Results
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£30.00Fantasia on themes by Purcell - Ian Shepherd
Fantasia consists of three distinct sections that use thematic material from three separate pieces by Henry Purcell. The first section is based on the march from Funeral Music for Queen Mary which is dramatically dark and powerful but also uplifting. The Second section uses the devastatingly beautiful aria Dido's Lament or When I am laid in earth from the opera Dido and Aeneas as its basis and builds to enormous proportions, unlike the original aria. The third section begins with a haunting reference to the Rondo from Abdelazer. Gradually, this builds towards an exciting re-statement of the theme in the first section to the finale.
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£30.00Flanfayre - Stephen Deazley
I was asked by Music for Youth to write a flexibly scored fanfare for the school proms at the Royal Albert Hall and at their National Festival in Birmingham in 2013. At its first performance at the National Festival, over 200 young brass players performed Flanfayre in Birmingham Town Hall, directed by Roger Argente, members of Superbrass and myself. The score is a progressive romp through some increasingly dance-like grooves, borrowing some of its swing from South America, from marches and big band, moving from a really quite straight opening to a "let-go" moment at the end. It is more like a flan full of different flavours, than a fanfare, hence the title. I set myself a challenge to write 100 bars but ended up with 102, which, after the introduction, can be broken down into 10 easily discernible sections each with their own mini-musical narrative. If you have time feel free to teach the audience the clapping groove. I also modelled the slow moving melody of the final section on the following words; "nothing beats a nice big cheesy, nothing beats a nice big cheesy, nothing beats a nice big cheesy, nothing beats a cheesy flan". Feel free to incorporate these too, and perform only under the strict instruction that you have fun ! - Programme Note copyright of Stephen Deazley
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£30.00Fugatango - Steve Waterman
"When Roger Argente approached me to write a composition for his Spanish flavoured brass project, he made the suggestion that a Tango, althoughmore Argentinian than Spanish, would fit in well with the overall concept. I have always been a very big fan of the music of Argentinian composerAstor Piazzolla and particularly the way that the Tango could be combined with jazz. A favourite recording of mine is of Piazzolla himselfperforming (on the bandoneon) with the jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. Roger and I both thought it would be a good idea to let some of themusicians in the ensemble take improvised solos. As the composing progressed, a fugato also emerged hence the title Fugatango."
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£30.00Hard Hats and Cornets - Terry Johns
This lively and melodic piece was commissioned by Maltby Colliery Band in 2000. It was written as a feature for solo cornet and the cornet section. For its first broadcast performance on Radio Scotland, from Edinburgh in 2009 Mark O'Keefe played the solo part with the band of COOP Glasgow. This piece makes an impressive encore or opening to a band concert and is also available in a version for ten brass.
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£30.00KirkFeld - Grant Kirkhope
Grant Kirkhope is a BAFTA nominated British composer who has created the soundtrack for video games that have sold in excess of 30 million copies. From "GoldenEye" to "Banjo-Kazooie", "Viva Pinata" to "Donkey Kong", "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" to "Civilization: Beyond Earth" and "Perfect Dark" to "Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse". He has also recently scored the feature film "The King's Daughter" starring Pierce Brosnan and William Hurt and is currently working on "Yooka Laylee" and "Dropzone". Grant's score for "Viva Pinata" was nominated by BAFTA in the Original Score category in its 2007 awards. Grant is represented by the prestigious Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency by Cheryl Tiano and Kevin Korn. Grant has a degree in music from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where he majored in classical trumpet, is a green card holder and now lives in Agoura Hills, LA with his wife and two children.
