Results
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£35.00strange geometry
Descriptionstrange geometrywas commissioned by Morgan Griffiths and the Hammonds Saltaire Band for their performance at the Brass in Concert Championships of 2015.As a bit of a space/sci-fi geek, as well as a musician, two events during the summer of 2015 had a particular effect on me. The first was the tragic early death in a plane crash of the famous film composer James Horner. Horner's music, particularly in films like 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan', 'Avatar', 'Apollo 13' and even his debut in Roger Corman's 1980 budget film 'Battle Beyond the Stars', defined for a generation the sound of sci-fi at the cinema. Along with John Williams he created the vocabulary for those who wish to express other-worldly wonder in music and his inventive talent will be much missed in an industry where originality has become something of a dirty word in recent years.The second event was the epic flyby of Pluto by the NASA New Horizons spacecraft. There are many reasons to find this mission inspiring - for example, the scientists and engineers behind it created a craft that has travelled at 37,000 mph for nine years and three billion miles to arrive within seventy-two seconds of the predicted time for the flyby. That they achieved this with such accuracy is an outstanding tribute to humanity's ingenuity and insatiable curiosity. However, the most exciting aspect of the mission was the clear, high resolution pictures of this unthinkably remote and inhospitable world beamed back to mission control. The best previous image of Pluto was an indistinct fuzzy blob - suddenly we could see mountains made of ice, glaciers of methane and carbon monoxide and nitrogen fog - features previously unimagined on a world thought to be a slightly dull ball of cold rock. The BBC's venerable astronomy programme 'The Sky at Night' waxed lyrical about these newly discovered features, referring to "the surprising discoveries of mountains and strange geometry on the surface of this cold distant world".I like to think that Horner would have been as inspired as I have been by this real-life science story, and this piece uses some of the vocabulary of the sci-fi movie soundtrack in a tribute to the memory of a great musician and to the inspirational geeks at NASA who have boldly taken us where no-one has gone before.Note: This work comes with a B4 portrait score. Listen to a preview and follow the music below!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00La Musica Notturna Delle Strade di Madrid
DescriptionLuigi Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy, into a musical family. His father, a cellist and double-bass player, sent him to study in Rome at a young age. In 1757 they both went to Vienna, where the court employed them as musicians in the Burgtheater. In 1761 Boccherini went to Madrid, entering the employ of Prince Luis Antonio of Spain, younger brother of King Charles III. There he flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion into his art, doubled the passage instead, which led to his immediate dismissal. Then he accompanied Don Luis to Arenas de San Pedro, a little town in the Gredos mountains, where Boccherini wrote many of his most famous works. Although neglected after his death and throughout the 19th and early 20th century (he was known mockingly as 'Haydn's Wife' for a time), Boccherini's music has been rediscovered in recent decades.La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid('Night Music of the Streets of Madrid') is a string quintet of seven short movements composed during Boccherini's exile in Arenas, no doubt to remind him and his prince of happier times. The music is reminiscent of "the gaiety and bustle of Spain's capital, recalling the sound of the city's church bells ringing for evening prayer, the popular dances that were the delight of its young people, and the blind beggars singing their typical songs". This arrangement excludes the first and last two movements, comprising the middle four:Il Tamburo di Soldati(The Soldier's Drum)Minuetto dei Ciechi(The Minuet of the Blind Beggars)Il Rosario(The Rosary)Passe Calle(The Passacaglia of the Street Singers)The music was featured in the Russell Crowe filmMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World(2003) set during the Napoleonic Wars and featuring the adventures of the Royal Navy ship HMS Surprise and her captain Jack Aubrey as they pursue the French ship Acheron into the Pacific Ocean.You can listen to an audio preview while following the score in the video below!Duration approximately 5'00".
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Lead, Kindly Light (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Broughton, Bruce
This beautiful hymn is one of trust and faith, building in confidence 'till the night is gone.' This arrangement follows that line of confidence. The melody begins unaccompanied, which is to say 'alone', and the eventual accompanying voices enter sombrely. Instead of a traditional final cadence, the 'leading of the light' continues, using the first four notes of the hymn as a motif that leads to a second, more positive statement of the melody, underscored by a walking motion. The positivity grows and lasts through a final grand statement of the hymn. A short meditative coda follows, and the arrangement ends with a solo note of reflection.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£27.00Auld Lang Syne (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wilkinson, Keith M.
