Results
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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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£49.99Grant Us Peace - Etienne Crausaz
Composer Etienne Crausaz has created an attractive brass band orchestration of his own work Grant Us Peace, which was originally written for mixed choir. It offers various readings of a single phrase that is found at the end of the Agnus Dei: "Dona nobis pacem" (Grant Us Peace). This request is musically expressed in a manner which is by turns soft, naive, powerful, imploring and trustful. Two soloists (cornet and flugel horn) are highlighted in a short duet at the beginning of the piece. This music is conducive to contemplation and meditation, while also seeking to arouse emotions.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£102.99Sinfonietta No. 1 - Marc Jeanbourquin
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, creatings both a progression and a tension, to drive everything towards the third part mesto (sad), then lento, where some cadenzas and numerous dissonnances 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.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£115.60At the Zoo - Hilde Høyvik Dahl
"At the Zoo" is a light and playful piece for the beginning musicians.Different animals and their characteristics are the theme of each movement, and the melody alternates between the different sections of the band to emphasize this. Trombones play glissandos and the percussionists are featured on percussion instruments, making the piece a fun to perform at any concert!
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£55.99Back on Track - Otto M. Schwarz
Back on Track is a spectacular composition for Concert Band. Otto M. Schwarz composed an opening fanfare for the beginning, which can also be played as a short 'teaser' at festive events. A motif is treated through various rhythms and time signatures and leads to an epic finale, splendidly brought to life by the glorious timbres of the brass.
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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£85.00Alchymist's Journal. - Kenneth Hesketh
'The Alchymist's Journal' gets its title from the book of the same name by American author Evan S. Connell. The book fictionalises a number of famous Alchemist's writings, each one developing another's thoughts thuscontinuing one idea but changing it subtly to provide a new view point or way of thinking. This process is, in fact, alchemical as one idea transmutes into another. This idea is parallel to the processes at work within thesevariants. The whole work is constructed from 6 notes (C, A, B flat, E flat, F sharp, E) and is presented in nine different sections, each individual in mood but still based upon the original pitches. This is not a thematic setofvariations, as the themes are developed one at a time from small segments of the six notes. For example, the opening theme is the complete number of pitches, the second theme uses three notes transposed then repeated at theoriginal level, and so on. Harmonically, the six notes can be divided into two triads, A minor and E flat minor - each key beginning and ending the piece respectively. Whilst this is essentially abstract music with noprogramme there is an introduction, menacing scherzo, slow reflective section followed by a recap of the scherzo and final coda. 'The Alchymist's Journal' was commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust at the suggestionof Paul Hindmarsh, to whom the work is dedicated.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£50.00
Standard Of Excellence In Concert Barbarossa
(Grade 2) A series of concert and festival pieces for beginning and intermediate bands, correlated to specific pages in The Standard Of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£115.60Sunshine Bossa - Idar Torskangerpoll
This is a proper happy-tune for young musicians in a school band.It's easy to play and easy to listen to. Repetitive rhythms and patterns make it easy to follow.The instrumentation is adapted to the range of notes often found in beginning bands.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£59.99
All Cried Out - Peter Kleine Schaars
At the beginning of the 1980s Alison Moyet was discovered by Vince Clarke, who - in search of greater independence - had left the successful band Depeche Mode. The soulful singing style of Moyet and the electronic, innovative pop that Clarke made melded well together in the group Yazoo with hits such as Only You and Don't Go. However, after a number of years Moyet went her own way and forged a solo career, during which she demonstrated a somewhat more traditional sound. She recorded several covers (such as The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face and That Ole Devil Called Love) but she also wrote fine songs herself, such as Love Resurrection and, of course, the expressive song AllCried Out. This arrangement by Peter Kleine Schaars does justice to the atmosphere of the original song.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days