Results
-
£110.00Diversions After Benjamin Britten (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Suite by Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson, Paul McGhee and Gavin HigginsHaving devised a collective centenary tribute for Michael Tippett at the 2006 RNCM Festival of Brass (Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett by five eminent composers of brass band music, PHM002), I commissioned this companion piece as a Benjamin Britten tribute for the 2013 festival. In the late 1970s, while researching a book about the English composer, and Britten's first teacher, Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), I came across a copy of the printed score of Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Op.10) for string orchestra, in which Britten had written descriptive titles for each of the variations suggesting appropriate character traits of his much loved mentor and guide. The character variations are cast in march, song and dance forms.Taking inspiration from Britten's youthful tribute, I invited four award-winning composers, who have all made significant contributions to the brass band medium, to create their own personal reflections on four aspects of Britten's character and music, designed to form a suite of Diversions after Benjamin Britten, but which can also be played separately.Lucy Pankhurst's hauntingly lyrical Prelude: His Depth refers to the emotional and symbolic subtexts that underpin Britten's operas, taking its musical cue from Britten's many arrangements of folk songs. The flugel horn takes a prominent role throughout.Simon Dobson's breathless Scherzo: His Vitality reminds us with its rapid passage work and leaping bass 'groove' that Britten loved tennis and fast cars in his younger days.Paul McGhee's evocative interpretation of the March: His Sympathy represents Benjamin Britten's pacifism, as the composer writes: 'We view the music through the eyes of a pacifist. Whilst war and violence surround us, we do not engage in it and though it continues to happen around us. With the use of muted effects in most of the band throughout the piece, the flugel horn is the lone voice of reason, standing firm against the mechanical and destructive society in which it is forced to live. As the machine of war continues around the lone voice, the voice is gradually dismissed and mocked as the war machine rumbles on into the distance.'In an extended finale, entitled Toccata: His Skill, Gavin Higgins celebrates Benjamin Britten's consummate creativity. For the RNCM Festival of Brass premiere, the four contrasting movements were framed and connected by Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury for three trumpets, with the trumpet soloists spaced round the hall. I am grateful to the Britten Estate and publishers Boosey & Hawkes for giving permission for the elements of Britten's fanfare to be incorporated in the collective work.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 19.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£45.00
Diversions After Benjamin Britten (Brass Band - Score only)
Suite by Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson, Paul McGhee and Gavin HigginsHaving devised a collective centenary tribute for Michael Tippett at the 2006 RNCM Festival of Brass (Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett by five eminent composers of brass band music, PHM002), I commissioned this companion piece as a Benjamin Britten tribute for the 2013 festival. In the late 1970s, while researching a book about the English composer, and Britten's first teacher, Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), I came across a copy of the printed score of Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Op.10) for string orchestra, in which Britten had written descriptive titles for each of the variations suggesting appropriate character traits of his much loved mentor and guide. The character variations are cast in march, song and dance forms.Taking inspiration from Britten's youthful tribute, I invited four award-winning composers, who have all made significant contributions to the brass band medium, to create their own personal reflections on four aspects of Britten's character and music, designed to form a suite of Diversions after Benjamin Britten, but which can also be played separately.Lucy Pankhurst's hauntingly lyrical Prelude: His Depth refers to the emotional and symbolic subtexts that underpin Britten's operas, taking its musical cue from Britten's many arrangements of folk songs. The flugel horn takes a prominent role throughout.Simon Dobson's breathless Scherzo: His Vitality reminds us with its rapid passage work and leaping bass 'groove' that Britten loved tennis and fast cars in his younger days.Paul McGhee's evocative interpretation of the March: His Sympathy represents Benjamin Britten's pacifism, as the composer writes: 'We view the music through the eyes of a pacifist. Whilst war and violence surround us, we do not engage in it and though it continues to happen around us. With the use of muted effects in most of the band throughout the piece, the flugel horn is the lone voice of reason, standing firm against the mechanical and destructive society in which it is forced to live. As the machine of war continues around the lone voice, the voice is gradually dismissed and mocked as the war machine rumbles on into the distance.'In an extended finale, entitled Toccata: His Skill, Gavin Higgins celebrates Benjamin Britten's consummate creativity. For the RNCM Festival of Brass premiere, the four contrasting movements were framed and connected by Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury for three trumpets, with the trumpet soloists spaced round the hall. I am grateful to the Britten Estate and publishers Boosey & Hawkes for giving permission for the elements of Britten's fanfare to be incorporated in the collective work.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 19.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£38.95Unity Series Band Journal - Numbers 518 - 521, June 2023
