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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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£45.60Bleak Forest - Andreas Ziegelbäck
Bleak Forest is a piece for smaller concert bands and offers the musicians above all space to improve their sound and their effect playing. The technical requirements are therefore deliberately kept low. With this piece, the composer won the VLAMO International Composition Contest 2022. Thematically, the work is influenced by the composer's childhood memories. In his hometown there was a dark and mysterious forest, that seemed to the children in the small village to be magical. Without a reasonable explanation, every trip into the woods was exciting and somewhat terrifying. There were tales of dangerous animals, which can be heard at the beginning of the piece, as well as magical beasts. The magic of the forest is depicted musically from bar 70 in the andante section. The snapping of the fingers represents single raindrops. From bar 99 onwards, we hear the trek home, with the occasional moments of trepidation as the children spook each other with their fanciful tales. In the end, though, we arrive safely at home because after all, magical beasts only exist in fairy tales... don't they? Andreas Ziegelback studied music education at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and history at the Paris Lodron Universitat, Salzburg. In addition to his studies, he trained in ensemble conducting for wind orchestra with conductor and composer Thomas Doss. It was Doss who sparked Ziegelback's interest in composing. In 2021, Andreas Ziegelback completed his composition studies with Johannes Maria Staud. In 2020, he took part in a brass band composition masterclass in Bern with Oliver Waespi, followed by a premiere by the Swiss Army Brass Band.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£69.99English Dances, Set 1, Op. 27: No. 1 - Sir Malcolm Arnold
English Dances, Set I, opus 27, is a light classic composition that was written for orchestra by the British composer Malcolm Arnold in 1950. The set contains four dances that continue without pause: the individual movements are indicated by the tempo markings. The work came about at the request of Bernard de Nevers, at the time the head of publisher Alfred Lengnick & Co., who asked Arnold to write a suite of dances as an English counterpart to Dvo ak's Slavonic Dances and Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances. The premiere took place in the spring of 1951, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Following the success of the first set, DeNevers asked the composer to write a second one, which Arnold completed the next year (Op. 33). The Andantino from the first set has been skilfully arranged and orchestrated for brass band by Ray Farr.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£90.30Bansull i advent - Trygve Hoff
The composer and musician Trygve Hoff was born and raised at Rognan in Nordland and gained a lot of inspiration for his texts from the North Norwegian culture. He is a composer and copywriter of many of our most popular songs. "Ei hand a holde i" and "Har en drom" with music by Svein Gundersen and especially his own "North Norwegian Christmas Psalm" are famous songs in Norway. "Lullaby in advent" may not be among his most famous songs, but it's a beautiful and thoughtful melody that will fit well with any Christmas concert. Hoff himself varied with musical styles on this song. This arrangement is written as a jazz-version with swing feel.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£179.50Fanfare and Chorale - Egil Hovland
This arrangement (or edition) for brass band will give the possibility for more performances of this fine work by Hovland. The composer, before his death, examined my work and made no suggestions for changes, and his approving comments were complimentary and encouraging. The work was originally written for Concert Band in 1966 as Op. 54a to St. Olaf College Band in the US. It was transcribed in 1967 for symphony orchestra as Op. 54b by the composer himself. The challenges in arranging the piece for brass band were mostly concerned with satisfactorily covering the upper register used by piccolo, flutes and clarinets, and while there are wonderful brass players around who have amazing high registers, I have aimed this edition at a level achievable by reasonably good brass band players who are willing to give time and effort into the proper preparation and delivery of the music. Having worked on this new edition with a top-class brass band, I think it sounds wonderful and interestingly different to the original. Besides the obvious differences of tone-colour and absent high notes, I have used in my scoring, the option for using a vibraphone in place of a celeste. Vaughan Williams, in his Variations for brass band writes for celeste, but because the instrument is quite rare, performances have been mostly given using a glockenspiel- but this, of course sounds two octaves higher than it was intended. I think that vibraphone and brass is an excellent combination and recommend it without hesitation in this piece. Every detail of articulation and dynamic has been considered, so in order to keep the integrity of the music, please do not change anything in the name of "interpretation". As Ravel says- "What is there to interpret?" Ray Farr
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£90.30Knask for aspiranter - Suite in Three Movements - Idar Torskangerpoll
Candy for Beginners is a suite of three songs used by the composer with the youngest beginners throughout several years. The method is to sing the melodies before learning it on the instruments. Lyrics about candy has proven to be very popular among the youngsters.... In English it can goes like this: "Candy floss, candy floss, candy floss, candy floss, oh yeah". And: "Soda for me, give me soda for free". And: "Lefse, it is good, lefse, now you should, Lefse, give me one, lefse, sure is fun." The composer urges the band to find their own lyrics to the melodies, making it their own with a local twist. This is a good rhythmic exercise for the young players
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£82.30Stjernesangen fra Finlandia - Jean Sibelius
The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is widely recognized as his country's greatest composer, and through his music he helped Finland to develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from the Russian empire. The tone poem Finlandia (1899-1900) played an important role in this part of Finnish history, and the hymn has become an important song to the Finnish people.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£87.99Sunday in the Park - Philip Sparke
Sunday in the Park was written for tenor horn virtuoso Sheona White, and commissioned by her partner, Matt Wade, as a Christmas present.Composer Philip Sparke had known and admired Sheona's playing for many years, having produced her first solo CD and written pieces for her previously.Both composer and performer are huge fans of the late Karen Carpenter, Sheona in part modelling her sound on the singer's sultry voice; so it was decided that this new solo would be a piece which, whilst not being a 'Carpenters' pastiche, paid tribute to their relaxed style and rich harmonic language. Sunday in the Park openswith an accompanied cadenza for the soloist, which leads to a gentle rhythmic melody with a laid-back feel. This is taken up by the band but the soloist sparks a change of mood by introducing a faster light rock interlude. This reaches a climax, at which point the music unwinds until the original mood returns.A variation on the original melody leads to a short cadenza from the soloist, which brings the work to a peaceful close.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£99.50Graceful Ghost - William Bolcom
I came to know of this piece when hearing famous Norwegian ragtime pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen playing it at a concert with the Norwegian Navy Band Bergen. I was struck by its melancholic beauty and wanted to arrange it for band.Ragtimes are rarely in a minor key (which this one is) and when you first hear it, you might think it was written around the time when Scott Joplin was the main ragtime composer. But, if you listen more carefully, you notice that some of theharmonies are more advanced than one might expect in traditional ragtime, giving the piece a slightly more contemporary feel. The composer William Bolcom wrote Graceful Ghost in 1970 to honour the memory of his father and it is one of hismost popular pieces.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£57.50A Norwegian Hymn - Axel Fiske
British composer Philip Sparke was asked to write this arrangement of Hymn to Frei for the Norwegian Brass Band Frei Hornmusikk . Sparke had already used part of this hymn by a composer well-known in the home region of the band in The Saga of Haakon the Good. In A Norwegian Hymn, three verses of the tune can be heard: the first is performed by various soloists, followed by a quieter second verse, before the third verse brings the piece to a triumphal close. A beautiful piece, which is also excellent to use to work on musicality with bands in lower divisions.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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