Results
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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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£16.00Sonata Pian'e Forte
DescriptionSonata Pian'e Forte means an instrumental piece using soft and loud dynamics. A "Sonata" (at this time) meant a piece for instruments (as opposed to voices). It was probably written to be played as part of a service at St Mark's, Venice. This is the earliest known piece to specify both the instruments to be played AND the dynamics in the written music.Gabrieli was born in Venice sometime between 1554 and 1557 and studied with the renowned Dutch composer Orlando di Lassus. He also studied with his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, and eventually succeeded him as the organist and composer at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Already renowned as a musical centre, Venice became a magnet for composers wishing to study with Gabrieli after 'Symphoniae Sacrae' was published.Like many of his works, Sonata Pian'e Forte was written to take advantage of the unique layout of St Mark's, which had galleries on three sides where the musicians could be placed to create novel spatial effects - utterly new and exciting for sixteenth century listeners. Sonata Pian'e Forte has two different antiphonal 'choirs' and in this arrangement the band is split into two groups to reflect Gabrieli's innovative idea. Ideally the two groups should be clearly separated so the the antiphonal effect comes across clearly, although this will of course depend on the performance space. On no account should the band remain in its normal seated formation!As Gabrieli didn't have any percussionists (and percussion was widely thought inappropriate for music performed in church anyway) there are no percussion parts in this music.This arrangement is available for full brass band or 8-piece brass ensemble andwas first performed by the Blackley Band conducted by Andrew Baker in 2004.Listen to a computer realisation and follow the score in the video below:Duration approximately 4'20".
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£35.00Ariel
DescriptionAll hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure, be 't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled cloud. To thy strong bidding, task Ariel and all his quality. - William Shakespeare: The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2Ariel was written for the Hammonds Band to open their programme at the 2019 Brass in Concert Championships at The Sage Concert Hall in Gateshead, where it received its premiere. The title is taken from the character in Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'. Ariel is an immensely powerful "air spirit" or demon bound to serve Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, after being released by Prospero from imprisonment in a tree. In the play Ariel's magical abilities are used to help Prospero revenge himself on his enemies and reclaim his dukedom, whereupon Ariel finally regains his freedom.You can hear an audio preview and follow the score below: Performance notes:The cornets and horns are split into two "choirs" to be placed left and right of the band. It may be possible for the choirs to play their opening flourish offstage, and the optional repeated sections in the opening are to accommodate stage movement if required. Trombones form a third "choir" which should ideally stand centrally between basses and percussion, and the euphoniums and baritones should sit in front of the basses. The work requires four percussionists, although if four are not available the 2nd part may be omitted.Percussion 1: Kit - bass drum, snare, 3 x toms, hi-hat, suspended cymbal - and 3 x temple blocksPercussion 2: Tam tam and orchestral bass drum.Percussion 3: Glockenspiel and timpaniPercussion 4: Tubular bellsSoprano, solo cornets and 3rd cornets require cup mutes. Solo trombone requires a cup mute, second trombone requires a metal straight mute.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£7.50gemini
Descriptiongeminiis a virtuosicsolo for unaccompanied cornet or trumpet, inspired by the constellation of the same name and one of a small sequence of works inspired by the composer's love of astronomy.Gemini is a constellation visible in the night sky overhead in January and February, between Taurus, Cancer and Auriga. Gemini is latin for "twins", as the constellation's two brightest stars represent the mythological twins Castor and Pollux. Bizarrely, despite being twins, Castor and Pollux had two different fathers and hence two different fates and personalities. This work is dedicated to the composer's friend Lizzy Tonge. The opening melody takes its outline from the song 'Thank You' by Dido.Listen to an audio preview while following the music below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£12.00Canzonetta
DescriptionCanzonetta is a tenor horn solo with optional brass band or piano accompaniment.Canzonetta was one of my earliest compositions, written in my early days as an undergraduate. Along with a companion piece called Caprice it was written for an old friend, Louise Hunt (now Louise Skillander), to whom it is dedicated. We had both been in the Northop Youth Band together, and both pieces were the result of a conversation about the lack of 'good tenor horn solos' for lower section and youth players at the time.With more mature consideration the Caprice has been consigned to the dustbin of history, but the simplicity of Canzonetta has allowed it to stand the test of time with a few minor scoring revisions.Performance Notes:Percussion instruments required are 2 x timpani, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, concert bass drum (NOT a kit/pedal bass drum) and tam-tam. All cornets will require cup mutes.Duration approximately 3'40"You can follow the score while listening to an audio preview below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£36.00Edward Gregson: The World Rejoicing
