Results
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£35.00The Cistercians
DescriptionThe Cistercianswas written during December 2003 and January 2004 as an entry for Morecambe Band's Centenary New Music Competition, which it went on to win. The first two performances were at the final of this competition, part of the band's 100th Anniversary Concert at The Dome in Morecambe on 9 July 2004.The music was inspired by visits to three of Britain's great Cistercian Abbeys; Valle Crucis, Fountains and Rievaulx. The Cistercian Order was founded at Citeaux in France in the 11th Century and was based on the principles of austerity, humility and piety. Cistercian Abbeys were deliberately sited in remote, difficult areas. Despite this many of them, especially Rievaulx, became immense centres of commerce and power, with ever more complex administration and hierarchies.In a way the music reflects this; all the material in the piece is derived from two simple motifs played by flugel and solo horn in the opening bars and becomes more complex and further removed from the original material as the piece develops. After a tranquil opening section a fugal chorale develops over a medieval-style "tenor" - a stretched out version of one of the original motifs. A burst of semiquavers leads into a faster, folk-dance type section - our medieval abbey has become a bustling trade centre - before rhythmic quaver pulses in the horns and cornets accompany powerful chords in the low brass; this is another "tenor" derived from the opening motifs. A short development section, including the folk dance "hocketing" round the band and a slightly disjointed 10/8 section leads to a restatement of the fugal chorale from the beginning before a frenetic coda brings the work to a triumphant conclusion.Performance Notes:Percussion instruments required are Bass Drum, Suspended Crash Cymbal, Glockenspiel, 2 x Tom-toms, Snare Drum, Tambourine, Tam-Tam, 2 x Timpani (G-C, C-F), Triangle, Wood Block. All cornets will require metal stratight mutes and all except soprano require cup mutes. All trombones require cup and metal straight mutes.Playable by 2nd section upwards; to view a sample PDF file of the score click here.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£102.99Sinfonietta No.1 (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Jeanbourquin, Marc
Sinfonietta No.1 won first prize in the 2023 Composition Competition organized by the Swiss Brass Band Association. Various melodic themes and rhythmic motifs develop throughout the work. They combine with the numerous dynamic effects to bring a certain unity, from the beginning to the end of this competition piece. The technical and melodic difficulties allow the different soloists to show their virtuosity and musical prowess over five uninterrupted parts. After a first slow and misterioso part, there is a contrast with the following energico sequence based on an ostinato, creating both a progression and a tension, to drive everything towards the third part mesto (sad), then lento, where some cadenzas and numerous dissonances can be heard. The energico transition announces the fifth part, a ternary and fast con fuoco. This last part will lead the audience to a final apotheosis.Duration: 10.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£104.99Musica Helvetica (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - De Haan, Jan
Every year a competition for wind orchestras and brass bands takes place in Wallberg, Switzerland. Apart from a hymn and a solo piece, all orchestras also have a compulsory piece to play. The commission to create a compulsory piece for the 2012 competition fell to Jan de Haan. The composition is entitled Musica Helvetica. It takes the form of a three-part concert work, in which the last two parts flow directly from one to the other. The first part, Musica Prima, is a brisk virtuoso opening with jazz flavours woven in. The following section, Musica Sacra, offers a contrast with an extraordinarily colourful instrumentation for the gorgeous main theme. The final part, Musica Alpina, is inspired by the great variety of scenery in Switzerland. With its witty humour it makes a worthy conclusion to this beautiful tryptich.Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£37.95Connotations (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
Connotations was commissioned for the 1977 National Brass Band Championship finals, held in the Royal Albert Hall, London (the winner, incidentally, of that particular competition was the famous Black Dyke Mills Band).At the age of 32 Gregson was the youngest composer to have received the honour of such a commission. It came at the end of a productive five years writing for the brass band publisher R Smith. Some of those works - The Plantagenets, Essay and Patterns for example, with their direct and tuneful style, have remained popular with brass bands the world over.For Gregson, these were the means by which he sharpened the tools of his trade, preparing the ground, as it were, for his finest work to date - Connotations. He thought of calling the piece Variations on a Fourth, but with due deference to Gilbert Vinter perhaps (Variations on a Ninth), he chose a more appropriate one. As Gregson has written, 'Connotations suggests more than one way of looking at something, an idea, and this is exactly what the piece is about'.Writing a competition piece brought its own problems. 'It has to be technically difficult and yet musically satisfying. I didn't like being kept to an eleven-minute maximum. The inclusion of short cadenzas for less usual solo instruments seems to signify a certain test-piece mentality'.Gregson solved the problems admirably by adopting a symphonic approach to variation form: Introduction - fanfares, a call to attention, in effect Variation 1; Theme - a six-note motif, given a lyrical and restrained first statement; Variation 2 - a delicate toccata; Variation 3 - typically robust in melody and rhythm; Variation 4 - lyrical solos; Variation 5 - a scherzo; Variation 6 - cadenzas; Variations 7-9 - an introduction, fugato and resounding restatement of the theme.Duration: 10.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.95
