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£57.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95St. Andrew's Variations (Score Only)
This piece, written for the East Anglian Brass Band Festival in 1998, takes the form of eight variations and a finale, loosely based on the descending third motif heard in the initial theme. It was initially composed for junior band, and expanded and rescored for full band in 2006. There is no significance in the title, other than the fact it was written by a Scotsman to be played in the St Andrew's Hall, in Norwich!Alan Fernie was born and brought up in the Scots mining village of Newtongrange. From the age of 13 he learned to play the trombone both at school and with the local brass band, going on to study music in Glasgow and London. After a short period working as an orchestral musician, Alan moved into instrumental education, spending over 20 years teaching brass in schools all over the East of Scotland. It was during this time that he began to conduct and he has since directed bands at all levels, winning many awards. He first wrote for brass whilst still a student, and his music is now played, recorded and published throughout the world.In 2009, Alan was honoured with the "President's Award" from the Scottish Brass Band Association for services to banding. He is also proud to be associated as composer in residence with the acclaimed charity "Brass for Africa", with whom he spent two months recently teaching in Kampala, Uganda. Living in the Scottish Borders, Alan now works as a freelance musician, finding time to write, teach, conduct, judge, perform and act as compere throughout the UK and beyond.
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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£30.00Janacek's 'Taras Bulba' - Janacek
Comments from Tim Paton, the arranger of Janacek's 'Taras Bulba': "I will never forget the day in 1967 when I was introduced to the music of Leos Janacek, a Czech composer born in 1854, who died in 1928. Janacek was little known in Britain until the 1960's, when the conductor Charles Macherras introduced his unique music. I heard a recording of Macherras conducting the Pro Arte Orchestra in a performance of Janacek's "Sinfonietta".It was in 1969 that I first heard Janacek's Symphonic Rhapsody, "Taras Bulba".Janacek's music is exciting, powerful, emotive, impassioned and unpredictable.I have taken the first and third movements of this piece, and adapted them for Brass Band, which was at times extremely difficult, but rewarding. It sometimes took up to an hour to be satisfied that a mere several bars had been reproduced to convey the composer's intentions.The Death of AndriThe Cossaks, under the leadership of Taras Bulba, are fighting against the Poles in the 17th century. Taras's son Andri seeks to rescue his love, a Polish princess, from a city which is being besieged by the Cossaks. Having found her, he throws in his lot with the Poles, but is finally captured by his father, who executes him as a traitor before riding off again to battle.Prophesy and Death of Taras BulbaTaras himself is finally captured and condemned to be nailed to a tree and burned alive. As the flames creep around him, Taras has the satisfaction of seeing histroops escape, and as he dies, sees a vision of his country freed at last.This is incredibly descriptive music. The mood is constantly changing, creating feelings of love and anger, celebration and melancholy, despair and triumph.This Brass Band EditionThe duration of the original symphonic rhapsody, three movements, is approximately 23 minutes. I chose the first and third movements, so the Brass Band edition is approximately 14 minutes. The main reason is twofold: Being realistic about the demands this music would place on the stamina of the brass player; Keeping the piece less than 15 minutes, so that, if desired, it could be used on the contest platform.Two unique qualities of Janacek's music had to be taken into account when preparing this brass band version. His compositional technique was individual, at times not sticking to traditional expectations, in both form and orchestration. I imagined what the genius himself would have said looking at my work, and how to tackle a particular section to emulate his original intentions. This was particularly the case when dealing with high woodwind and violin parts, the use of tremolo in string parts, and the orchestral harp.Percussion: Janacek included timpani, side drum, cymbals, triangle and tubular bells. For reasons stated previously, I have also included xylophone and glockenspiel. I have also added the gong in a couple of places to enhance the dramatic effect of the music.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£83.00
A Bournemouth Suite - Benjamin Tubb