DescriptionComposer's NoteIn searching for a common link between the brass band traditions of the various European countries that commissioned this work, I considered the fact that hymns have always played an important role in the relationship that brass bands have with their particular communities; and thus I turned to a well-known Lutheran chorale, Nun danket alle Gott (Now thank we all our God), written around 1636 by Martin Rinkart, with the melody attributed to Johann Cruger. A number of composers have incorporated this chorale into their music, most famously J.S.Bach in his Cantatas no. 79 and 192, and Mendelssohn in the Lobsegang movement of his 2nd Symphony (the harmonization of which is usually used when this hymn is sung).It seemed fitting therefore for me to return to a compositional form I have used many times before (Variations) and to write a work based on this hymn. I have used it in a similar way to that which I employed in my Variations on Laudate Dominum of 1976 - that is, rather than writing a set of variations using elaborations of the complete tune, I have taken various phrases from the chorale and used them within the context of other musical material, applying an overall symphonic process of continuous variation and development. The structure, or sub-divisions of the work, which is through composed and plays without a break, is as follows: Prelude, Capriccio, La Danza 1, Processional, La Danza 2, Arias and Duets, Fuga Burlesca, Chorale, and Postlude.The work is also partly autobiographical - in the manner say of Strauss's Ein Heldenleben - in that I have incorporated into the score brief quotations from many of my other major works for brass band. In that respect, The World Rejoicing sums up a particular facet of my life as a composer, and reflects the admiration I have always had for what is surely one of the great amateur music-making traditions in the world.The World Rejoicing is dedicated 'in loving memory of my brother', Bramwell Logan Gregson, who sadly passed away in the Autumn of 2018.Edward Gregson
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£10.00Endurance
DescriptionMen wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. - Ernest Shackleton, 4 Burlington StreetEndurance takes its title from the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914-15. After many months of fundraising (and reputedly running the above advert in The Times) the Endurance set sail from Plymouth on 6 August 1914. Whilst at sea news of the outbreak of war led Shackleton to put his ship and crew at the disposal of the Admiralty, but their services were not required and they were encouraged to continue. On October 26 1914 they left Grytviken on South Georgia for the Antarctic continent, hoping to find the pack ice shrinking in the Antarctic spring. Two days later, however, they encountered unseasonable ice which slowed their progress considerably. On 15 January 1915, when Endurance was only 200 miles from her intended landfall at Vahsel Bay, the ship became beset by ice which had been compressed against the land to the south by gale force winds. Trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea, the ship spent the Antarctic winter driven by the weather further from her intended destination until, on 21 November 1915 Endurance broke up forcing the crew to abandon ship and set up camp on the ice at a site they named "Patience Camp".The crew spent several weeks on the ice. As the southern spring started to reduce the extent of the ice shelf they took to their three lifeboats, sailing across the open ocean to reach the desolate and uninhabited Elephant Island. There they used two of the boats to build a makeshift shelter while Shackleton and five others took the largest boat, an open lifeboat named the 'James Caird' and sailed it for 800 terrifyingly dangerous miles across the vast and lonely Southern Atlantic to South Georgia - a journey now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most heroic small-boat journeys ever undertaken. After landing on the wrong side of the island and having to climb over a mountain range in the dark with no map, Shackleton and his companions finally stumbled back into the Grytviken whaling station on 19 May 1916.After resting very briefly to recover his strength, Shackleton then began a relentless campaign to beg or borrow a ship to rescue the rest of his crew from Elephant Island; whaling ships were not strong enough to enter polar ice, but on 30 August 1916, over two years after their departure from Plymouth, Shackleton finally returned to Elephant Island aboard a steam tug borrowed from the Chilean government. Although some were in poor health, every member of the Endurance crew was rescued and returned home alive.Endurance is dedicated to the memory of my mum, who passed away in September 2017.Listen to a computer generated preview and follow the score below:
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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£15.00Perseverance
