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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£50.00Sweeney Todd (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Arnold, Malcolm - Littlemore, Phillip
Malcolm Arnold's ballet, Sweeney Todd, was first staged in 1959 by The Royal Ballet Company with choreography by John Cranko. The music was later adapted as a concert work and it is from this version that this brass band arrangement, by Phillip Littlemore, is made. The original concert suite lasts some 20 minutes, but this version has been shortened to a more manageable eight minutes. The first performance of this arrangement was given on the 22nd October 2006 at the Malcolm Arnold Festival, Derngate, Northampton by the Rushden Windmill Band conducted by Richard Graves. Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and above. Duration 8:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£69.99Fanfares and Love Songs (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Higgins, Gavin
Fanfares and Love Songs was commissioned by the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain for performance on 25th July 2009. Its three movements contrast the extrovert and lyrical qualities of the traditional brass band. The fanfare with which the work opens involves the whole cornet section. The second movement is reflective in mood, beginning somewhat pensively on muted brass, and building to an emotional climax before subsiding back to a distant pianissimo chord. The finale is a fast dance, which with a final recapitulation of the opening fanfare drives on to a breathless close.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveDuration: 12.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£14.99
Fanfares and Love Songs (Brass Band - Score only) - Higgins, Gavin
Fanfares and Love Songs was commissioned by the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain for performance on 25th July 2009. Its three movements contrast the extrovert and lyrical qualities of the traditional brass band. The fanfare with which the work opens involves the whole cornet section. The second movement is reflective in mood, beginning somewhat pensively on muted brass, and building to an emotional climax before subsiding back to a distant pianissimo chord. The finale is a fast dance, which with a final recapitulation of the opening fanfare drives on to a breathless close.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveDuration: 12.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£39.99For the Love of a Princess (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Horner, James - Duncan, Andrew
A spectacular Brass Band arrangement of James Horner's love theme from Braveheart in full score and parts. Ideal for school concert bands, arranged by Andrew Duncan.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveRecorded on Polyphonic QPRL220D Master Brass (Volume 16)Duraton: 4.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£40.00The Nutcracker 'Sweet' (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Miller, Glenn - Freeh, Mark
The Tchaikovsky Classic a la big band!Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker, is a fairy-ballet in two acts, three tableaux and was composed in 1891/2. It is based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1816). Mark Freeh has arranged this Tchaikovsky classic for brass band.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveDuration: 12.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£64.95Partita (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Selected as the Section 4 test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025Partita dates from 1971, when it was commissioned by the Redbridge Youth Band. The musical thread that runs through the work is the 13th century plainsong Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass. This gives the work a rather sombre tone which is audible right from the start of its first movement Intrada. The initial hammer-like chords of the opening and conclusion are only interrupted momentarily by a more lyrical modal tune. Even here, on its repetition, it is surrounded by more insistent textural patterns.The second movement, Chorale and Variations, uses the Dies Irae as the basis for an extended melody in the manner of a baroque sarabande. The five variations that follow are varied in texture, tempi, and dynamics. The final March is more optimistic in mood and presents as its main idea a rather jaunty theme which gets developed throughout the movement. However, the ominous presence of the Dies Irae has the last say with a final statement to round off the work.Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£32.50
Partita (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
Selected as the Section 4 test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025Partita dates from 1971, when it was commissioned by the Redbridge Youth Band. The musical thread that runs through the work is the 13th century plainsong Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass. This gives the work a rather sombre tone which is audible right from the start of its first movement Intrada. The initial hammer-like chords of the opening and conclusion are only interrupted momentarily by a more lyrical modal tune. Even here, on its repetition, it is surrounded by more insistent textural patterns.The second movement, Chorale and Variations, uses the Dies Irae as the basis for an extended melody in the manner of a baroque sarabande. The five variations that follow are varied in texture, tempi, and dynamics. The final March is more optimistic in mood and presents as its main idea a rather jaunty theme which gets developed throughout the movement. However, the ominous presence of the Dies Irae has the last say with a final statement to round off the work.Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£39.99Ladies in Lavender (Sop or Solo Cornet Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Hess, Nigel - Hall, Daniel
Set in a picturesque coastal Cornwall, in a tight-knit fishing village in the 1930s, Ladies in Lavender starred Judi Dench and Maggie Smith as sisters Ursula and Janet Widdington. This arrangement of the much loved theme by Nigel Hess has been arranged for soprano or solo cornet and brass band. Suitable for Premier Youth/2nd Section Bands and above. Duration: 8.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£38.00Is That the Time? (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Mottram, Paul
'Is That The Time' was written in 2014 for UK national award winning band 'Youth Brass 2000'. It's a showpiece in a jazzy fusion idiom with a full and central role for the kit drummer and percussionists. The temptation must be resisted to play the piece too quickly and in so doing losing the 16th note syncopations inherent within the rhythmic groove. The challenge is not so much one of getting the notes, although there are a few harmonic surprises along the way, as one of playing as a cohesive rhythmic unit. Duration: 4.30. Suitable for 1st Section Bands and above.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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