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£17.50
Impact (Brass Band - Score only) - Cordner, Martin
Written for the re-opening of the Salvation Army building at Romford, this sparkling festival march features the tune, 'Ring the bell, watchman' to which the words, 'Come, join our army, to battle we go' are associated.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£45.00The Sword and the Star
DescriptionThe Sword and the Star was written in 2006 for the Middleton Band at the request of their Musical Director, Carl Whiteoak. The inspiration for the work was the band's badge, which features a medieval archer. The town of Middeton's historical link with the symbol of the Archer came from the English victory at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513, where bowmen from Middleton and Heywood under the command of Sir Richard Assheton played a vital part in crushing the invading Scottish army. Sir Richard captured one of the Scottish commanders and presented the prisoner's sword to the St Leonard's church in Middleton in recognition of the town's contribution. As long time Lords of the Manor, the Assheton family crest was for centuries featured in the coat of arms of Middleton council, and when Middleton became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale the black star from the Assheton crest was used to represent Middleton in the new borough's coat of arms. Hence the title The Sword and the Star, for a piece which attempts to give an impression of the town as it was then and as it is now.The music is in three short sections - a fanfare, a lament and a bright scherzo - and simply aims to contrast the medieval hamlet of Middleton with the bustling urban centre it has now become. The central lament features a Scottish song called "The Flowers of the Forest", written to mourn the loss of so many of Scotland's young men on the field of Flodden; the song returns in a much more positive form at the end of the piece.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£10.00Edward Gregson: Concertante for Piano and Brass Band
DescriptionProgramme NoteThe Concertante for Piano and Brass Band was written in 1966, when the composer was an undergraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It received its first public concert performance in 1967 at the Royal Festival Hall, London, when the composer was the soloist with the International Band of the Salvation Army, conducted by Bernard Adams. It was one of the first major works to be written for this particular combination.The Concertante is unashamedly romantic in idiom and is in three movements: Prelude, Nocturne and Rondo. The Prelude is cast in sonata form and opens with a short cadenza-like flourish from the soloist, followed by two main ideas - the first sweepingly dramatic, the second highly lyrical. The interplay between these two themes forms the main focus of the movement, and after a return to the opening theme, an exuberant codetta brings the music to a close, albeit a quiet one.https://www.morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-1st-movt-clip.mp3The tender Nocturne opens with an introduction from the band that contains precursors of the two main ideas to follow. The solo piano announces the main theme, which has a slightly 'bluesy' character with its flattened third and seventh notes of the scale, and is a love song dedicated to the composer's wife-to-be. The band enters with phrases of a chorale already hinted at in the introduction - Ray Steadman-Allen's hymn tune 'Esher' - but never quite presented in its complete state. Both ideas are developed alongside each other, with eventually the first theme returning, this time with piano and band together, and building to a majestic climax, before subsiding to a peaceful coda - a return to the very opening of the movement.https://www.morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-movt-2-clip.mp3The final Rondo is full of energetic rhythms and changing time patterns. The main theme is playful in character, with much interplay between soloist and band, whilst the middle section presents a new theme, and one that has more than a hint of the hymn tune 'Onward Christian Soldiers', in what amounts to a good humoured parody. The opening Rondo theme returns, this time leading to a powerful and dissonant climax from the band. This is followed by an extended piano cadenza, underlying the virtuoso aspect of the work, and leading to an energetic and life-affirming coda, which brings the work to a triumphant conclusion.https://www.morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-movt-3-clip.mp3Duration: 18 minutesInstrumentation:Please note that there is no 1st/Repiano Cornet part in this work. The 1st/Repiano Cornet player should join the Solo Cornet bench. As such an extra Solo Cornet part is provided in the set of parts.Version for two pianosA version of the Concertante for two pianos is available for rehearsal purposes. Piano 1 is the solo part and Piano 2 the band reduction. However, for those pianists not needing to rehearse the work in this way, a solo piano part is also provided with the main set of band parts.To view a preview of the solo part for the first movement click here.The youthful Gregson (his work was written as a third year undergraduate) was seemingly a bit of a musical magpie - but one heck of a skilful one at that.These were shiny baubles of poise, panache and pastiche, with affectionate, remarkably mature nods of appreciation towards Gershwin, Rachmaninov, Ireland and even Elmer as well as Leonard Bernstein.The rich colour palette and flowing lines (with the tenderest of central Nocturnes) were a joy - as were the little buds of motifs that dotted the score like seeds ready to be planted on a future fertile brass band compositional field. - Iwan Fox, 4Barsrest.com, June 2019For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£10.00The Once and Future King