Connotations (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Connotations was commissioned for the 1977 National Brass Band Championship finals, held in the Royal Albert Hall, London (the winner, incidentally, of that particular competition was the famous Black Dyke Mills Band).At the age of 32 Gregson was the youngest composer to have received the honour of such a commission. It came at the end of a productive five years writing for the brass band publisher R Smith. Some of those works - The Plantagenets, Essay and Patterns for example, with their direct and tuneful style, have remained popular with brass bands the world over.For Gregson, these were the means by which he sharpened the tools of his trade, preparing the ground, as it were, for his finest work to date - Connotations. He thought of calling the piece Variations on a Fourth, but with due deference to Gilbert Vinter perhaps (Variations on a Ninth), he chose a more appropriate one. As Gregson has written, 'Connotations suggests more than one way of looking at something, an idea, and this is exactly what the piece is about'.Writing a competition piece brought its own problems. 'It has to be technically difficult and yet musically satisfying. I didn't like being kept to an eleven-minute maximum. The inclusion of short cadenzas for less usual solo instruments seems to signify a certain test-piece mentality'.Gregson solved the problems admirably by adopting a symphonic approach to variation form: Introduction - fanfares, a call to attention, in effect Variation 1; Theme - a six-note motif, given a lyrical and restrained first statement; Variation 2 - a delicate toccata; Variation 3 - typically robust in melody and rhythm; Variation 4 - lyrical solos; Variation 5 - a scherzo; Variation 6 - cadenzas; Variations 7-9 - an introduction, fugato and resounding restatement of the theme.Duration: 10.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£68.99The Green Hills of Tyrol - Philip Sparke
The Green Hills of Tyrol was commissioned by Jrena and Beat Knusel for their son, Swiss euphonium player Joel Knusel, to celebrate his 20th birthday in 2019. The request was for a piece suitable for use in a solo competition, possibly using a Scottish or Irish melody, and composer Philip Sparke suggested an 'old-fashioned' air varie might be a suitable idea. The piece follows the well-established formula of a theme followed by four variations. The history of the original melody is fascinating and, although it is now well-known as a bagpipe tune, its background is Austrian or Italian, rather than Scottish. The tune appears as a chorus of Swiss soldiers in Rossini's 1829 opera William Tell but was possibly an existing Tyrolean folk tune. In 1854, during the Crimean War, Pipe Major John MacLeod of the 93rd Highlanders heard a band of the Sardinian contingent playing selections from the opera in camp before the Siege of Sebastopol. He was struck by the melody and arranged it for his pipers, calling it The Green Hills of Tyrol, referring to Tell's visit to that corner of Austria in the opera. It has since become universally popular among pipe bands who usually refer to it as A Scottish Soldier, following the addition of new lyrics in a 1961 hit by Andy Stewart.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£83.00Gandalf the Wizard - Johan de Meij
Johan de Meij's first symphony The Lord of the Rings is based on the trilogy of that name by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book has fascinated many millions of readers since its publication in 1955. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the book. This transcription for brass band, arranged by the composer has the following movements: I. GANDALF (The Wizard), IV. JOURNEY IN THE DARK (The Mines of Moria and The Bridge of Khazad-D m), V. HOBBITS. The symphony was written in the period between March 1984 and December 1987, and had its premiere in Brussels on 15th March 1988, performed by the The Royal Band ofthe Belgian Guides under the baton of Norbert Nozy. In 1989, the symphony The Lord of the Rings was awarded a first prize in the Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition in Chicago, and a year later, the symphony was awarded a grant by the Dutch Composers Fund. In 2001, the orchestral version was premiered by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£90.00Journey in the Dark - Johan de Meij
Johan de Meij's first symphony The Lord of the Rings is based on the trilogy of that name by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book has fascinated many millions of readers since its publication in 1955. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the book. This transcription for brass band, arranged by the composer has the following movements: I. GANDALF (The Wizard), IV. JOURNEY IN THE DARK (The Mines of Moria and The Bridge of Khazad-D m), V. HOBBITS. The symphony was written in the period between March 1984 and December 1987, and had its premiere in Brussels on 15th March 1988, performed by the The Royal Band ofthe Belgian Guides under the baton of Norbert Nozy. In 1989, the symphony The Lord of the Rings was awarded a first prize in the Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition in Chicago, and a year later, the symphony was awarded a grant by the Dutch Composers Fund. In 2001, the orchestral version was premiered by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£90.00Hobbits - Johan de Meij
Johan de Meij's first symphony The Lord of the Rings is based on the trilogy of that name by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book has fascinated many millions of readers since its publication in 1955. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the book. This transcription for brass band, arranged by the composer has the following movements: I. GANDALF (The Wizard), IV. JOURNEY IN THE DARK (The Mines of Moria and The Bridge of Khazad-D m), V. HOBBITS. The symphony was written in the period between March 1984 and December 1987, and had its premiere in Brussels on 15th March 1988, performed by the The Royal Band ofthe Belgian Guides under the baton of Norbert Nozy. In 1989, the symphony The Lord of the Rings was awarded a first prize in the Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition in Chicago, and a year later, the symphony was awarded a grant by the Dutch Composers Fund. In 2001, the orchestral version was premiered by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£159.99Other Lives - Oliver Waespi
Other Lives is works perfectly for a competition but can also be programmed as concert work. The dark chords at the beginning of the piece are derived from "Der Doppelganger", one of Franz Schubert's late songs. After a short development the music begins to accelerate and find its own shape, gradually moving away from the introduction. The entire first part, "Rage", has an intensely agitated character. The ensuing "Reflection" turns back to the initial chord progression, before a series of interspersing solos explore time and space at a slower pace. After another musical surge, the music is brought close to silence and then gives way to the third part, "Redemption".Here, a widely spaced sound field contains a remote allusion to another work by Schubert "Ruckblick". After this farewell, an abstract musical transformation triggers an emotional change, as the initial motifs are now presented in their inversed form in order to create a much brighter harmonic landscape. Moreover, in the last part of the piece, "Renewal", the grim, tense atmosphere of the first part is transformed into a great energy. Other Lives was commissioned by the Valaisia Brass Band.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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