Results
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£29.95The Plantagenets (Brass Band - Score only) - 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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£69.95Concerto for Horn (Horn Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Horn in F with Brass BandComposed in 1971 for Ifor James, the Concerto for French Horn and Band revealed some of those elements that have made Gregson's music so popular with audiences (and not just brass band audiences) worldwide: the boldness of his melodies, with the interval of the fourth revealing his admiration for the music of Paul Hindemith; his incisive rhythms, betraying the influence of another favourite composer, Bla Bartk; an admirable economy of means; and the clarity of his scoring.Each of the Concerto's three movements displays a different facet of the French Horn's character. The first is serious, symphonic in impulse, the rising fourths of the opening gesture giving the music an almost Germanic weight. In the slow movement, the soloist becomes the first among equals, sharing with the cornet soloist some typically haunting melodies. The lyrical flow is interrupted at the mid-point by mysterious, fleet-of-foot cadenzas. A rondo finale brings the concerto to a light-hearted conclusion. The rising fourths here are the impulse for a jaunty theme which reveals another of Gregson's early influences - William Walton, and in particular that composer's Partita for orchestra.Duration: 18.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£59.95Voices of Youth (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The suite Voices of Youth is one of Gregson's earliest brass band compositions, written while he was still a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Voices of Youth was commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and was premiered by them under the baton of Geoffrey Brand.The work has three movements:Nobility of Youth (Duration: 4.00)Sadness and Tenderness (Duration: 2.30)Gaiety (Duration: 2.45)In Nobility of Youth there are the rich sonorities beloved of Salvationist composers such as Eric Ball and, particularly, Ray Steadman Allen, whose music he admired. The modal contour of the melodies here and at the climax of the slow movement Sadness and Tenderness reveal lessons well learned from Holst and Vaughan Williams. Gaiety is probably the most interesting amalgam of all. Beginning in the harmonic world of Gilbert Vinter - whose influence Gregson readily acknowledges at this time - the music is transformed into a bravura waltz of which Percy Grainger might have been proud. It then veers off via a contrapuntal episode of academic correctness, into a coda that takes us into more adventurous harmonic realms.Duration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£94.95An Age of Kings (Mezzo-Soprano Solo with Brass Band and optional choir - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The origins of this work date back to 1988, when I was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to write the music for The Plantagenets trilogy, directed by Adrian Noble in Stratford-upon-Avon. These plays take us from the death of Henry V to the death of Richard III. Later, in 1991, I wrote the music for Henry IV parts 1 and 2, again in Stratford. All of these plays are concerned with the struggle for the throne, and they portray one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the British monarchy.Much of the music used in these productions was adapted into two large symphonic suites for wind band - The Sword and the Crown (1991) and The Kings Go Forth (1996). An Age of Kings is a new version for brass band incorporating music from both the symphonic suites for wind band. It was specially composed for a recording made by the Black Dyke Band, conducted by Nicholas Childs, in 2004.An Age of Kings is music on a large-scale canvas, scored for augmented brass band, with the addition of harp, piano, mezzo-soprano solo, male chorus, as well as two off-stage trumpets. The music is also organized on a large-scale structure, in three movements, which play without a break - "Church and State", "At the Welsh Court", and "Battle Music and Hymn of Thanksgiving".The first movement, "Church and State", opens with a brief fanfare for two antiphonal trumpets (off-stage), but this only acts as a preface to a Requiem aeternam (the death of Henry V) before changing mood to the English army on the march to France; this subsides into a French victory march, but with the English army music returning in counterpoint. A brief reminder of the Requiem music leads to the triumphal music for Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, father of Edward IV and Richard III (the opening fanfare transformed). However, the mood changes dramatically once again, with the horrors of war being portrayed in the darkly-drawn Dies Irae and Dance of Death, leading to the final section of the first movement, a funeral march for Henry VI.The second movement, "At the Welsh Court", takes music from the Welsh Court in Henry IV part 1 with a simple Welsh folk tune sung by mezzo-soprano to the inevitable accompaniment of a harp. This love song is interrupted by distant fanfares, forewarning of battles to come. However, the folk song returns with variation in the musical fabric. The movement ends as it began with off-stage horn and gentle percussion.The final movement, "Battle Music and Hymn of Thanksgiving", starts with two sets of antiphonally placed timpani, drums and tam-tam, portraying the 'war machine' and savagery of battle. Trumpet fanfares and horn calls herald an heroic battle theme which, by the end of the movement, transforms itself into a triumphant hymn for Henry IV's defeat of the rebellious forces.