Bournemouth Suite was written by Benjamin Tubb in 2005, when the composer was just 17 years of age. After spending many school holiday weeks with his grandparents in the coastal town of Bournmouth, it was obvious that these experiences would make a great basis for a composition.This testpiece is split into three separate movements: Balloon Ride, The Pier at Night and The BIC. Each movement has its own unique character, although there are ideas shared by all three throughout, one of which is the opening syncopation.Balloon RideThe First movement, Balloon Ride, describes a journey on "The Bournemouth Eye", a tethered hot air balloon that takes you up 500 feet. It's located in the middle of the town centre, which enables you to see surrounding countryside for up to 20 miles! The movement begins rather ominously as the balloon raises from the ground which leads into a more lively section caharacteresed by the repeating quavers in the lower brass and woodblock. The movement ends in much the same way as it started - signalling the return to terra firma.The Pier At NightDuring the summer there are several large firework displays in the town centre. The second movement, The Pier At Night descirbes an evening spent on the beach in deckchairs watching the montage of colours in the night-time sky. With demanding solos for horn and cornet, as well as exposed playing spread throughout the band, this slow movement will really test a band's expressive and lyrical playing.The 'BIC'The Bournemouth INternational Centre, also known as "The BIC" is one of Bournemouth's most visited attractions, and regularly hosts shows such as 'Riverdance' and pantomimes. Inside is a world of entertainment and the centre itself is just a stone's throw from both "The Bournemouth Eye" and the Pier. The 3rd movement has been written to describe the buzz of activity surrounding the BIC, and the entire works ends with the same syncopated motif from the beginning.A Bournemouth Suite was set as the 'set-test' at the Pontins Brass Band Championships 2009.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£35.87E lucevan le stelle (Cornet/Euphonium Duet with Brass Band) Puccini arr.Bushnell
Tosca is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. The opera is set in June 1800 in Rome, and tells the story of the Kingdom of Naples and the threat to its control of Rome by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. Some of Puccini's best-known arias can be found in Tosca. The opera is based on Victorien Sardou's dramatic play of the same name (La Tosca). Puccini saw the play at least twice in 1889 and begged his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, to obtain the rights to turn it into an opera, which were secured in 1891 - although Puccini relinquished the rights to Alberto Franchetti before being recommissioned in 1895. Puccini wrote "I see in this Tosca the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music." It took four years to write, with Puccini arguing with his librettists (Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa) and his publisher. Although the first performance was delayed by a day due to the unrest in Rome at the time, the opera was premiered on 14 January 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. The critics reviews were indifferent, but it was an immediate success with the public. The opera is through-composed, with the different musical elements weaved from piece to piece. Puccini used the Wagner's leitmotif concept to identity different parts of the opera. Taken from Act 3, E lucevan le stelle is sung by Cavaradossi, a painter, who has fallen for the singer Tosca. The corrupt Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia, longs for Tosca himself and, upon suspecting Cavaradossi of helping a political prisoner escape, he takes the opportunity to get rid of Cavaradossi and blackmail Tosca into being with him. The guards lead Cavaradossi to the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo, where he is told he has 1 hour to live before being executed. He asks to write a letter to Tosca, overcome by memories, he sings E lucevan le stelle (And the stars shone). It was selected by the tenor Wynne Evans as one of the most romantic songs for his top ten arias for Classic FM. He described it as "another tenor classic, both tragic and beautiful." This arrangement (for cornet and euphonium duet with brass band) includes alternative parts for horns in F and lower brass in bass clef. A recording of the original song can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqHQMX7GHY
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£44.95Powerhouse (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Downie, Kenneth
