best soloist as a result. He has recorded it on the CD "Enter the Galaxies" accompanied by the Cory Band conducted by Robert Childs.Gavin had requested a virtuoso showpiece featuring as many instruments as possible. The solo part is therefore written for vibraphone (bowed and struck), 10 x tuned tom toms, 5 x suspended cymbals plus hi-hat and a xylophone. The soloist's 'choreography' therefore forms an integral part of the performance. This can be seen to great effect in Gavin's performance of the work at the 2013 Brass in Concert Championship with Tredegar Band, available on the DVD of the event from World of Brass. A 'kopanitsa' is a Bulgarian folk dance that traditionally features two slow beats and two quick beats, reflected in the central 10/8 section. The music is deliberately Balkan in character, using the characteristic modes of Greek and Bulgarian folk music, and accelerates regularly to finish at breakneck speed. The tom-tom section marked 'ad lib.' after [D] can be improvised if the soloist wishes.You can follow the score in the preview video below!PercussionThe band percussion parts are written for timpani, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tambourine on a stand and bass drum. It is possible to combine these with the soloist part to make the work a feature for percussion trio and parts for this can be made available on request.MutesSoprano cornet, solo and 1st horn, 1st and 2nd baritone and euphoniums will require straight mutes (metal ideally). Soprano cornet, principal cornet, repiano and 1 x 2nd cornet, plus all trombones, will require cup mutes. Repiano, 2nd and 3rd cornet require harmon mutes with the tubes removed (indicated by 'TR').
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00Ring'd with the Azure World
DescriptionRing'd with the Azure World was commissioned by the Harmonia Brass quintet for their final recital at the University of Huddersfield in 2016.He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.- The Eagle by Alfred, Lord TennysonThe music was inspired by Tennyson's poem reproduced above; it seeks simply to reflect the spirit of the poem. It opens in sparse, lonely mood as the eagle surveys the world beneath. The work quickens in three bursts using metrical modulation to disguise the actual moment of acceleration, reflecting the lazy energy stored in the circling raptor before concluding dramatically in a fall 'like a thunderbolt'. Tennyson's poem, although brief, has inspired much analysis and writing, and is notable for being written in the (then somewhat unfashionable) iambic tetrameter, indicating a foursquare emphasis reflected in the main theme of the music. This is heard first in an octatonic version and later in a purely tonal (if somewhat modal) version. The instrumentation reflects that of Harmonia Brass, a quintet composed of brass band instruments (two B flat cornets, an E flat tenor horn, tenor trombone and E flat tuba). However the music is also available for the more conventional brass quintet of two trumpets, french horn, trombone and tuba.To listen to an audio export preview and follow the music, click play on the video below!Performance Notes1st cornet/trumpet requires a cup mute, ideally with an adjustable cup (the marking "tight" denotes that the cup should be adjusted closer to the bell), and a harmon mute with the tube removed (denoted by "TR" in the score). 2nd cornet/trumpet requires a fibre straight mute and a harmon mute with the tube removed. Tenor horn require a fibre straight mute and a practice mute (any sort) - in the orchestral brass version the french horn requires a stop mute. Trombone requires a cup mute (only). Tuba requires a fibre straight mute and a practice mute (of any sort).Metronome marks should be closely observed - starting either too fast or too slow will have a disproportionate effect on the tempi later in the piece due to the metrically controlled tempo changes.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days