Results
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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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£39.50Edward Gregson: Fanfare for a New Era (for Brass Band)
DescriptionComposer's NoteThe Fanfare has been designed to be partly antiphonal, with four separate brass 'choirs' initially playing their own music, and so some spatial separation is desirable. Soprano and solo cornets should be placed centrally, standing behind the rest of the band - or in some venues could even be placed off-stage in a side balcony, but still close to the band. If the Fanfare is played by a contesting size band, one of the solo cornets should play the 1st cornet part together with the usual player ie the number of players on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cornet parts should be equal. Otherwise the number of players in each of the two cornet 'choirs' is at the discretion of the conductor. The Tubular Bells accompanying the cornets 1-3 group should be placed close to that group. See inside back cover for suggested band formation.The style of playing should replicate that of symphonic brass, with a minimum of vibrato and with long notes being sustained without decaying.Programme NoteCommissioned in 2020 by Youth Brass 2000, Fanfare for a New Era was designed to be partly antiphonal - thus the separation of the band into four brass 'choirs', each with their own percussion accompaniment. First, soprano and solo cornets, rather like heraldic trumpeters, announce the main idea, majestic in character. Then horns, baritones, and euphoniums, with timpani, enter with stately figurations. Next, the heraldic trumpeters usher in trombones and tubas, to the accompaniment of tom-toms and snare drum, presenting a faster and rhythmic dance-like theme. Finally, the remaining cornets amplify the pealing of bells. All four elements then come together, surrounding the audience with a 'joyful noise' of festive brass and percussion.The original symphonic brass version of this fanfare can be purchased as part of a set of Three Fanfares HERE.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00Edward Gregson: Celebration Fanfare
DescriptionThe premiere of the Fanfare was given at the band's 50th Anniversary concert on 24 September 2023 at the Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, UK.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.00Edward Gregson: Postcard to Grimethorpe
DescriptionComposer's NoteI composed the original version of Postcard to Grimethorpe in 1993 at the request of Elgar Howarth, for a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, given by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. This was at a time when after the Grimethorpe Colliery pit closed the future of the band was in severe jeopardy. The concert was given in aid of the band, both through publicity and funding.Then in late 2022 Jack Stamp, the American composer, conductor and educator, and at that time international composer-in-association with Grimethorpe, contacted me to say that he had discovered my short piece in the band library, and asked if I might extend it for a recording he was sponsoring for the band - the repertoire to consist entirely of music specially composed for Grimethorpe.I agreed and decided to extend the piece by using the miner's hymn Gresford, as a symbolic gesture of protest at the many thousands of miners in the UK who were made redundant from their jobs. After an angular (atonal) first section, the hymn enters, softly at first, but with each phrase it becomes more powerful and insistent, ending with the final phrase triumphantly accompanied by melodic percussion (replacing the drums and cymbals of the earlier phrases, as if the band were then on the march). However, this short work ends softly and gently, as if anger has been replaced by quiet resolution and determination, looking to the future with confidence.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£20.00Edward Gregson: Music of the Angels, for Symphonic Brass and Percussion
DescriptionProgramme NoteMusic of the Angels is a dramatic work of some 16 minute's duration, scored for a large symphonic brass ensemble, including seven trumpets, and percussion. The percussion section deploys 'dark' instruments such as three tam-tams, a bass drum and two sets of timpani.The title of the work is based on a quotation from the Book of Revelations:And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpetsThus, the idea behind the work is a dramatic one and the composer has emphasised this by the partial spatial arrangement of the ensemble, with six solo trumpets standing centre stage, but behind the main ensemble, and the seventh trumpet off-stage throughout.The work opens with a four-note motif, dominant throughout the work, announced initially by four off-stage horns and answered by fanfare figures on four solo trumpets. Then in turn each of the first four solo trumpets announce their own cadenzas before joining together, independently playing their own music. This reaches an intense climax before subsiding into slow music which might be described as a Kyrie eleison - a lament for humanity - a cantilena for flugel horn and euphonium, accompanied by trombones. The drama soon returns with the entry of trumpets 5 and 6, playing music that is fast, more urgent and foreboding, and describing in musical terms the horsemen of the Apocalypse.At the climax of this section trumpet 7 enters dramatically, representing the words of the seventh angel ... and time shall be no more. The opening four-note motif is here transformed into a cadenza of epic proportions, to the partial accompaniment of three tam-tams (representing the Holy Trinity). The ensuing scherzo, scored for the ensemble, is fast and furious, but despite the somewhat desolate mood of this music (briefly interrupted by the re-appearance of trumpet 7), it slowly moves towards a more optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'lament for humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant climax.This work has been commercially recorded on a critically acclaimed CD from London Brass on the Chandos label, available HERE.