Regional Championships 2024

£13.95

Featuring All 5 Recordings of the Selected Test Pieces

Available and in stock now to ship.

£74.95

Variations on an Enigma (Philip Sparke)

Variations on an Enigma was commissioned by Howard Snell for the Desford Colliery Band and first performed by them in Gillingham, Dorset, England in September 1986. The ‘Enigma’ is a short snatch of a phrase taken from a well-known brass band test piece - a phrase which caught the imagination of the composer who took it as the basis of a sort of concerto for band with each section featured in turn. First the cornets have their turn, with a ‘moto perpetuo’, and they are followed by the horns and flugel whose variation is delicate and decorative. Trombones follow, each having there own tune in turn and then combining them together. Euphoniums and baritones have an expressive funeral march which is interrupted by percussion and basses who share a rhythmic, syncopated variation. A climax is reached and this is followed by a fugue (based on the theme) against which snatches of the preceding variations appear. The fugue heralds what turns out to be the theme on which all the variations are based, appearing in full at last, whose first five notes are derived from the ‘enigma’ theme. The piece ends with an emphatic final statement by the timpani.

£74.95

High Peak (Eric Ball)

Last chosen as a set work for the Butlins 2011 Contest, this suite features three movements, I. Vision, II. Ascent, III. Attainment

£74.95

Triptych (Philip Sparke)

Triptych was commissioned by the Swiss Band Federation for Section 2 of the 16th Brass Band Championship in Montreux, 1990.

£79.95

Corineus (Christopher Bond)

Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall. The first of the legendary rulers of Cornwall, he is described as a character of strength and power. It is on the medieval ruler that this new work, Corineus, is based, presented in three contrasting sections. The work opens with heraldic fanfares and a sense of jubilance before presenting musical material which changes and develops organically, portraying the journey taken by Corineus, Brutus, and the Trojans from modern-day mainland Europe to Britain. The central section of the work is slower, creating a feeling of longing. Brutus' son, Locrinus, had agreed to marry Corineus' daughter, Gwendolen, but instead fell in love with a German princess. In writing this part of the work, the composer portrays the longing of Gwendolen for her husband, knowing he is in love with somebody else. After Corineus died, Locrinus divorced Gwendolen, who responded by raising an army in Cornwall and making war against her ex-husband. Locrinus was killed in battle, and legend suggests that Gwendolen threw Locrinus' lover into the River Severn. This dramatic battle provides the inspiration for the final part of the work. In writing this work, the composer hopes to flare the imagination of young brass players around the country, in an engaging new take on a firm fixture in British folklore.

£65.00

Music for Jock Tamson (Alan Fernie)

This work was one of twelve works commissioned by the Scottish Brass Band Association and Funded by Creative Scotland Targeted Fund - 2021 to aid Covid Recovery and support composers in Scotland. Jock Tamson - a Scottish name explained... The phrase more often occurs in an extended form: We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns. This is interpreted in a metaphorical sense as a statement of egalitarian sentiments equivalent to "we're all the same under the skin" or "we are all God's children". i.e. This is music for everyone!