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£65.00Infernal Ride - Kenneth Hesketh
Infernal Ride is mercurial and virtuosic, reflecting the mad-cap chase of Ichabod Crane's final ride on his horse, Gunpowder, in the story by Washington Irving, namely The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.Often an atmosphere of driven fear pushes the music forward, only briefly stopping for breath. The work closes with flourishes in rapid succession, perhaps with the hapless Ichabod meeting his unfortunate end! BrassBand Grade 5: 1st Section Duration: 7 minutes.Infernal Ride has been recorded by the Leyland Band, conducted by Jason Katsikaris, and is available on theCDPenlee.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£75.00Fanfares and Love Songs - Gavin Higgins
Fanfares and Love Songs was commissioned by the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain for performance on 25th July 2009. Its three movements contrast the extrovert and lyrical qualities of thetraditional brass band. The fanfare with which the work opens involves the whole cornet section. The second movement is reflective in mood, beginning somewhat pensively on muted brass, and building to an emotional climax beforesubsiding back to a distant pianissimo chord. The finale is a fast dance, which with a final recapitulation of the opening fanfare drives on to a breathless close. Brass Band Grade 4: Advanced Youth and 3rdSectionDuration: 12 minutes
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£89.99Around a Village - Menno Haantjes
The idyllic village Beetsterzwaag, in the east of Friesland, and its surroundings are depicted in this suite. The first part describes the main street with its liveliness. The second part brings us to the nearby church of St. Hippolytus-Olterterp while the final section describes the children playing in the woods of Sparjebird. Het idyllisch in de Friese bossen gelegen dorp Beetsterzwaag en haar omgeving staat model in deze landelijke suite. Het eerste deel beschrijft de hoofdstraat met al haar levendigheid. Het tweede deel brengt ons in het naburige St. Hippolytus-kerkje van Olterterp terwijl het slotdeel de spelende kinderen beschrijft in het speelbosSparjebird.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£109.99Suite Celebration - Bruce Fraser
Bruce Fraser composed this test piece for the 'Gouden Spiker Festival' 2003 (The Netherlands). Suite Celebration was inspired by events in his recent family life. The first movement celebrates the marriage of his daughter and reflects her bubbly personality and vitality. The melodies and harmonies of the whole work are based on a note row which came up during a discussion with the publisher. The second movement celebrates the birth of his grand-daughter 'Rebecca Aileen' and takes the form of a ballad featuring expressive opportunities for the soloists. The final movement is more of a look into the future and hope of success and a good life for hisfamily. Who knows what is coming?
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£102.99The African Connection - Carl Wittrock
Carl Wittrock's wide interest in global folk-music resulted in this concert-piece based on original African rhythms. Obviously, the percussion section has a conspicious role to play, but the band too may indulge itself in moments of thoroughly delightful excitement. The introduction depicts the awakening of nature, and develops into a dance. The (main) motif of this dance is from a dance entitled Apollo and comes from Gambia. Its accompaniment consists of an ostinato pattern by balaphon-master Maudo Susa. The quiet middle movement is based on the rhythm of the 'gigbo' : a traditional dance from Ghana. In the final movement -which also bears a slight resemblanceto a theme from 'The Lion King'- the so-called 'Kono' rhythm is used. The work is played most advantageously using djembes. Challenge and please your percussion section with 'The African Connection'.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£74.99Bread and Games - William Vean
'Panem et Circenses', Bread and Games were essential for keeping the citizens of ancient Rome in check. While the bread was meant for the poorest among the Romans, the Games were Popular Pastime Number One for everybody.There were different kinds of games, such as chariot races (especially popular with female spectators), or wild-beast fights, where lions, tigers, bulls or bears were set on one another or even on human beings. Most popular, however, were the Gladiator fights. In 'Bread and Games' William Vean depicts one of the many fights in the antique Colosseum. 1. Entrance of the Gladiators: By powerful bugle-calls the attention of the peoplewas asked for, after which the Gladiators entered the Arena at the sound of heroic marching-music.2.Swordfight: We can hear that the fights were not mere child's play in this part.On the contrary, they were a matter of life and death and were fought accordingly.3.Mercy of the Emperor: Sometimes a wounded gladiator could be fortunate, depending on the mercy of the audience. Waving one's handkerchief meant mercy, a turned-down thumb meant no pardon. The Emperor had the right to take the final decision, but he usually complied with the wish of the majority of the public. 4.Lap of Honour: Gladiators were mainly selected among slaves, convicted criminals, or prisoners of war. Consequently, winning was very important, as it would mean fame, honour and sometimes even wealth. A lap of honour, therefore, was the winner's due reward.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£69.99
Variations on a Shaped Note Melody - James Curnow
Based on the American 'shaped-note' melody Saints Bound for Heaven, Variations on a Shaped Note Melody by James Curnow captures a feeling of joyful celebration through a series of unique and skilfully adapted variations. The opening strains are actually fragments of the first variation and occur before the main tune is introduced by low brass. The second variation features a euphonium solo and builds to a glorious climax with the full ensemble. The final variation is joyful and filled with energy, using flourishes and fanfares throughout the band for a grand conclusion to this marvellous work.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£80.00St. Magnus - Kenneth Downie