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Dalaro (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The name of Edward Gregson is well known in Salvationist circles as well as in the wider music world, his music receiving performances and being recorded and published regularly. This music is individual and of high worth with an assured technique. It is always a pleasurable task for the musician to handle music with these qualities, whether one is editor, conductor or player.Written in connection with the International Salvation Army Students' Fellowship Conference held in Dalaro, Sweden in 1964, this is a 'festival' rather than processional march. Section C is a tune from the Swedish Tune Book (No. 303 in the 1945 edition), Jag gar till det land dar ovan (I go to that Land above). There is a slight divergence from the tune book version (labelled, by the way, as an English tune); this could well be the manner in which the tune is sung - we are all aware of the way in which congregations modify tunes.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95A Swedish March and Fanfare (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
A Swedish March:This little march was written in 1975 and was commissioned for the Jnkping Summer School, Sweden, where Edward Gregson was guest composer and conductor. It incorporates the old Swedish folksong Britta at its heart, but otherwise is quite conventional in every aspect.Duration: 3.00Fanfare:This fanfare was originally written for brass ensemble, organ and percussion, under the title Fanfare for Europe, and was commissioned for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, to celebrate Great Britain's entry into Europe. The composer then created this version for brass band which was published in 1976.Duration: 1.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Patterns (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Building musical paragraphs using short, irregular rhythmical patterns became a favourite Gregson formula in the early 1970s. Patterns is the clearest and most disciplined example. By limiting himself to a single musical motif, heard at the outset on trombones, Gregson offers a true test of technique and musicianship in a concise three part structure. The opening is another Gregson prelude with alternating patterns of 3s, 4s, 5s and 7s that are bonded by a constant quaver pulse. The music here possesses a neo-classical, pristine quality. In the central episode, the same triadic figure is transformed into a lilting barcarolle-like dialogue beginning on solo cornet and horn. When the whole band becomes involved, the trombones add a moment of bi-tonal ambiguity, which sets in motion an exuberant Latin dance and final flourish.Patterns was commissioned by the Butlins Youth Brass Band Championships for the 1974 competition at the Royal Albert Hall.Duration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£59.95The Plantagenets (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
A Symphonic Study for Brass BandThe Plantagenets was Gregson's first major test piece, written specially for the 1973 National Brass Band Championships.In this ambitious symphonic study he turned his attention to music which sets out to create a mood or atmosphere, in contrast to his earlier brass band works such as Essay and Partita where the underlying concerns are technical rather than expressive. However, Gregson is at pains to emphasise that The Plantagenets is not programme music. 'Symphonic' is the optimum word here. In its textural and harmonic complexity, its rhythmic and melodic variety, this was his most ambitious brass band piece so far. His language, with its roots in Hindemith and Bartok is further enriched here with the expressive language of Holst and Rachmaninov.As he says in his notes on the work: The Plantagenets attempts to portray the mood and feelings of an age - that of the House of Plantagenet which lasted from the middle of the twelfth century to the end of the fourteenth. To many it conjures up an age of chivalry and this is represented by fanfare motifs which occur throughout the work in varied form.Characteristically, the composer then goes on to describe not the atmosphere or mood he is trying to convey, but the means by which the music has been composed: the opening fanfares, based on the interval of the third, generating the musical material for the whole work; an exposition of two themes - one fanfare-like, one lyrical (on horns); a slow episode introducing a new melody on solo horn (answered by cornet and euphonium in canon); a little scherzo, fugal in character; and a recapitulation leading to a maestoso statement of the slow movement theme with a final reference to the fanfares as a triumphant conclusion.Duration: 11.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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