DescriptionThe Once and Future King is a suite of three movements; each movement was inspired by an Arthurian legend. The first movement, 'Tintagel', concerns the famous Cornish promontory said to be the birthplace of King Arthur. In Arthur's time, Tintagel was part of the court of King Mark of Cornwall and the music imagines a visit by the King of the Britons to his Cornish neighbour and the place of his birth, reflecting the ceremony and drama of such an occasion; the music is strongly antiphonal, contrasting the more strident fanfares of the cornets and trombones with the warmth of the saxhorns and tubas.The second movement, 'Lyonesse', takes its inspiration from the mythical land which once joined Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly. One legend claims that after the disastrous battle of Camlan where Arthur and Mordred were both killed, the remnants of Arthur's army were pursued across Lyonesse to Scilly, whereupon Merlin cast a spell to sink Lyonesse behind them and drown the pursuers. Some say the bells of the 140 churches inundated that day can still be heard ringing. All the material in this movement derives from two short motifs heard in counterpoint at the very beginning, which are intentionally dissonant and bitonal in character.The final movement, 'Badon Hill', takes its title from the legendary site of Arthur's last battle with the Saxons and is a lively toccata based on the medieval secular song L'Homme Armee ('The Armed Man'). The music uses a number of medieval devices including "hocketing" (passing melody from one voice to another). The actual site of Badon Hill is unknown but it has been associated with Badbury Rings in Dorset and a lot of evidence now points towards the town of Bath. Arthur's victory at Badon Hill was the last great victory for Celtic Britain over the Saxon invaders, but in the end only set the conquest back by a few decades. Arthur himself was dead by then, betrayed and defeated by his nephew Mordred, but it is said that Arthur only sleeps and will return in a time of dire need - hence the legend that Arthur's dying words were: Bury me in Britain, for I am the Once and Future King.Performance NotesWhere space and practicality permits the opening movement should be played with cornets and trombones standing behind the band facing the audience; they should retake their seats for the second and third movements.PercussionConcert Bass Drum (ideally NOT Kit/Pedal Bass Drum), Suspended Cymbal, pair of Clash Cymbals, Glockenspiel, Snare Drum, Tambourine, 2 x Timpani (Eb-G, Bb-D), 2 x Tom-toms, Triangle, Tam-Tam* (only if available), Tubular Bells *(only if available).MutesBaritones, all cornets and trombones will require metal straight mutes; all trombones and cornets will require cup mutes.*The Once and Future King was set as the test-piece for the 3rd section of the Swiss National Championships in 2007. The score was then slightly revised in July 2008, the main alteration being the exclusion of the tubular bells part for the Regional Championships of Great Britain in 2009. Some parts which were optional (or cued on other instruments) at the request of the Swiss Brass Band Association were restored to their original octaves and instruments. In 2015 the tubular bells part was restored in the optional Percussion 3 part; all parts in Percussion 3 are optional, although some are cued in the percussion 1 & 2 parts (and the cues should be played if only two players are available).Listen to a preview and follow along with the score below!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95
TRAILBLAZERS (Brass Band Set) - Andrew Mackereth
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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£107.95Cornet Concerto (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Cornet Concerto was commissioned by Black Dyke Band for their principal cornet, Richard Marshall, and was premiered at the European Brass Band Festival's Gala Concert in Lille, France, on 30 April 2016 by the same performers, conducted by Nicholas Childs.It is challenging work, both musically and technically, and one that exploits the wide range of the instrument's capabilities. Lasting for some 17 minutes, it is in the usual three movements: Sonata, Intermezzo (subtitled 'Of More Distant Memories') and Rondo.The first movement presents four main ideas:Cadenzas (which recur throughout the movement, and indeed appear at the end of the work); a fast and rhythmically energetic motive; Bugle calls (echoing the ancestor of the cornet), and a lyrical and expressive melody, full of yearning. These four ideas are juxtaposed within the broad shape of a Sonata form structure, although here the word 'Sonata' is used in its original meaning of 'sounding together'.The second movement is music in search of a theme, which eventually comes at the end of the movement. In the middle section there are brief quotations, albeit mostly hidden, from three cornet solos written by the Swedish/American composer Erik Leidzen for the Salvation Army in the 1940s and 50s; these are solos I loved as a teenager, and my use of them is by way of tribute, not imitation - a sort of memory bank, just as the main theme of the movement, when it eventually comes, is reminiscent of the tune from my earlier work for brass band, 'Of Distant Memories'.The final Rondo, the shortest of the three movements, is a lively and 'fleet-of foot' Scherzo, its main theme full of cascading arpeggios, but with a contrasting lyrical second theme intertwined in the structure. There is much interplay between soloist and band in the development of the music, but eventually a brief reprise of the opening cadenzas leads to an exciting and climactic coda.Click here for the piano reduction
