Results
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£12.00The World Rejoicing (Brass Band - Study Score)
In 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 Crger. 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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£39.95Judd: Praise to the Lord
Written for the 2003 tour of Canada and USA by Bristol Easton Band of The Salvation Army, this set of variations provides the whole band with a stern examination of technical and musical aptitude, whilst engaging the listener from beginning to end. The commission given to the composer was to create a set of variations with a similar framework to that of Edward Gregson's 'Variations on Laudate Dominum'. As in the famous Gregson work, the theme (Lobe den Herren) is not heard in its entirety until the final section when the majestic tune provides a fitting and stirring conclusion to the music.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.95Four Etudes (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
This work was written during August and September 2016. In it, I wanted primarily to explore the elements of timbre, rhythm, texture and colour. The first three tudes (or studies) are based on a set of piano pieces I composed in 1982, whilst the last, the longest of the set, was composed specially. My reference point was the Four tudes for orchestra of 1928 by Stravinsky, a work I have always admired, and of which the first three also happen to be based on a set of earlier pieces, in his case for string quartet, with the last being a re-arrangement of a work for pianola. I have also borrowed the titles he gave to the individual studies as they seemed to fit the mood of my pieces.However, the exception is the final study, where instead of the exuberant mood of his colourful portrayal of Madrid, mine was influenced by the terrible human tragedy that was unfolding in Aleppo at the time I was writing it, and thus reflects the violence and barbarism of those events; yet towards the end it does offer a glimmer of hope for humanity with a return to the Canticle (Song) of the first study, and concludes quietly with the chords and bells that began the work. The titles of the tudes are Canticle, Dance, Excentrique, and Aleppo. Like Stravinsky's, the set is relatively short, lasting around 8 minutes.The Four tudes were commissioned by Black Dyke Band and were written specially for the recording marking the conclusion of my year as Composer-in-Residence. The concert premiere will be given by Black Dyke Band, conducted by the composer, at the RNCM Festival of Brass in January 2017.- Edward GregsonDuration: 8.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£37.95Four Etudes (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
This work was written during August and September 2016. In it, I wanted primarily to explore the elements of timbre, rhythm, texture and colour. The first three tudes (or studies) are based on a set of piano pieces I composed in 1982, whilst the last, the longest of the set, was composed specially. My reference point was the Four tudes for orchestra of 1928 by Stravinsky, a work I have always admired, and of which the first three also happen to be based on a set of earlier pieces, in his case for string quartet, with the last being a re-arrangement of a work for pianola. I have also borrowed the titles he gave to the individual studies as they seemed to fit the mood of my pieces.However, the exception is the final study, where instead of the exuberant mood of his colourful portrayal of Madrid, mine was influenced by the terrible human tragedy that was unfolding in Aleppo at the time I was writing it, and thus reflects the violence and barbarism of those events; yet towards the end it does offer a glimmer of hope for humanity with a return to the Canticle (Song) of the first study, and concludes quietly with the chords and bells that began the work. The titles of the tudes are Canticle, Dance, Excentrique, and Aleppo. Like Stravinsky's, the set is relatively short, lasting around 8 minutes.The Four tudes were commissioned by Black Dyke Band and were written specially for the recording marking the conclusion of my year as Composer-in-Residence. The concert premiere will be given by Black Dyke Band, conducted by the composer, at the RNCM Festival of Brass in January 2017.- Edward GregsonDuration: 8.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£107.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
This 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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£57.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
This 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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£44.95Symphonic Rhapsody for Euphonium (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Symphonic Rhapsody was published in 1976, although the genesis of the piece dates back to the early '60s when I was a teenager and played the euphonium in a Salvation Army band. The work incorporates an old gospel song - 'So we'll roll the old chariot along' - into a symphonically structured form. Motifs from the gospel song permeate the rest of the musical material so that the work hopefully has a unified whole. The 'variations' are less actual variations on the tune itself, but more a comment on certain melodic aspects.Although the writing is naturally virtuosic in a way which is obvious for such a solo instrument within the brass band, it never the less unfolds many more lyrical aspects of the instrument's capabilities. Towards the end of the piece the tune is heard once again in its full version, leading to a coda where the euphonium takes centre stage in a bravura manner.- Edward GregsonDuration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£94.95Dances and Arias (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
This work was commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals (with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain) for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 7th October 1984.Dances and Arias is in one continuous movement, but as the title suggests is a series of alternating fast and slow sections as follows: Dance - Aria I - Dance (scherzo) - Aria II - Dance. The opening dance is energetic and introduces a four-note motif (on trombones) which is the basis for much of the melodic material in the work. Throughout, there is a continuous process of thematic cross-reference and transformation.The first aria unfolds a long melody on solo cornet, eventually continued by all the solo cornets, and dissolving into a shimmering harmonic background (muted cornets, horns and baritones) over which is heard a brief self-quotation on solo tuba. This leads into the second dance, a frenetic scherzo, followed by the second aria, in the style of a lament (solo euphonium, followed by two flugel horns). This builds to a powerful climax which subsides, leaving the percussion to introduce the final toccata-like dance. It transforms material from the opening before a coda brings the music to a triumphant close. The large percussion section is an integral part in the work and uses a wide variety of instruments including timpani, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, tom-toms, snare drum, bongos and tam-tam.The work is dedicated to my brother and sister.- Edward GregsonDuration: 14.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Dances and Arias (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
This work was commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals (with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain) for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 7th October 1984.Dances and Arias is in one continuous movement, but as the title suggests is a series of alternating fast and slow sections as follows: Dance - Aria I - Dance (scherzo) - Aria II - Dance. The opening dance is energetic and introduces a four-note motif (on trombones) which is the basis for much of the melodic material in the work. Throughout, there is a continuous process of thematic cross-reference and transformation.The first aria unfolds a long melody on solo cornet, eventually continued by all the solo cornets, and dissolving into a shimmering harmonic background (muted cornets, horns and baritones) over which is heard a brief self-quotation on solo tuba. This leads into the second dance, a frenetic scherzo, followed by the second aria, in the style of a lament (solo euphonium, followed by two flugel horns). This builds to a powerful climax which subsides, leaving the percussion to introduce the final toccata-like dance. It transforms material from the opening before a coda brings the music to a triumphant close. The large percussion section is an integral part in the work and uses a wide variety of instruments including timpani, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, tom-toms, snare drum, bongos and tam-tam.The work is dedicated to my brother and sister.- Edward GregsonDuration: 14.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£59.95Concerto Grosso (Brass Quartet with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Concerto Grosso was commissioned in 1972 by the Scottish Amateur Music Association for the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland.I took as my starting point the 18th century concerto grosso form with its element of contrast between small and large instrumental forces. The concertino (solo) group consists of cornet, horn, trombone and euphonium. The work is cast in one continuous movement (the old concerto grosso was often in three or more). The single movement is cast in the arch-like version of the ritornello form which was the mainstay of the baroque concerto. There are three main episodes which alternate with the ritornello and these exploit slow lyrical melodies as well as more rhythmically charged music. The final coda contrasts the ritornello material with the concertino group's own material, bringing the work to a resounding conclusion.- Edward GregsonDuration: 8.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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