Dedicated to Alastair Massey, an inspirational music teacher. Commissioned by the Scottish Brass Band Association for the 2004 European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow. This music is a set of variations on the tune known as St Magnus, which is attributed to Jeremiah Clarke. Most people will associate it with Thomas Kelly's hymn which begins: "The Head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now". The tune is very simple, consisting of just two, four-bar phrases. Neither is there much in the way of rhythmic variety, every note being a crotchet with the exception of two quavers, and the last note in each phrase. Within such a simple structure, however, lies considerable strength. THEME The listener is given the opportunity of hearing it twice, in full, at the beginning, starting with one player but soon taken up by the full ensemble. It returns in the middle of the music and is stated again near the end. This has been done quite deliberately in the hope that there will be an appreciation of what material is being developed, by the listener as well as by those with access to the score, who are able to see the visual connections. VARIATION 1 This takes the rhythm of the last part of the theme and also uses the shape of the opening as a recurring figure. The mood is whimsical and skittish, with short, teasing rhythmic figures tossed around the band, and quick interplay with percussion, at a fast tempo. An energetic flourish finishes this variation before the Andante espress. VARIATION 2 This commences with chords related to the opening of Variation 1. The cantabile on solo comets establishes a new, lyrical mood and there is scope for expressive playing in a series of short solo passages. The theme works its way unobtrusively into the texture before a reprise of the solo cornet melody and some more lyrical interchanges between Eb bass, euphonium, flugel horn and comets. The variation ends serenely with clear references to the last phrase of the theme. VARIATION 3 The first idea to dominate is clearly linked to the shape of the theme's first phrase. There is a frenetic feel to much of this variation, with considerable energy and instability created by extensive use of cross-rhythms. A thinning-out of the score marks a clear change to development of the start of the second phrase of the theme. This proves to be short-lived however, and the opening material returns leading to a restatement of the theme, "Maestoso," after which a euphonium cadenza links to Variation 4. VARIATION 4 Here we have some solos for euphonium, cornet, trombone and Eb bass set against a background of horns and baritones presenting a pensive statement of the theme's opening. VARIATION 5 This commences Allegro, with lively work for cornet and euphonium spreading to the whole band before attention focuses on the beginning of the second phrase of the theme which is initially presented in diminution, then in regular rhythm, then in inversion. An increase in tempo coupled with a decrease in volume, requires dexterity and control, with several metrical challenges thrown in for good measure. The same fragment of phrase becomes an ostinato which generates a frenzied climax, punctuated by short, dramatic silence, before the opening figure returns and the music gradually winds down. The tubular bells herald the final return of the theme, in augmentation, marking the start of the Finale. FINALE This features the running semiquavers of the previous variation sounding in counterpoint. A fast, furious coda speeds the work to a conclusion while references to the opening of the theme are still trying to break into the texture of the music. Kenneth Downie
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£54.95Sonata - Derek Bourgeois
This work, composed in 1998, was commissioned by the American trombonist Don Lucas as a work for trombone and piano and first performed by him in Birmingham on 19th May 2000. Subsequently, I arranged the music for both solo trombone and brass band and solo trombone and wind band so that it now exists in three formats. The first movement, in B flat major, is brisk and energetic, and is cast in sonata form. The second subject is gentler and more lyrical. The second movement, a scherzo in C major, is the most complex of the four. Basically the structure is a rond. For a long time the music remains in the opening 5/8 time until a new theme introduces more broken rhythms in a more jazzy idiom. After a return of the opening theme the following episode is more tonally ambiguous. Finally, the main theme returns to round off the movement. The third movement, a lyrical adagio, is really one long extended melodic flow. The harmonies are lush and the textures simple and direct. The tonal center is A minor, but the music meanders through so many keys, that this key centre is heavily disguised. The finale is a fiery affair. G minor is really its home key, but throughout the movement the music moves about a lot and the second subject is first heard in A flat minor. The movement's underlying sonata structure is masked not only by its loose tonality but also by its frequently changing time signatures. Like the first movement the second subject is more lyrical in nature and for a while it seems that the music will end peacefully, but a final flurry heralds a triple forte unison on the home note of the first movement - B flat. Derek Bourgeois
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£66.00Ballet for Band - Joseph Horovitz
Composer Joseph Horovitz will celebrate his 90th birthday in May, with 2016 already seeing a welcome retrospective of some his finest works at the RNCM Brass Band Festival in Manchester in January.It included Ballet for Band, written in 1983 at the set-work for the National Final at the Royal Albert Hall, and which has since become one his most popular major test-pieces - played on numerous occasions throughout the banding world. It is a wonderfully elegant, mischievous composition - a brass band ballet, not of programmatic intent but of fertile imagination; beautifully crafted with a delicacy of touch as light on its feet as any arabesque.The composer has admitted that he had a clear vision of the characters that inhabit his score, yet has never divulged any details - leaving the bands and listeners, as he says, "...to exercise their own imaginations rather than being influenced bymine!"
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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