Results
-
£40.00Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett (Brass Band - Score only) - Hindmarsh, Paul
A Centenary Tribute by Michael Ball, Edward Gregson, Elgar Howarth, Bramwell Tovey and Philip WilbyThis unique 'pice d'occasion' arose out of a telephone conversation in 2004 with Alan Wycherley, who was the soprano cornet player of the Foden's Richardson Band at the time. He indicated that the band would like to include an original birthday tribute for Edward Gregson (60) and Elgar Howarth (70) in its concert at the 2005 RNCM Festival of Brass in Manchester. I have been Artistic Director of Manchester's Festival of Brass since it was established in 1990 as a BBC Radio 3 series, As the centenary of the birth of Sir Michael Tippett fell on 5 January 2005, I devised this collective work as a way of embracing all three anniversaries in a novel way.The idea of joint compositions is not a new one in the classical music world. In the 1860s, Verdi was joined by a number of his contemporaries in a Requiem Mass for Rossini. In this country there have been a number of orchestral examples over the past fifty years, but never before for the brass band. Although Tippett composed only one work for brass band, Festal Brass with Blues, his orchestral works and operas are full of idiomatic brass writing. The theme I chose for this celebration is one of Tippet's most memorable miniatures featuring wind and brass. In the opera Midsummer Marriage it marks the entry of the Ancients. It is also included in the orchestral Suite in D (1948), for the Birthday of Prince Charles.I invited five of the leading contemporary voices in brass band music to add their own creative perspectives to the little Tippett theme, with it's characteristic rhythms, embellishments and modality - the Lydian mode. Each contribution was designed to fit into a tonal and formal template to give the whole work a flow and continuity. In Danse des Amis, Bramwell Tovey has composed a jazzy, humorous variation. Inspiration came from Tippett's love of jazz and, more personally, from the characteristically syncopated gait of the distinguished music critic John Amis, who Tovey once observed leaving a performance of Tippett's opera King Priam before the end. Incidentally, that performance was conducted by Elgar Howarth.We hear Edward Gregson in lyrical mode. His Midsummer Song is redolent of the sound world of Tippett's opera A Midsummer Marriage and it ends with a brief reference to a favourite of Gregson's, Tippett's Concerto for Orchestra. Michael Ball provides a brief moment of light, airy activity bringing to mind perhaps Tippett's love of Shakespearian fantasy, especially The Tempest. Elgar Howarth juxtaposes a slowed down version of the processional theme with distant recollections of fanfares from King Priam. Philip Wilby has rounded the tribute off with a spectacular fugue. During its inexorable progress Wilby ingeniously introduces the two other birthday references - the three-note musical signature that Elgar Howarth includes in much of his music and the characteristic theme which begins Edward Gregson's substantial work for brass an organ The Trumpets of the Angels. An elaborated reprise of Tippett's little theme is followed by a dynamic coda.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 13.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£35.00The Alchymist's Journal (Brass Band - Score only) - Hesketh, Kenneth
2015 National Championships Finals Testpiece - First Section - Extra score only.The Alchymist's Journal, subtitled Variants for brass band, was commissioned in 2001 by the Brass Band Heritage Trust and is dedicated to Paul Hindmarsh. This vibrant music is cast in the form of a series of extended symphonic variations based on a short theme heard at the start. After a quiet start, the music builds to an incisive and dramatic climax. Ideal for any First Section brass band contest.Suitable for 1st Section Bands and upDuration: 12 minutes
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£59.95Un Vie de Matelot (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Farnon, Robert
A Sailor's Life. Theme and Variations for Brass BandThis work was specially composed as the test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 11th October, 1975Duration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£29.95
Un Vie de Matelot (Brass Band - Score only) - Farnon, Robert
A Sailor's Life. Theme and Variations for Brass BandThis work was specially composed as the test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 11th October, 1975Duration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£25.00BRITISH ISLES SUITE FOR BRASS BAND AND PERCUSSION, A (Brass Band Extra Score) - Bates, Jonathan
2012 National Championships Finals - Fourth Section. The four movement work quotes hallowed poets and prose writers. The first movement uses Robert Burns's 'When Chill November's surly blast made field and forest bare' - a musical depiction of a Scottish highland landscape in crisp mid-winter. Movement 2 takes Dylan Thomas's 'Though lovers be lost, love shall not' and showcases soloists performing their individual love stories, finishing with an adaptation of the Welsh national anthem, whilst the third movement quotes the Irish poer, Yeats. The music links the Isle of Man and Ireland, opening with the Manx national anthem and traditional Manz dancing, before leading to a Dublin dance scene. Movement 4 quotes Shakespeare's 'Be not afraid of greatness', opening with a fanfare by percussion, then moving into Holst's In the Bleak Mid Winter and to the seventh variation of Elgar's Enigma Variations, Nimrod.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£64.95
