Results
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£54.95Songs of the Great War (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wiffin, Rob
A Medley of Popular Songs, 1914 - 1918Music of the Great War is a five year project to use music of the period to educate and engage schools, colleges, town bands, and the wider public across the UK and the world to learn in a positive way about the events, the experience of the troops involved from all sides, and how music played its part.This year, to commemorate the centenary of the Great War a specially arranged medley Songs of the Great War has been created. The medley has been arranged for bands to rehearse and eventually perform on the 11 November 2015. It brings together some of the most popular tunes played, sung and performed by the men and women of the time - in the trenches and on the various home fronts.With the support of many countries and organisations, on the 11 November the medley will be first played in New Zealand and Australia. It will ripple east across the world being performed in countries like India and Pakistan before hitting Europe and onwards to include performances in Canada and the Caribbean. This could become one of the most played pieces of music in a 24-hour period.In Britain, there will be performances across the country, including some at key events and sites involving a wide range of military and non-military personnel.The medley includes:It's a Long Way to TipperaryYour King and Country Want YouGood Bye-eeOh! It's a Lovely WarHello! Hello! Who's Your Lady FriendTake Me Back to Dear Old BlightyMademoiselle from ArmentieresThere's a Long, Long Trail A-windingIf You Were the Only Girl in the WorldPack Up Your Troubles (In Your Old Kit Bag)Old Soldiers Never Die/Last Post
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£107.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Selected as the Championship Section test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£110.00Diversions after Benjamin Britten (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Suite by Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson, Paul McGhee and Gavin HigginsHaving devised a collective centenary tribute for Michael Tippett at the 2006 RNCM Festival of Brass (Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett by five eminent composers of brass band music, PHM002), I commissioned this companion piece as a Benjamin Britten tribute for the 2013 festival. In the late 1970s, while researching a book about the English composer, and Britten's first teacher, Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), I came across a copy of the printed score of Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Op.10) for string orchestra, in which Britten had written descriptive titles for each of the variations suggesting appropriate character traits of his much loved mentor and guide. The character variations are cast in march, song and dance forms.Taking inspiration from Britten's youthful tribute, I invited four award-winning composers, who have all made significant contributions to the brass band medium, to create their own personal reflections on four aspects of Britten's character and music, designed to form a suite of Diversions after Benjamin Britten, but which can also be played separately.Lucy Pankhurst's hauntingly lyrical Prelude: His Depth refers to the emotional and symbolic subtexts that underpin Britten's operas, taking its musical cue from Britten's many arrangements of folk songs. The flugel horn takes a prominent role throughout.Simon Dobson's breathless Scherzo: His Vitality reminds us with its rapid passage work and leaping bass 'groove' that Britten loved tennis and fast cars in his younger days.Paul McGhee's evocative interpretation of the March: His Sympathy represents Benjamin Britten's pacifism, as the composer writes: 'We view the music through the eyes of a pacifist. Whilst war and violence surround us, we do not engage in it and though it continues to happen around us. With the use of muted effects in most of the band throughout the piece, the flugel horn is the lone voice of reason, standing firm against the mechanical and destructive society in which it is forced to live. As the machine of war continues around the lone voice, the voice is gradually dismissed and mocked as the war machine rumbles on into the distance.'In an extended finale, entitled Toccata: His Skill, Gavin Higgins celebrates Benjamin Britten's consummate creativity. For the RNCM Festival of Brass premiere, the four contrasting movements were framed and connected by Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury for three trumpets, with the trumpet soloists spaced round the hall. I am grateful to the Britten Estate and publishers Boosey & Hawkes for giving permission for the elements of Britten's fanfare to be incorporated in the collective work.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 19.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.99Olympus (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Harper, Philip
Selected as the test-piece for the 3rd Section Regional contests of the National Brass Band Championships 2012The music begins with a depiction of the exciting Opening Ceremony where noisy fanfares and sudden swells add to the cosmopolitan flag-waving clamour. Without a break the music leads to The Chariot Race, a fast compound-time gallop with thundering hooves in the basses and percussion, and a heroic melody introduced by the tenor horns. Chariot racing was the main equestrian event in the Ancient Greek Games, which were founded in memory of King Oenomaus. In the Greek legend he suffered defeat in a chariot race to his son-in-law and Zeus' grandson, Pelops, but much of the music is bitter-sweet to symbolise the fact that Pelops had to cheat to win - drawing parallels with some of the issues still facing modern-day athletics.A slow, mystical passage follows, describing The Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The statue of Zeus, who was honoured throughout the Ancient Games' history, was housed inside the temple and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The music depicts this period of the dawn of one of mankind's most ancient civilisations and there is a series of solo passages above a drone.The next section is called The Olympic Flame and a broad and lyrical anthem-like melody develops slowly in the euphoniums, which gradually ascends until the horns can take it over before passing upwards again to the cornets (Higher). The music bursts into bright life at the lighting of the flame and the regular rhythmic pattern which has been established goes through an accelerando (Faster).The final section is called The Olympic Truce and aims to capture the cooperative spirit of the ancient practice of ending wars for the duration of the games. The anthem-like melody makes an affirmatory return (Stronger) and the work ends as it began - with a blaze of colour and a real sense of optimism and global celebration.Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stonger)Duration: 11:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£75.00Iceni Autumn (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Barry, Darrol