It is a tradition in most English-speaking countries to sing this song at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve to usher in the New Year. The words are at least partially written by Robert Burns and the words "Auld Lang Syne" literally mean "old long ago" or "the good old days", providing a moment of reflection before moving forwards into the New Year.The tubular bells, although pitched, sound midnight when they enter at bar 10.This arrangement was prepared for Brass Band of the Western Reserve, musical director Keith M Wilkinson, to perform at First Night, Akron, Ohio, December 31st, 2007. The following choreography is suggested:Commence the performance with all the cornets scattered around the auditorium.At the end of bar 18 invite the audience to sing along with the band.At bar 27 the cornets move to stand in front of the other members of the band to lead to the stirring conclusion. Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00Christmas Concerto
DescriptionThis arrangement of Corelli's famous "Christmas Concerto" features soprano cornet, two solo cornets and solo euphonium. Arcangelo Corelli was one of the first masters of the baroque period, a skilled violinist much admired by fellow composers like Bach and Handel. He was born in Fusignano, near Ferrara in Northern Italy in 1653. He studied in nearby Bologna where he became an extremely competent violinist. By the 1670s he was working in Rome and building a reputation as a composer at the important and powerful Papal court. By the late 1600s he was widely famous all over Europe, regularly invited to important courts and palaces. Although he had a huge influence on the virtuoso writing of later composers, his writing for string instruments was designed to be playable by average, often amateur players.His set of Concerti Grossi known as Opus 6 was not published in his lifetime. We think they were written around 1690, and they were first published in Amsterdam in 1714, a year after Corelli's death. A 'Concerto Grosso' is a concerto for a group of soloists (the "concertino" group) accompanied by an ensemble (the "ripieno" group) and was an important form in the Baroque era. Handel's very successful examples were modelled on Corelli's example. Number 8 from the Opus 6 set was commissioned by the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and bears the inscriptionFatto per la notte di Natale('made for the night of Christmas'). It was used as part of the soundtrack for the 2003 film 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World".Performance Notes.In this arrangement the 'Concertino' group are the soprano cornet, solo cornets 1 & 2 and the solo euphonium. If logistics allow they should stand either at the front of or some distance away from the band. There is no percussion in this arrangement. All tutti cornets will require cup mutes.Duration approximately 3'15".You can listen to a preview while following the score below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.99Christmas Brass - Richard Peaslee
Christmas Brass is a fantasy on six carols, originally commissioned by Mark Freeh for the Manhattan Brass Choir. Duration: 16:30The well-known tune, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, a hymn originally based on a plainsong melody, is here set in 5/4 meter. Modal harmonies are combined with big band style as the piece gains momentum, greatly accentuating the mood of the words, "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel." The opening 5/4 statement of the theme returns, and the piece ends quietly.In Beautiful Savior (also known by the title Fairest Lord Jesus), a hushed beginning featuring horns, euphoniums, and a muted trumpet, leads through a key change to a satisfying, chorale-likeclosing passage.In Away in a Manger, Peaslee sets two tunes, Cradle Song and Away in a Manger. Following a straightforward presentation of each melody, Peaslee plays them against one another. The music swells to a full climax followed by a hushed ending.Peaslee employs a gentle hand in It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, using flugelhorn solos and duets in a jazz-waltz style.In Silent Night, the traditional carol gets an untraditional harmonization, propelled forward by give-and-take between the two groups of brass instruments in the brass choir: trumpets and trombones versus horns, euphoniums, and tuba.Hark! The Herald Angels Sing begins with a humorous blast of discordant harmonies as multiple carols are sounded at the same time. An up-tempo 4/4 announcement of the melody in the trombone is followed by a metrical modulation in 6/8-3/4 time. An additional metrical modulation bring the music back into 4/4, but at a slower tempo and in a pronounced jazz style. Tempo I returns, and the set of six pieces closes with a big ending.Instrumentation: 4 Trumpets, 2 Horns in F, 4 Trombones, 2 Euphoniums, Tuba, Guitar, Bass, Percussion
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£68.99A Flemish Christmas (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Hadermann, Jan