518: March - A Christmas cavalcade (Morgan Juel Stavik)This march contains several Christmas carols and songs. Some are easy to recognise and are identified in the score, while other references are more subtle.519: Christmas bossa nova (Kevin Larsson)Using Jingle Bells, The First Nowell, It came upon the midnight clear and Ding dong! merrily on high, here is a great bossa nova to liven up your Christmas concert.520 (1): In te Domine speravi (Des Prez trs. Zachary Docter)This piece is a transcription of an early 16th century choral work by the Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez. Josquin was a well-known and highly regarded composer in his day. Like many composer of this period, Josquin wrote linearly, valuing independent free-flowing lines over vertical harmonies. As a result, the interlocking counterpoint in this work can be quite complex and the tied rhythms challenging.520 (2): Excerpt from 'Vespers' (Rachmaninoff trs. Andrew Poirier)Sergei Rachmaninoff's setting of the All-Night Vigil (Vespers) Op.37, of which this excerpt is taken, was composed in January and February 1915. The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 took many people by surprise, and to Rachmaninoff it was a severe shock. This compelled him to write a piece that reminded him of his childhood and the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church within the national identity of Russia. The excerpt transcribed here has a quality and enigmatic charm that never fails to move the souls of those that listen to it.521: March - Walk of faith (Stanley Makau)This march introduces Stanley Makau to the band journals. Stanley is currently the Deputy and Youth Bandmaster at Quarry Road Citadel Corps in Nairobi, Kenya. His inspiration for the march primarily came from Psalm 91: 11-12, and the march is in keeping with the traditional style that has been a staple for Salvation Army music-making.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£40.00Two Aquarelles (Euphonium Feature with Brass Band - Score and Parts)
In the late spring of 1917, the Bradford born composer, Frederick Delius (1856 - 1934) composed two short part-songs at his home in Grez-sur-Loing. The river ran along the bottom of his garden and he called the two miniatures To be sung of a summer night on the water. The First World War was at its height, but one would never guess that from the languid and serene quality of these richly textured nocturnes. The songs were first heard in London on 28 June, sung by the Oriana Madrigal Society, conducted by Charles Kennedy Scott. In 1932 Delius's amanuensis, Eric Fenby, arranged them for string orchestra as Two Aquarelles. While I have taken Fenby's title, my arrangement is a note-for-note transcription of the choral original. It was prepared in early in 1993 for Besses o' th' Barn Band, of which I was Musical Director at the time. In the second song, the prominent tenor solo has been given to the solo euphonium, who should stand apart from the band in performance.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£29.95Judd: Rosehill
The Salvation Army Assurance Society Band was the first Salvation Army band to take part in the Lord Mayors Show, in 1928. The Society relocated from London to Reading at the beginning of World War Two and the title of this march is derived from the name of the Reading property. Rosehill is a fine march containing all the drama and pyrotechnics that make it suitable for a Whit Friday type march contest.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£29.95Cairo Red Shield (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
During World War Two, Salvation Army servicemen serving in Cairo formed a 'Red Shield Club', of which one of the elements was a band. Albert Raikes (more often known affectionately by his middle name, Stan) was for some time in charge of this band and wrote this march in memory of this wartime combination and the enthusiasts who were, at one time or another, members of it.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£30.00My Little Welsh Home - Traditional
A beautiful arrangement by Tim Paton of a Welsh song by W S Gwynne Williams. Created in memory of his mother, Tim has produced a wonderful version for brass band and has also included an optional vocal solo or unison choir line.Comments from the arranger:I have arranged [My Little Welsh Home] in memory of my mother. [She] was born, Doreen Davies, on 27th November 1918, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, a small town in South West Wales. She had a beautiful voice, and met my father, Bill Paton, during World War II, whilst she was singing in a troop concert at the County Theatre in her home town, and my father was the MC.Throughout her life, my mother and father entertained, and she was singing right up until the final months of her life. She spent many years in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, a