Spirit divine, come as of old. So begins the song by Brindley Boon, and that phrase becomes the message of this piece, and an important motif in the music. It appears at the very beginning of the work and recurs at important points during the piece. The theme of the need for spiritual power is further underlined by the use of the hymns Show your power, Wonder-working power and the very old chorus Send a new touch of power on my soul, Lord.The composer first heard Boon's song Spirit Divine when it was sung by Parkhead Songsters in the Sunday morning meeting at his home Corps of Greenock Citadel. They were visiting for the weekend from Glasgow, and were conducted by Songster Leader Walter Chalmers, himself a beautiful lyric tenor soloist. They sang it in a moving fashion, unaccompanied, and such was the impact that, at the conclusion, many people went to the mercy seat. It made a huge impression on the young composer. It was the first time that Downie discovered the enormous power of music in worship. It also serves as a reminder to us all that young people of a tender age are very capable of grasping deeply significant events happening around them. This music was written for the 2020 UK Territorial Youth Band course.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00Carol of the Bells (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Littlemore, Phillip
This popular Christmas piece was composed by Mykola Leontovych around 1916. It is based on a Ukrainian folk chant known as 'Shchedryk', a New Year's carol. However, it was not until after the composer's death in 1921 that it was first introduced to Western audiences, when the Ukrainian National Choir included it on their tour of Europe and the Americas that same year. The film composer John Williams incorporated it into the score for the 1990 film Home Alone and he is credited for bringing it to a wider audience still, although it had been released on Christmas albums by a number of popular artists before that. This transcription for brass band has been adapted from the arrangement by Robert Prizeman, who created it for Libera, the world famous boys choir that he both founded and directs. Their unique, enchanting and, some say, heavenly sound delights audiences throughout the world through extensive concerts, recording and TV broadcasts. This brass band transcription introduces this skilled choral arrangement to a new genre and a whole new audience as well. Duration: 3.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00Carol of the Bells - Mykola Leontovych arr. Phillip Littlemore
This popular Christmas piece was composed by Mykola Leontovych around 1916. It is based on a Ukrainian folk chant known as 'Shchedryk', a New Year's carol. However, it was not until after the composer's death in 1921 that it was first introduced to Western audiences, when the Ukrainian National Choir included it on their tour of Europe and the Americas that same year. The film composer John Williams incorporated it into the score for the 1990 film Home Alone and he is credited for bringing it to a wider audience still, although it had been released on Christmas albums by a number of popular artists before that.This transcription for brass band has been adapted from the version created by Robert Prizeman, who arranged it for Libera, the world famous boys choir that he founded. Their unique, enchanting and, some say, heavenly sound delights audiences throughout the world through extensive concerts, recording and TV broadcasts. This brass band transcription introduces this skilled arrangement to a new genre and a whole new audience as well. A video of this arrangement can be found here: Carol of the BellsDuration: 3'00"Difficulty: Suitable for all
Estimated dispatch 5-7 working days
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£109.99Columbus - Rob Goorhuis
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His father was a wool merchant. Originally he seemed destined to follow in his father's footsteps, and thus sailed the oceans to countries as far apart as Iceland and Guinea. In 1476 his ship was sunk during a battle off the coast of Portugal. Columbus saved his own life by swimming to shore. In 1484 he conceived the idea of sailing to the Indies via a westward sea route, but it was only in 1492 that he was able to realize this plan. On this first voyage he was in command of three ships: the flag-ship, called the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Ni?a. From Spain Columbus sailed via the Canary Islands to the Bahamas, whichhe sighted on October 12th 1492. Without being aware of it Columbus discovered the 'New World' he thought he had landed in the eastern part of Asia. The motif from Dvooak's 9th Symphony 'Aus der neuen Welt' forms a little counterfeit history at this point in the composition. After this first voyage Columbus was to undertake another three long voyages to America. These voyages were certainly not entirely devoid of misfortune. More than once he was faced with shipwreck, mutiny and the destruction of settlements he had founded. After Columbus had left for Spain from Rio Belen in 1503, he beached his ships on the coast of Jamaica. The crew were marooned there and it was only after a year that Columbus succeeded in saving his men and sailing back to Spain with them. In the music the misunderstanding about which continent Columbus discovered in his lifetime resounds, for does this part in the composition not contain Asiatic motifs? Poor Columbus! In 1506 the famous explorer died in Valladolid.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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