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£49.95Cornet Concerto (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
The Cornet Concerto was commissioned by Black Dyke Band for their principal cornet, Richard Marshall, and was premiered at the European Brass Band Festival's Gala Concert in Lille, France, on 30 April 2016 by the same performers, conducted by Nicholas Childs.It is challenging work, both musically and technically, and one that exploits the wide range of the instrument's capabilities. Lasting for some 17 minutes, it is in the usual three movements: Sonata, Intermezzo (subtitled 'Of More Distant Memories') and Rondo.The first movement presents four main ideas:Cadenzas (which recur throughout the movement, and indeed appear at the end of the work); a fast and rhythmically energetic motive; Bugle calls (echoing the ancestor of the cornet), and a lyrical and expressive melody, full of yearning. These four ideas are juxtaposed within the broad shape of a Sonata form structure, although here the word 'Sonata' is used in its original meaning of 'sounding together'.The second movement is music in search of a theme, which eventually comes at the end of the movement. In the middle section there are brief quotations, albeit mostly hidden, from three cornet solos written by the Swedish/American composer Erik Leidzen for the Salvation Army in the 1940s and 50s; these are solos I loved as a teenager, and my use of them is by way of tribute, not imitation - a sort of memory bank, just as the main theme of the movement, when it eventually comes, is reminiscent of the tune from my earlier work for brass band, 'Of Distant Memories'.The final Rondo, the shortest of the three movements, is a lively and 'fleet-of foot' Scherzo, its main theme full of cascading arpeggios, but with a contrasting lyrical second theme intertwined in the structure. There is much interplay between soloist and band in the development of the music, but eventually a brief reprise of the opening cadenzas leads to an exciting and climactic coda.Duration: 17.00
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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£30.00Russian Rag - George L Cobb, Sandy Coffin
Interpolating the world famous"Prelude" by RachmaninoffCommissioned by John Wallace, this arrangement of Russian Rag has been crafted by Sandy Coffin through close listening of the available recordings of the Harlem Hellfighters Band. Sandy had been heavily involved with the Historic Brass Society symposium 2017 held in New York and assisted John with his research on this fascinating band and the style of music it generated.Eye-witness accounts refer to the 369th band 'dancing' rather than 'marching'. Above all, in modern performance, finding a 'dancing beat' is crucial to a successful performance of this Ragtime march in order to do justice to the great pioneering work of James Reese Europe. Note the cheeky virtuosity and rubato!Look and Listen (courtesy of Tullis Russell Mills Band):Background to the Harlem HellfightersThe US Army 369th Regiment, made up largely of African-Americans from New York, became known as the Harlem Hellfighters because of the heroic reputation which accrued to them during the actions they engaged in during the First World War in Europe.James Reese Europe was one of the most active African-American composer/musical directors in the pre-war American music scene. The legendary Harlem Hellfighters Band, which he assembled in 1917 from African-American and Puerto Rican musicians, came at an important transitional point in musical history. A new form of music called jazz was emerging from Ragtime and the performing style of Europe's band was immersed in the flow of this new direction.Europe's Harlem Hellfighters influenced and inspired everyone who heard them, including the welcoming crowd when they disembarked in France, bowled over by their swinging rendition of La Marseillaise. Reese Europe became a war hero, commanding a machine-gun unit as well as the band.On return from War in 1919 the band led a ticker-tape parade along Fifth Avenue in New York and soon made about 30 shellac recordings. These recordings display some of the fingerprints of their performing style: ragging, improvising, muting, wailing, smearing (their word for glissando) - and from the evidence of their recordings they took the printed page as a blueprint for individuality.In May 1919 during the Hellfighters' triumphant coast-to-coast tour after their return, James Reese Europe was tragically murdered, bringing to premature close, at the age of 39, the work of a great musical innovator.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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