The piece is in four movements; SPQR, Cockley Cley, Boudicca - Battles and Requiem and Venta Icenorum.S.P.Q.R. is an initialism of a Latin noun phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus ("The Senate and the Roman People"). This movement attempts to portray the mood in England under Roman occupation and contains important themes developed throughout the suite.Cockley Cley is a reconstruction of the type of village occupied by the Iceni. For many years it was a popular tourist attraction in Norfolk.Boudicca (also known as Boadicea) was the wife of King Prasutagus of the Iceni, a British tribe that lived in East Anglia during the time of the Roman Emperor Nero. When Prasutagus, an ally of the Romans died, the local Roman government officials decided that they would seize her wealth and lands for themselves. When Boudicca protested, saying she was a Roman ally who was being treated no better than a slave, the Roman soldiers fogged her and raped her daughters. Boudicca called her tribe to arms and revolted against their Roman oppressors; this saw the complete devastation of Colchester, St Albans and London. In the final battle the Romans slaughtered about 80,000 Britons including women, children and old men, repaying atrocities in kind. Boudicca and her two daughters poisoned themselves rather than be captured and taken to Rome as prisoners of war.Venta Icenorum was the capital of the Iceni Tribe, who inhabited the flatlands and marshes of Norfolk and earned immortality for their revolt against Roman rule under their queen Boudicca in the winter of 61 AD. This triumphant march brings various themes together and ends with a final reference.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.95A Day in the Life of a Knight (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Lawrence, Phil
Here we have a most descriptive piece of writing - a story through music. A fantastic 1st section test piece and championship concert work:The opening scene would depict standing on the battlements of a castle hearing the thundering hoofs of our brave Knight's horse miles in the distance. His arrival is expected, and his reputation is known across many lands. Today, he is to joust amongst mere mortal knights and compete for the hand of the fair (and local) Princess.He vanquishes all competitors and wins the day. The scene moves to evening and court where reception and dance is to be held for our winning knight. Both Knight and Princess become centre of attention during the dance. Their eyes only for each other.At last, the Knight has a chance to be a lone with his Princess as they steal away from the celebrations to a star lit rampart above the castle gardens, where the Knight declares his ever-lasting love and pledges his life and of honour to her. He asks her hand, meanwhile monks pray in the below chapel hoping for union. She say's yes. It is announced in court, then blown from the battlements.Day breaks; he is brought word of evil doings back in his own land. He leaves word to the Princess that he will be back soon to take her hand. The trouble back home was a rouse to get him away from the Princes so one of the vanquished, a dark knight in yesterdays joust, has summoned a dragon to kidnap the princess for his own.As the truth of the deception reaches our Knight he quickly returns to face the varlet that has taken his Lady. This time tis no joust, but a fight to the death with the dark knight and dragon. Our champion proves his best once again and wins the day and the hand of his Princess forever!- Phil LawrenceSuitable for 1st Section Bands and aboveDuration: 11.15
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.95Aspects of Adiemus (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Jenkins, Karl - Graham, Peter
Aspects of Adiemus is a collection from one of the world's most popular composers, Karl Jenkins. Adiemus, literally translated, means 'we will draw near' and represents a musical language which can be heard on five award winning albums from the composer.Since Adiemus has risen in popularity around the world, it has become a growing entity meaning many different things to many different people. Vocally, the spread of influence grows wider all the time, taking in Arabic and African sounds as well as Celtic and ecclesiastical ones. The percussion too has expanded using Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Chinese and even Australian instrumentation.The evolving nature of Adiemus has meant that it has been difficult to categorise. New age, classical crossover, world music, even pop. Karl sees this as a good sign: To me, Adiemus transcends labels. The fact that it reaches people of different backgrounds, faiths and cultures gives it a universal appeal which is special. The compositions can be spiritual, religious, meditative - it's open to move people in any away they choose to experience.Ironically, the Adiemus project got off the ground initially due to a television commercial for an airline. Karl Jenkins explains, I'd been toying with a new idea, completely separate to my work in advertising, but at this time, Jenkins Ratledge were commissioned to come up with the music for an airline commercial. We presented the client with a demonstration tape of one of my completed compositions and they loved it.That composition became known as Adiemus. The music for the airline commercial was aired and immediately drew interest from the public. Karl: It's ironic that a piece of music not originally intended for a TV commercial should end up on a TV commercial, and that this music became the springboard for the success of the Adiemus project.Expertly arranged by Peter Graham, Aspects of Adiemus features the eponymous Adiemus, an uplifting and instantly recognisable opener. Chorale - Za Ma Ba and Chorale - Vocalise are songs of sanctuary, the latter featuring a chamber group from within the band. The vibrant Song of the Spirit is a cornet feature, and the finale, Song of the Plains combines intense rhythmic energy with tribal harmonies. Duration is variable depending on movement selection and optional cuts.Duration: 20.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.99Willow 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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£44.95Princethorpe Variations (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Downie, Kenneth