In A Flemish Christmas, Jan Hadermann tells the Christmas story by means of four Old Flemish Christmas Songs.Mary is chosen to bring Jesus Christ, the son of God, into the world: Het was een maged uitverkoren ('She was a virgin chosen').On the occasion of a census, Mary, who is with child, and Joseph, her husband to be, travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus will be born in a humble stable: Maria die zoude naar Bethlehem gaan (Mary would go to Bethlehem').O kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen ('Oh Christmas Night, more beautiful than the days') is a stately chorale that sings the praises of Jesus' birth.Three wise men from the East, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, follow a bright star in the sky, which leads them to Bethlehem. There, they worship the newborn King, and offer him gold, frankincense and myrrh: Wij komen van Oosten (We've come from the East').This musical Christmas story ends with a festive repeat of the third movement, the stately chorale.Duration: 6:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£69.99Willow Pattern (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Harper, Philip
Composed in 2009 for Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke BandThis piece tells the Willow Pattern legend through music. Several leitmotifs are used both for the different characters and also for some of the important emotions in the tale. Additionally, Knoon-se's part is mainly played by the flugel horn, Chang by the euphonium, the Mandarin by the Eb Bass and the Duke Ta-jin by the trombone.The Willow Pattern Legend:Once, in ancient China, there lived a wealthy and powerful Mandarin who had a beautiful daughter, Knoon-se. She had fallen in love with Chang, a humble accountant, which angered her father who imprisoned her in the Pavilion by the river with only the exotic birds for company. She learnt that the Mandarin planned to marry her to the pompous Duke Ta-jin and that the wedding would take place on the day the blossom fell from the willow tree, so she sent Chang a message: "Gather thy blossom, ere it be stolen". The Duke arrived by sea amid great fanfare when the tree was heavy with bud, and nights of magnificent banquets followed. After one such occasion when the Mandarin slept, Chang crept over the crooked fence and tiptoed into the Pavilion to rescue Knoon-se, but as they escaped the alarm was raised. They fled over the bridge with the Mandarin close on their heels brandishing his whip. They managed to escape by boat to a secluded island where they lived happily for a time. Meanwhile, the Mandarin learned of their refuge and, intent on revenge, he ordered his soldiers to kill them. As Knoon-se and Chang slept at night, the men set fire to the pagoda in which they lived and the lovers perished in the flames. However, the Gods, moved by the lovers' plight, transformed their souls into two turtle-doves which rose from the charred remains, soaring above the Earth, symbolising eternal happiness.Willow Pattern is dedicated to the memory of Jean Harper who passed away as I was completing the piece and who was a great collector of porcelain and china-ware.Duration: 12:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Nightlights (Eb Bass Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Pankhurst, Lucy
Nightlights was commissioned by Chris Jeans and Don Collins for Youth Brass 2000, to be used as part of their programme at the 2019 European Championships. Written during January 2019, Nightlights received its world premiere by Youth Brass 2000, conducted by Chris Jeans with Siobhan Bates as soloist, at the 2019 European Brass Band Championships in Montreux, Switzerland.Originally written as a Tenor Horn solo, this version for Tuba was arranged for and is dedicated to Dr Joanna Ross Hersey.Nightlights is intended to illustrate a winter's evening looking out across Lake Geneva from Montreux. Tiny lights appear beneath the mountains from faraway homes and vehicles, flickering in the distance and shimmering in the reflections on the water. Tiny, blinking nightlights against the inky blue of the clear sky. Thousands of stars shine above, blurring the boundaries between land, water, and the heavens into a sparkling ether. Transfixed, the bustle of sounds and lights from Montreux seems a lot further away than it is in reality. Eventually, each little light blinks out, one at a time, leaving the chill of the cold night air and an empty sky.Duration: 4.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Nightlights (Tenor Horn Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Pankhurst, Lucy
Nightlights was commissioned by Chris Jeans and Don Collins for Youth Brass 2000, to be used as part of their programme at the 2019 European Championships. Written during January 2019, Nightlights received its world premiere by Youth Brass 2000, conducted by Chris Jeans with Siobhan Bates as soloist, at the 2019 European Brass Band Championships in Montreux, Switzerland.Nightlights is intended to illustrate a winter's evening looking out across Lake Geneva from Montreux. Tiny lights appear beneath the mountains from faraway homes and vehicles, flickering in the distance and shimmering in the reflections on the water. Tiny, blinking nightlights against the inky blue of the clear sky. Thousands of stars shine above, blurring the boundaries between land, water, and the heavens into a sparkling ether. Transfixed, the bustle of sounds and lights from Montreux seems a lot further away than it is in reality. Eventually, each little light blinks out, one at a time, leaving the chill of the cold night air and an empty sky.Duration: 4.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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