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£29.50Eden (Score Only)
This work was commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust as the test piece for the final of the 2005 Besson National Brass Band Championship, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London.The score is prefaced by the final lines from Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (completed in 1663), in which Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, make their uncertain way into the outside world:"...The world was all before them, where to chooseTheir place of rest, and providence their guide:They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow,Through Eden took their solitary way."My work is in three linked sections. In the first, the characters of Adam, Eve and the serpent guarding the Tree of Knowledge are respectively represented by solo euphonium, cornet and trombone. The music opens in an idyllic and tranquil mood and leads into a duet between euphonium and cornet. Throughout this passage the prevailing mood darkens, though the soloists seem to remain oblivious to the increasingly fraught atmosphere. A whip-crack announces the malevolent appearance of the solo trombone who proceeds to engage the solo cornet in a sinister dialogue.The second section interprets the Eden story as a modern metaphor for the havoc mankind has inflicted upon the world, exploiting and abusing its resources in the pursuit of wealth. Though certainly intended here as a comment on the present-day, it is by no means a new idea: Milton himself had an almost prescient awareness of it in Book I of his poem, where men, led on by Mammon:"...Ransacked the centre and with impious handsRifled the bowels of their mother earthFor treasures better hid. Soon had his crewOpened into the hill a spacious woundAnd digged out ribs of gold."So this section is fast and violent, at times almost manic in its destructive energy. At length a furious climax subsides and a tolling bell ushers in the third and final section.This final part is slow, beginning with an intense lament featuring solos for tenor-horn, flgel-horn and repiano cornet and joined later by solo baritone, soprano cornet, Eb-bass and Bb-bass.At one stage in the planning of the work it seemed likely that the music would end here - in despair. Then, mid-way through writing it, I visited the extraordinary Eden Project in Cornwall. Here, in a disused quarry - a huge man-made wound in the earth - immense biomes, containing an abundance of plant species from every region of the globe, together with an inspirational education programme, perhaps offer a small ray of hope for the future. This is the image behind the work's conclusion and the optimism it aims to express is real enough, though it is hard-won and challenged to the last.John Pickard 2005
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£121.20Prelude Festivo - John Brakstad
Prelude Festivo is intended to be performed both in concerts and in competitions and includes solo passages for most instrument groups. Duration 7,5 minutes. Form: Fast slow fast. The piece is built on two themes: Theme 1 (Allegro con spirito) is first presented as a cornet solo after a fanfare-like opening. Theme 2 is hinted at in the opening bars, but is presented fully in the slow (Andante) section (bar 141). This theme is developed and also appears as melodic and rhytmic fragments throughout the composition. In the concluding section (bar 196) both themes are played in conjunction before the piece concludes with the fanfare theme from the opening bars. Parts thatare marked piu mosso ed leggiero should be played in a cheerful light staccato style in contrast to Andante cantabile.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£104.99Brass Metamorphosis - James Curnow
Brass Metamorphosis as the title suggests is a set of variations based on an original theme. Each of the five variations is in a different style with the first being a lively rondo, the second slow and intense, the third an agile scherzando, the fourth slow and expressive and the fifth full of majesty as it brings the piece to a triumphal close.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£59.99Orion - Jan Van der Roost
There are all sorts of marches: fast and slow, solemn and energetic, military and civil, procession and funeral. Orion is a so-called 'slow march'. However the moderate tempo does not make a passive or heavy impression. On the contrary, this march contains natural optimism and spontaneity. The persistant 'pulse' gives this majestic march a noble character
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£68.99Czardas (Xylophone solo) - Monti
Vittorio Monti was born on January 6, 1868 in Naples (Italy). His musical education (Violin and composition), he enjoyed at the conservatory there. Around his 30's Monti went to Paris. He earned a living as a conductor and wrote several ballets and operettas. In his last years, before his death in 1922, Monti devoted himself to teaching and composing. His famous 'Czardas' has made his name known even today.Initially the Czardas was a Hungarian folk dance, but after the mid-nineteenth century it was even a dance for the upper-class. Czardas begins with a slow introduction, the Lassan (slow and sad), and then the fast part,Friska, follows. Czardas is not, as so many people think, typical gypsy music.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 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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£25.00Autumn's End - Tenor Horn & Brass Band - LM773 - Lee Rogers
A slow showy piece for your Tenor Horn soloist.
Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£60.00
Manchester Concertino - Peter Meechan
Manchester Concertino is a concertino in three movements for trumpet or cornet. It was written in late summer/early autumn in, as the title suggests, Manchester, UK.The first movement, Fanfare, was written for Belgian cornetist Harmen Vanhoorne, and explores the main musical idea behind the piece, a minor third. The loud fanfare gives way to a cadenza over a timpani roll, before a reprise of the opening fanfare.The second movement, Dream, was commissioned by Keith Johnson and is dedicated to Jess Tredrea. It is a slow, lilting, movement - almost as if the listener was hearing the piece through a summer haze.The final movement is simply titled Finale and is dedicated to Roger Webster. New material is fused with the fanfare from the opening movement leading to a climatic finish to the work.
Estimated dispatch 12-14 days
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£70.00
Origins - Peter Meechan
Origins is in three movements, with each movement having a different subject matter, all linked by the idea of origins: the first movement refers to musical origins; the second to the origins of life; and the final movement to the space exploration - the research of all origins. The first movement is based on a short motif, heard in the first three notes the soloist plays. These three notes cover the interval of a minor third (an interval that often plays a crucial role in my music) on which the whole concerto is built. The soloist and accompaniment interplay freely throughout the opening section, before an ostinato accompaniment appears - over which the soloist sounds a long legato melody. A short cadenza follows and a return to the opening material leads the movement to an end. The second movement, titled Harryas Song, is - as tradition dictates - a slow movement. Happy and reflective in nature, the main melody was written on the evening that my closest friend, Mark Bousie (a fine euphoniumist himself), and his wife Jayne, had their first child - Harry Bousie. It seemed only fitting that this song should be written for Harry in celebration. The final movement brings me back to a lifelong fascination with space, and in this particular movement, the Space Shuttle Discovery. Having completed 39 missions (including flying the Hubble telescope in to orbit), and spent a total of 365 days in space, SS Discovery made its final voyage in 2011 and was taken to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. in April 2012. This final movement, titled Discovery, pays tribute to the great shuttle whose missions inspired millions across the generations. Origins was commissioned by Marco Schneider, Adrian Schneider and the Dunshan Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Beijing, China.
Estimated dispatch 12-14 days
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£47.95Czardas - Vittorio Monti arr. Eric Wilson
Monti's virtuosic showpiece for the violin has long been a favourite. This arrangement, made especially for euphonium star Robert Childs, gives the soloist the opportunity to display the full range of technical and musical skills, whether in the rich, lugubrious slow introduction or in the bustling allegro vivace which follows. A work that's sure to please - fabulous as an encore, too!
Estimated dispatch 5-7 working days
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