- Edward GregsonDuration - 22'00"Optional TTBB available separately.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.95Trombone Concerto (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Gregson Trombone Concerto was originally written in 1979 to a commission from Bedfordshire Education Service, for a new work for Michael Hext, winner of the first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. This version for brass band was commissioned by Nicholas Childs, Music Director of the Black Dyke Band, specially for Brett Baker, the then principal trombone of the band. He has recorded it on the Doyen label with the Black Dyke Band.The work falls into three main sections, played without a break, but conforming to the traditional pattern of concerto structure. After a slow introduction, containing most of the motivic and rhythmic ideas used in the work, there follows the main fast section which is itself divided into three parts and concludes with a fierce climax (timpani and gong). The slow and rather intense middle section is linked to a cadenza for the soloist, at first unaccompanied but leading to accompanied references to earlier material. The final section is a scherzo which ends dramatically with a re-statement of the opening slow introduction. A brisk coda concludes the work. The interval of a fourth (and its augmented form) provides melodic and harmonic unity for the work, whilst the tonal juxtaposition between E minor and B flat major throughout the concerto is an important element of the structure.The writing for trombone is virtuosic, encompassing the whole range of the instrument, but it also exploits the rather beautiful lyrical sound of which this instrument is capable.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Trombone Concerto (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
The Gregson Trombone Concerto was originally written in 1979 to a commission from Bedfordshire Education Service, for a new work for Michael Hext, winner of the first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. This version for brass band was commissioned by Nicholas Childs, Music Director of the Black Dyke Band, specially for Brett Baker, the then principal trombone of the band. He has recorded it on the Doyen label with the Black Dyke Band.The work falls into three main sections, played without a break, but conforming to the traditional pattern of concerto structure. After a slow introduction, containing most of the motivic and rhythmic ideas used in the work, there follows the main fast section which is itself divided into three parts and concludes with a fierce climax (timpani and gong). The slow and rather intense middle section is linked to a cadenza for the soloist, at first unaccompanied but leading to accompanied references to earlier material. The final section is a scherzo which ends dramatically with a re-statement of the opening slow introduction. A brisk coda concludes the work. The interval of a fourth (and its augmented form) provides melodic and harmonic unity for the work, whilst the tonal juxtaposition between E minor and B flat major throughout the concerto is an important element of the structure.The writing for trombone is virtuosic, encompassing the whole range of the instrument, but it also exploits the rather beautiful lyrical sound of which this instrument is capable.Duration: 16.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Prelude for an Occasion (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Prelude for an Occasion was one of Gregson's first works for brass band and was written in 1968 for the Black Dyke Mills Band for a recording on the Decca label. Since then it has become a popular concert opener.After a short fanfare introduction it moves into a quasi-march with a somewhat rhythmic and dissonant middle section before returning to a triumphant restatement of the opening fanfare.Duration: 4.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£59.95The Pacemakers (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Concert OvertureThis work was commissioned in 1970 for a brass band championship sponsored by WD and HO Wills, whose slogan was The Pacemakers. The title was added after the work was finished and has nothing to do with the content or character of the piece which, as Paul Hindmarsh remarks, is 'arguably the most satisfying in purely musical terms of all of Gregson's early compositions for band'.The Overture is cast in a sonata form exposition, with a slow central section, giving the opportunity for expressive cornet and euphonium solos. The final section begins with a strict fugal exposition which leads to a recapitulation of the opening material and a powerful climax built on the opening pyramid of fifths, which remains unresolved.Duration: 11:00
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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