DescriptionPerseverance was commissioned by Middleton Band to mark their 140th anniversary in 2016, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and featured on Middleton Band's CD of the same name.The title is taken from the original name of the 1876 band, the Middleton Perseverance Drum and Fife Band. According to the band's historical records, the Drum and Fife band was formed by six Middleton youngsters eager to learn music but short of funds. Following a whip round, they visited a music shop in Oldham where they purchased a 'one key flute' for six shillings and sixpence, and ('later on') a drum.This determination to make music despite the odds has been a characteristic of the band ever since; at the end of the second world war the band was again down to six players, who rebuilt the 'Middleton Borough Band' back to twenty-six players. After a period of some considerable success throughout the sixties and seventies culminating in winning the National Third Section title in 1983 the band hit hard times again in the late eighties and was down to only four members in 1987 before again being brought back to life. In recent decades the band has built a strong relationship with the East Lancashire Railway, another organisation which has battled sometimes mighty obstacles in its struggle to survive, and has maintained a thriving and successful youth band.The band's will to survive through adversity is reflected in the music, which builds from a sextet of four brass and two percussion players three times, only to fall back to the sextet twice. In the central slow movement the bass drum plays a 'heartbeat' rhythm as the remaining players remember those lost in the war. The relentless pace of the final section culminates in the band triumphing over the adversity which has curtailed the previous two sections. As a former member of Middleton Band (and one of the team that regained the National Third Section title in 2007) it is my pleasure to dedicate this work to the 'Pop and Ale Boys', Middleton Band.You can read more about the piece here.To view the accompanying video by Andy Marshall, designed to precede the piece, clickhereand find out more about the link between the video and the music here.Recording with Score VideoPerformance NotesIn performance the four brass members of the sextet (soprano, solo horn, solo trombone and solo euphonium) should stand at the sides of the band - soprano and horn behind the cornets, trombone and euphonium behind the trombones. Percussion may stand with them at the conductor's discretion, but only if the band has TWO snare drums and TWO concert bass drums available, as these are also needed at the back of the band in the tutti sections. In the second sextet snare drum should be muffled with a heavy cloth OR have the snares turned off (not both).Percussion and mutesPercussion required:snare drum (muffled with a heavy cloth at one point)concert bass drum, kit bass drum, hi-hat, suspended (crash) cymbal2 x tom-tomswood blockclash cymbals3 x timpanitam-tamglockenspielSoprano cornet, repiano and 2nd cornets, flugel and all trombones require metal straight mutes. Soprano, Solo Cornet 3/4, Repiano 2nd and 3rd cornets require cup mutes. Solo Cornet 1/2, Repiano, 2nd and 3rd cornets require harmon mutes.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00Ring'd with the Azure World
DescriptionRing'd with the Azure World was commissioned by the Harmonia Brass quintet for their final recital at the University of Huddersfield in 2016.He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.- The Eagle by Alfred, Lord TennysonThe music was inspired by Tennyson's poem reproduced above; it seeks simply to reflect the spirit of the poem. It opens in sparse, lonely mood as the eagle surveys the world beneath. The work quickens in three bursts using metrical modulation to disguise the actual moment of acceleration, reflecting the lazy energy stored in the circling raptor before concluding dramatically in a fall 'like a thunderbolt'. Tennyson's poem, although brief, has inspired much analysis and writing, and is notable for being written in the (then somewhat unfashionable) iambic tetrameter, indicating a foursquare emphasis reflected in the main theme of the music. This is heard first in an octatonic version and later in a purely tonal (if somewhat modal) version. The instrumentation reflects that of Harmonia Brass, a quintet composed of brass band instruments (two B flat cornets, an E flat tenor horn, tenor trombone and E flat tuba). However the music is also available for the more conventional brass quintet of two trumpets, french horn, trombone and tuba.To listen to an audio export preview and follow the music, click play on the video below!Performance Notes1st cornet/trumpet requires a cup mute, ideally with an adjustable cup (the marking "tight" denotes that the cup should be adjusted closer to the bell), and a harmon mute with the tube removed (denoted by "TR" in the score). 2nd cornet/trumpet requires a fibre straight mute and a harmon mute with the tube removed. Tenor horn require a fibre straight mute and a practice mute (any sort) - in the orchestral brass version the french horn requires a stop mute. Trombone requires a cup mute (only). Tuba requires a fibre straight mute and a practice mute (of any sort).Metronome marks should be closely observed - starting either too fast or too slow will have a disproportionate effect on the tempi later in the piece due to the metrically controlled tempo changes.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days