seaside town in South West England, and it was here that she passed away on 20th September 2004. During the last several months of her life, she often referred to the song My Little Welsh Home:Here are the words.I am dreaming of the mountains of my homeOf the mountains where in childhood I would roamI have dwelt 'neath southern skiesWhere the summer never diesBut my heart is in the mountains of my homeI can see the little homestead on the hillI can hear the magic music of the RhyllThere is nothing to compareWith the love that once was thereIn the lonely little homestead on the hillI can see the quiet churchyard down belowWhere the mountain breezes wander to and froAnd when God my soul will keepIt is there I want to sleepWith those dear old folks that loved me long agoLooking at the words, I can see why it meant so much to her. Haverfordwest is at the foot of the Preseli Mountains, and her home and church were at the top of a hill. My mothers' ashes were taken back to her own little Welsh home, and laid to rest in the grounds of the church where she had been Christened, Confirmed and Married.Look and Listen (Score-reading digital sound-sample):
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
-
£95.00Tenor Horn Concerto 'Three Gods' (Tenor Horn Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Edward Gregson's Tenor Horn Concerto (Three Gods) was commissioned by the Belgian tenor horn soloist Tim de Maeseneer for a recording of commissioned works he made in 2024 with his own band, Brass Band Willebroek.The subtitle of 'Three Gods' refers to three mythological Greek Gods: Zeus, Hermes and Apollo. The idea for this came from Gregson's Viola Concerto, which he composed in 2023 and which was similarly subtitled 'Three Goddesses'. Indeed, the first movement of the horn concerto shares some common material with the viola concerto, although the other movements are newly composed.The concerto exploits the noble character of the horn, but the writing is also virtuosic in character as well as lyrical and melodic, demanding an extended playing range of nearly four octaves with a variety of colouration in its sonorities. The unifying motif of the whole concerto is the interval of a rising 5th, heard at the outset. The opening also has some other surprises (both seen and heard).The musical ideas, cast in three separate movements, take their starting point from the characters of the Three Gods in the title:Zeus, ruled as King of the Gods on Mount Olympus, and was the God of Thunder and Lightning and of War. His music is often threatening and violent, but also has a more tender side as portrayed in the lyrical second subject. However, the dominant mood is one of foreboding.Hermes was the great messenger to the Gods who could travel between realms on his winged sandals. Thus, his music is fast, fleet of foot, and mercurial - a dashing scherzo, but with lyrical and expressive moments.Apollo, the God of Music and Dance (and the Sun), symbolises virtue and beauty. This final movement, 'Hymn to Apollo', is mainly slow and hymn-like and cast in a continuous stream of melody passed between soloist and band. Brief fanfares herald a triumphant march, before the music returns to its quiet opening, gradually rising to a triumphant climax with glittering melodic percussion leading the way. The music ends in a blaze of glory!Duration: 17.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£54.20Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Closely based on an earlier Raye-Prince hit, 'Beat me daddy, eight to the bar', this song was a major hit for the Andrews Sisters becoming an iconic song of the Second World War.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£75.00Iceni Autumn (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
The piece is in four movements; SPQR, Cockley Cley, Boudicca - Battles and Requiem and Venta Icenorum.S.P.Q.R. is an initialism of a Latin noun phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus ("The Senate and the Roman People"). This movement attempts to portray the mood in England under Roman occupation and contains important themes developed throughout the suite.Cockley Cley is a reconstruction of the type of village occupied by the Iceni. For many years it was a popular tourist attraction in Norfolk.Boudicca (also known as Boadicea) was the wife of King Prasutagus of the Iceni, a British tribe that lived in East Anglia during the time of the Roman Emperor Nero. When Prasutagus, an ally of the Romans died, the local Roman government officials decided that they would seize her wealth and lands for themselves. When Boudicca protested, saying she was a Roman ally who was being treated no better than a slave, the Roman soldiers fogged her and raped her daughters. Boudicca called her tribe to arms and revolted against their Roman oppressors; this saw the complete devastation of Colchester, St Albans and London. In the final battle the Romans slaughtered about 80,000 Britons including women, children and old men, repaying atrocities in kind. Boudicca and her two daughters poisoned themselves rather than be captured and taken to Rome as prisoners of war.Venta Icenorum was the capital of the Iceni Tribe, who inhabited the flatlands and marshes of Norfolk and earned immortality for their revolt against Roman rule under their queen Boudicca in the winter of 61 AD. This triumphant march brings various themes together and ends with a final reference.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days