Colourful harmony, rhythmic flair and melodic invention are the hallmarks of this excellent set of variations by Kenneth Downie, based on the well known church tune, Princethorpe.This major work demonstrates the well-known characteristics of the composer: colourful harmony, rhythmic flair and melodic invention, all encapsulated in scoring which is engulfing both to players and listeners alike. Following a presentation of the theme there are five variations culminating in what can be described as either a finale or coda.Theme. The composer shows his originality in the harmonic sense of this introduction. Perhaps it could be suggested that over-indulgence of rubato may be a temptation to be avoided.Sections A to F. Relentless rhythmic drive is of paramount importance in this first variation. Conscientious observance of dynamics is of course an essential requirement in conveying the exciting quality of the music; there are moments of sudden contrast of which all will need to be aware. Moving between the time-signatures of 5/4 and 6/4 these sections are built from strong easily-identifiable fragments of the theme. These is a significant increase in temp at letter F which will further the exciting impact of the music.Sections G & H. In a pastorale style this short, gentle variation affords a contrast in style between the previous and succeeding ones. The gentle undulating character of the melodic lines is governed by the Allegretto grazioso directive.Sections I to M. Commencing two bars before letter I the music is now exuberant and the tempo and style is that of a march in compound time. In this exhilarating movement there are moments of contrast and indeed of delicacy which are a foil to the more energetic moments. Rhythmic control will be essential to maintain a consistent tempo. As elsewhere in the work, the percussion section will contribute much to the success of the performance there are bars where this section alone is heard and there are important entries for glockenspiel.Sections N & O. With emotional content this Adagio variation has the first two notes of the melody as its melodic impetus. Apart from just over two bars at O (where there is an interpolatory phrase from Cornets and Trombones), the melodic line is entrusted to the plaintive sounds of the horn section. Cornets and Trombones provide a change of tone colour at the beginning of section O. Under a poco rall, this very expressive variation is concluded; there is an important link supplied by Eb Bass.Sections P & Q. A lively march-tempo is launched immediately and these sections are in the nature of an introduction to the final variations. There is a quickening of pace at Q which assists the generation of excitement which should be an essential part of the performance. Solo Cornets introduce a melodic line at Q which anticipates the compound time of the following section.Sections R & S. The Solo Cornet theme of the previous section is now a contrapuntal line accompanying the theme tune. With an elongation of the notes in the melody, the conductor will need to call on the sustaining powers of the band and at no time should the interesting accompanying lines be allowed to detract from the sonorous presentation of the basic theme.Sections T, U & V. Following a poco rit, the finale begins at letter T with the directive, molto vivace. There is much detail to be rehearsed, not least being the dynamic contrasts which are encountered. As throughout the work, the listener should have no difficulty in identifying the thematic sources of the composer's music.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.95The Trumpets of the Angels (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Trumpets of the Angels was commissioned by the Fodens (Courtois) Band for their centenary concert at The Bridgewater Hall in 2000. It is based on a work written for the BBC Philharmonic and Huddersfield Choral Society in 1998, the starting point of which was a quotation from the Book of Revelation:and I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpetsThus the idea behind the work is dramatic and I have tried to achieve this by the spatial deployment of seven solo trumpets around the band, four on-stage, the others off-stage. Six of the solo trumpets eventually join the band, but Trumpet 7 remains off-stage and, indeed, has the most dramatic and extended cadenza representing the words of the seventh angel ...and time shall be no more.The Trumpets of the Angels is a large-scale work, scored for seven solo trumpets, brass band, organ and percussion (deploying 'dark' instruments such as tam-tams, bass drum and two sets of timpani). The work opens with a four-note motif announced by off-stage horns and baritones and answered by fanfare figures on solo trumpets. In turn, each of the first four solo trumpets play cadenzas and then all four join together, independently playing their own music. The organ enters dramatically with its own cadenza, leading to the entry of solo trumpets 5 and 6 with music that is more urgent and rhythmic, describing the horsemen of the Apocalypse.The music reaches another climax, more intense this time, with the horns and baritones (now on-stage) again sounding the transformed motif, before subsiding into what might be described as a lament for humanity, slow music which builds from low to high, from soft to loud, with a melody that is both simple and poignant. At the climax, Trumpet 7 enters playing the opening four-note motif, dramatically extended to almost three octaves. This cadenza (to the partial accompaniment of tam-tams) introduces new material and foreshadows the ensuing scherzo which is fast and aggressive. Despite the somewhat desolate mood of this music, it slowly moves towards an optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant statement.- Edward Gregson
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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