BRITISH ISLES SUITE FOR BRASS BAND AND PERCUSSION, A (Brass Band Set - Score and Parts) - Bates, Jonathan
2012 National Championships Finals - Fourth Section. The four movement work quotes hallowed poets and prose writers. The first movement uses Robert Burns's 'When Chill November's surly blast made field and forest bare' - a musical depiction of a Scottish highland landscape in crisp mid-winter. Movement 2 takes Dylan Thomas's 'Though lovers be lost, love shall not' and showcases soloists performing their individual love stories, finishing with an adaptation of the Welsh national anthem, whilst the third movement quotes the Irish poer, Yeats. The music links the Isle of Man and Ireland, opening with the Manx national anthem and traditional Manz dancing, before leading to a Dublin dance scene. Movement 4 quotes Shakespeare's 'Be not afraid of greatness', opening with a fanfare by percussion, then moving into Holst's In the Bleak Mid Winter and to the seventh variation of Elgar's Enigma Variations, Nimrod.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£104.99Variations on a Chord - Jan de Haan
Variations on a Chord was composed on the occasion of the second lustrum of the Dutch Brass Band Championships celebrated in 1990. The piece is the immediate sequel to Contrasten a piece which was composed in 1986, and which is performed all over the world. Not only was the final chord of this previous work used as a starting point for the new composition, but Variations on a Chord is also the first concert piece for brass band composed by Jan de Haan since then. The several variations are based on a solemn theme. The so-called minor-major seventh chord is easily detectable. The structure of the piece is such that the lyrical theme is preceded by a majestic introduction, and isfollowed by eight variations each strongly contrasting in character. The piece finishes in a short but extremely spectacular coda.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
-
£106.99Saint-Saens Variations - Philip Sparke
In 2006, a long-time dream of Philip Sparke finally became reality: to compose a set of variations on the famous chorale from Saint-Saens' renowned Organ Symphony. In 2009 the composer reworked the piece for brass band. The resulting Saint-Saens Variations has been simplified, shortened and in many places completely recomposed, to distill the essence of the symphony even further and allow younger bands to enjoy the power of Saint-Saens' masterpiece in an approachable, yet completely faithful, work.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
-
£55.00Purcell Variations (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Purcell Variations, composed in 1995, the year of the tercentenary of the death of the great English composer, was a watershed work in that it was Downie's first extended composition to be published independently of The Salvation Army and intended for wider use.For his theme, Downie has chosen what has come down to us as the hymn tune Westminster Abbey, which is in fact an adaptation made in 1842 by Ernest Hawkins, who was a Canon of Westminster Abbey where Purcell himself had been organist. Purcell's original is actually the closing section of an anthem, O God, Thou art my God, where it provides the final paean of praise, sung to repeated 'Hallelujahs'. Purcell's tune, particularly the opening triadic gesture, is used as a source of thematic and harmonic material - a quarry for ideas if you like: "I was obsessed with the intervals of thirds in Purcell's tune, rather like Brahms in his Third Symphony", the composer says.There are five variations, preceded by an extended introduction and theme. In the first variation, Purcell's lilting dance pulse has been transformed into a bright, playful sequence, in which each phrase of the melody is given its own transformation. In the second, Purcell's opening gambit is extended into a graceful, flowing waltz, featuring solo and first horn at the top of the register. The composer offers a range of metronome speeds in this movement, in which he is emulating the wistful elegance of Erik Satie's famous Gymnopedie. We enter the world of big band jazz in variation three, where Purcell's tune strides along with added syncopation and bluesy major/minor thirds to the fore. After the breathless energy and blazing brass of the big band, Downie moves into his 'home territory' for a beautifully worked lyrical variation. There is an enhanced urgency about the final variation, which opens with an extended reprise of the work's introduction. Purcell's second and third phrases provide the preparation for the exuberant return, in customary triumph of Purcell's 'Hallelujah'.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£14.95Pyrotechnic Variations on 1812 (Score Only)
Pyrotechnic Variations on 1812 was composed for Brass Band Schoonhoven, and used as part of their programme for Brass in Concert in November 2016.'Pyrotechnic Variations' is a modern day twist on Tchaikovsky's famous '1812' Overture. A heraldic opening introduces some familiar themes, before leading into a frantic virtuosic passage (especially for euphonium!), where quotes can be heard all through the band. This subsides into the central 'slow' section (via the unusual route of a bass and drum kit feature). After a whisper quiet reintroduction of the main theme, we build to the 'canon' finale - ending in a glorious celebratory style!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
View Music