Results
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£64.95Adam Zero, Suite from (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bliss, Arthur - Childs, Robert
Selected as the Section 2 test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025Following his ballet Checkmate, Bliss composed another score for the, by then, Sadler's Wells Ballet, Miracle in the Gorbals, which was choreographed by Robert Helpmann, to a scenario by Michael Benthall. Premired in 1944, the ballet made a considerable impact and was a box-office success. It was followed in turn by a further collaboration with Helpmann and Benthall, Adam Zero. This would serve Helpmann, in the eponymous role, as a vehicle in two respects: demonstrating his gifts as a dancer-actor and as a choreographer. First performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 8 April 1946, Adam Zero was conducted by Constant Lambert, the work's dedicatee. Bliss considered it 'his most varied and exciting ballet score'. Benthall provided a synopsis for the programme:There is a philosophy that life moves in an endless series of timeless cycles. As Nature passes through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, so man is born, makes a success in his own particular sphere, loses his position to a younger generation, sees his world crumble before his eyes and only finds peace in death. This age-old story is told in terms of a Company creating a ballet and calling on the resources of the theatre to do so. Lighting, stage mechanism, dance conventions, musical forms and costumes and scenery of all periods are used to symbolize the world of 'Adam Zero'.Apart from Adam, as the Principal Dancer, other main roles included the Stage Director (representing Omnipotence), and Adam's Fates (Designer, Wardrobe Mistress, and Dresser). 'The Woman in this allegory', wrote Bliss, 'under the symbol of the Choreographer, was both the creator and destroyer of Adam: his first love, his wife, his mistress, and finally the figure of beneficent Death.' When the curtain rose, the 'audience saw the Covent Garden stage right back to the wall, completely empty except for the protagonists, 'the Company poised, still and expectant, as they await the birth of... Adam Zero.'Unfortunately, soon after the premire, Helpmann injured himself and had to withdraw from the remaining performances. Despite generally positive reviews, the ballet did not capture the imagination of audiences and, to Bliss's considerable disappointment, was not revived. Seventy years would elapse before its first major return to the stage, in 2016, performed by the ballet company of Stadttheater Bremerhaven with choreography by Sergei Vanaev.Bliss extracted a concert suite from the ballet, conducting its first performance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 28 October 1948. For his own suite, arranged for brass band in 2023, Dr Robert Childs chose three dances linked to the seasons, book-ending them with the ebullient 'Fanfare Overture' and 'Fanfare Coda'. After Adam has grown to manhood, his Fates clothe him in a costume synonymous with confident youth, appropriate for the virile, ardent 'Dance of Spring'. In the 'Approach of Autumn', Adam, now wearing a sombre costume, has grown older: his Fates have streaked grey in his hair and put lines on his face. But they had earlier raised Adam to the zenith of his power, and the 'Dance of Summer' depicts him in the prime of life, in music of sweeping grandeur. The 'Fanfare Coda' signals that the next cycle of life is about to begin.Duration: 10.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Trombone Concerto (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score only) - Wiffin, Rob
My Trombone Concerto was commissioned by Brett Baker following an earlier piece I had written for him called Shout! It was composed in Spain in the summer of 2010. Once I started writing I realised that this concerto was inevitably going to draw on my own experiences as a trombone player. The first movement was really a matter of getting the right thematic ideas and balancing the tutti and solo passages so, for formal structure, I studied the Gordon Jacob Trombone Concerto. There is a lyrical section preceding the first Allegro that owes much in spirit (but not in the actual music) to The Eternal Quest, Ray Steadman-Allen's Salvation Army solo. The slow movement seemed determined to come out in the vein of a Richard Strauss song. I wanted to write something ineluctably 'cantabile' as we trombone players rarely get a chance to play the melody. There is a brief allusion to that wonderful moment when the trombone gets to sing above the orchestra in Sibelius' seventh symphony. Arthur Wilson, that great exponent of the singing style in trombone-playing and my teacher at college died in the summer of 2010 so it seemed appropriate to dedicate this movement to him. The last movement is the lightest of the three in style and is slightly jazz-inflected, hopefully providing some fun for the soloist. While wanting to test the instrument I did not set out with the intention of making the concerto difficult but there are undoubtedly challenges of technique, range and style to be met by the soloist.- Rob Wiffin
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£87.95
Trombone Concerto (Trombone Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wiffin, Rob