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£40.00Last Night of the Proms Medley - Traditional
The quintessential most English of English classical music concerts and the self-styled world's largest and most democratic musical festival". The "Proms", originally known as The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts are an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Founded in 1895, each season now consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall, a series of chamber concerts at Cadogan Hall, additional Proms in the Park events across the United Kingdom on the last night, and associated educational and children's events. Often held as outdoor concerts in London's pleasure gardens, where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing, this tradition has once again been revived in parks and stately homes not only in the UK, but across the world. The first series of promenade concerts were held indoors at the Queen's Hall in Langham Place. The idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low-ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to "promenading" or "promming"; eating, drinking and smoking was all allowed. Many people's perception of the "Proms" is taken from the "Last Night", although this concert is very different from the others. The concert is traditionally of a lighter vein, with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. This second half sequence traditionally includes most of the works included in this medley. Many in the audience use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness. Union Jack Flags are carried and waved by the "Prommers", especially during "Rule, Britannia!". Balloons and party poppers are also in abundance.
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£30.00Los Canarios - Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710) "The Master of the Spanish Baroque Guitar" was an Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist, teacher and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda near Teurel. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed Professor of Music. He wrote three volumes of works and studies for the Baroque guitar that form an important part of today's classical guitar repertory. The ninety guitar works he wrote included works both for the punted (pluck) and rasqueado (strummed) styles. He was also well known as a poet and writer. The Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo composed his famous "Fantasia para un Gentilhombre" on themes taken from Sanz's guitar works.
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£30.00Red Hot Pepper Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, professionally known asJelly Roll Morton, was an Americanragtimeandearly jazzpianist, band leader andcomposer who started his career inNew Orleans,Louisiana. Widely recognised as a pivotal figure in earlyjazz, Morton is perhaps most notable as jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential spiritand characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition in 1915. Morton is also notable for writing suchstandardsas "KingPorter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I HeardBuddy BoldenSay". Notorious for his arrogance and self-promotion, Morton claimed to have invented jazz outright in 1902, much to the derisionof fellow musicians and the critics. At the age of fourteen, Morton began working as a piano player in a brothel (or, as it was referred to back then, a sporting house). In that atmosphere,he often sang smutty lyrics and took the nickname "Jelly Roll". While working there,he was living with his religious, church-going great-grandmother; who he convinced that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory. After Morton's grandmother found out that he was playing jazz in a local brothel, she kicked him out of her house and told him that "devil music" would surely bring about his downfall. Born in downtown New Orleans,Louisiana, his exact birth date differs depending to whichever source you want to believe; his half-sisters claimed he was born in September 1885 but his World War 1 draft card showed September 1884 and his California death certificate listed his birth as September 1889. He died in 1941 in Los Angeles.
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£30.00Sussex Carol - Traditional
This carol is also known by its first line "On Christmas Night all Christians Sing". It was discovered by Cecil Sharp in Gloucestershire and notably by Ralph Vaughan Williams in Sussex. Vaughan Williams heard it sung by Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate, near Horsham, Sussex (hence "Sussex Carol"). It is the melody that Harriet Verrall sang that Vaughan Williams transcribed and published in 1919. It is this same version that is still very popular today.
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£40.00Tientos y Danzas - Gareth Wood
Tientos y Danzas is a suite in four movements and was written especially for Superbrass. It is not literally descriptive, but conjures up a breezy, festive atmosphere. The title Tientos stems from the fact that a lot of the brass writing is reminiscent of virtuosic Renaissance keyboard finger-work (a "Tiento" is the Spanish equivalent of a toccata). Only later did we discover that the word is also the name of a style of flamenco dancing, which links nicely with Danzas (dances). The first movement is an extended fanfare, with military rhythms on the tenor drums and dramatic trumpet and horn calls. Next comes a witty waltz featuring the French horn. The music builds in complexity; the main horn theme returns before a playful coda. The following Andante makes effective use of the mutes, both in the haunting opening "pyramid" chords, and in the elaborate, recurrent trumpet duets; the two trumpets have the last word. After a couple of false starts, the finale sets off at a cracking pace, with dislocated accents creating an irregular rhythmic pulse. There are opportunities for every instrument to shine (metaphorically) and the music gets even faster for a thrilling conclusion.