My Trombone Concerto was commissioned by Brett Baker following an earlier piece I had written for him called Shout! It was composed in Spain in the summer of 2010. Once I started writing I realised that this concerto was inevitably going to draw on my own experiences as a trombone player.The first movement was really a matter of getting the right thematic ideas and balancing the tutti and solo passages so, for formal structure, I studied the Gordon Jacob Trombone Concerto. There is a lyrical section preceding the first Allegro that owes much in spirit (but not in the actual music) to The Eternal Quest, Ray Steadman-Allen's Salvation Army solo.The slow movement seemed determined to come out in the vein of a Richard Strauss song. I wanted to write something ineluctably 'cantabile' as we trombone players rarely get a chance to play the melody. There is a brief allusion to that wonderful moment when the trombone gets to sing above the orchestra in Sibelius' seventh symphony. Arthur Wilson, that great exponent of the singing style in trombone-playing and my teacher at college died in the summer of 2010 so it seemed appropriate to dedicate this movement to him.The last movement is the lightest of the three in style and is slightly jazz-inflected, hopefully providing some fun for the soloist.While wanting to test the instrument I did not set out with the intention of making the concerto difficult but there are undoubtedly challenges of technique, range and style to be met by the soloist.- Rob Wiffin
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£65.00Music for Jock Tamson (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Fernie, Alan
Regionals 2024 - 4th Section test pieceScottish Dances Set 2An original suite in three movements:Nyah Fearties!InchkeithWha's Like Us?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!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£32.50
Music for Jock Tamson (Brass Band - Score only) - Fernie, Alan
Regionals 2024 - 4th Section test pieceScottish Dances Set 2An original suite in three movements:Nyah Fearties!InchkeithWha's Like Us?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!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£134.99Alpina Brass (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Van der Roost, Jan
Alpina Brass was the test piece for the first division of the Ftes Cantonales on 8 and 9 June 2019 in Naters, Switzerland. It consists of three movements, and features a variety of aspects, as is common for a competition work. However, as a whole, it has been written in such a way that it can perfectly serve as a concert work as well. It is a challenging piece for every section and offers colourful and melodic as well as spectacular rhythmic sequences and a most impressive ending!Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£120.00Dark Arteries Suite (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Higgins, Gavin
Dark Arteries was commissioned by Rambert Dance Company and first performed in May 2015 with the Tredegar Town Band sharing the stage with Rambert dancers. Dark Arteries is a personal and at times highly wrought response to the Miners Strike and its aftermath. It is in three movements, the first and last are expansive, with widely contrasting sound worlds, from dark, brooding melodies and the haunting sounds of solo flugel horn to wild syncopations on cornets, suggestive of an imposing, but often bleak mining landscape. Suitable for 1st Section Bands and above. Duration: 16.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£32.50The Mermaid of Zennor (Brass Band - only) - Harper, Philip
2016 National Championships Regional Test Piece - 2nd Section.Commissioned by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band to mark its 60th Anniversary, with funds bequethed by Dennis Arbon This piece is inspired by an old Cornish folk-tale set in the village of Zennor on the coast of Cornwall, the most South-Westerly county of England. The music is in three sections:The Sea and SeafaringAt the ChurchillReturn to the WavesDuration: 12.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.99
The Mermaid of Zennor (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Harper, Philip
2016 National Championships Regional Test Piece - 2nd Section.Commissioned by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band to mark its 60th Anniversary, with funds bequethed by Dennis Arbon This piece is inspired by an old Cornish folk-tale set in the village of Zennor on the coast of Cornwall, the most South-Westerly county of England. The music is in three sections:The Sea and SeafaringAt the ChurchillReturn to the WavesDuration: 12.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£88.00Fanfares, Marches, Hymns and Finale (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Broughton, Bruce
"Fanfares, Marches, Hymns and Finale" is a series of self-referential movements, each composed around an attitude expressed in the title rather than for any actual utilitarian use. Hence, it would be difficult to march to most of "Marches", although it is composed of martial rhythms and associative figures. One could, however, sing the pentatonic (five note) main theme from "Hymns", which is composed in an American folk-hymn style and set in an Atmosphere evocative of meditation and reflection, although there is no text associated with the themes. "Fanfares" is based upon an opening six-note motif first heard in unison. It precedes and announces the following three movements. As the plural aspect of the title indicates, "fanfares" open and close the movement itself. Needless to say, the spirited "Finale" brings the piece to a close. Duration: 11.00. Suitable for Championship Section Bands.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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