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£65.00Royal Fireworks, Music from the (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Handel, George Frideric - Blakeson, Don
Handel's Music For The Royal Fireworks was composed in 1749 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. The site chosen was the fashionable upper part of St. James Park, which was becoming known at that time as Green Park. The Green Park 'Machine', which housed the pyrotechnics was an elaborate affair adorned with "statues and other figures, festoons of flowers, and other lustres". It was announced that there would be some 10,000 rockets and other devices to be let off, all culminating in a grand, burning sun with 'Vivat Rex' at its centre. There were also rumours that the event was to be accompanied by an impressively large band of military music and mention was made of "40 trumpets, 20 french horns, 16 hautboys (oboes), 16 bassoons, 8 pairs of kettle drums, 12 side drums, a proper number of flutes and fifes; with 100 cannon to go off singly at intervals". It is unlikely that Handel had ever conceived such forces and it was merely the promoter's hyberbole, not least because it was unlikely that there were sufficient numbers of extra military musicians available that could read music, as most played from memory. It is also likely that Handel, and his publisher, were conscious that future performances would be hindered by such forces. The autographed score lists the instrumentation as 9 trumpets, 9 french horns, 24 hautboys, 12 bassoons, 3 pairs of kettle drums and up to 4 side drums. The work is in five movements, although Handel's original score did not indicate in which order they should be played. However, in this score they are arranged to be played as follows: Overture; Bour?e; La Paix; Minuets; La R?jouissance. Duration: 19:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£15.00Symphony in Two Movements (Study Score Only)
Selected as the Championship Section test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Judd: Trailblazers
This overture draws its inspiration from the story of the first Household Troops Band. It tells the story of the 1887 band, the subsequent lull of nearly a hundred years and the re-awakening of the Troops phenomenon in 1985. It was originally written in 1995 and featured prominently by the band on its North American tour of 2002. Given the history of the Household Troops Band, it is fitting that this composition is preoccupied with marching. It begins with a marching song played by a solitary muted cornet, symbolic not only of the call to bandsmen to join the evangelical effort but also a muso-dramatic device to indicate the steady increase in members and technical ability! The music quickly develops into stirring versions of 'A robe of white' and 'Storm the forts of darkness' with two early day Salvation Army tunes crucially adding to the narrative; 'Marching on in the light of God' and 'Soldiers of our God, arise!' The second section is a reflective setting of the Herbert Booth song, 'The penitent's plea'. This song serves to represent the many people who were 'saved' during those early day campaigns. The expressive music transports the listener through a period of uncertainty and angst until finally reaching the song, 'There is a message, a simple message, and it's a message for us all'. The final section deals first with the emergence from the annals of history with the muted cornet figure again before, symbolically, the present day band bursts forth with an emphatic statement of 'Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood'. The stirring climax represents a fitting tribute to those gallant pioneering musicians and their equally impressive and dedicated contemporaries.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95The Fire and the Phoenix (Trombone Solo)
Trombone Solo with Brass BandThe Fire & the Phoenix (2015) was commissioned by Brett Baker in early 2015 as the opening track to his solo CD 'Myths & Legends'. Whilst structurally a single-movement work, it is presented so that it can link directly into the next work on the CD, adding to a continuous theme comprising a number of pieces from a number of composers.Opening with huge strident chords in the full band, the representation of the phoenix is instantly reflected; bold, powerful and a bird of great intensity. This makes way for a more mystical section marked 'distant' which reflect the beauty of the Phoenix and it's mythical nature where the trombone soars up into its higher register with a sweeping melody.Soon after, the music takes a sharp turn, becoming dramatic and instantly moving away from the mystical mood created previously. Here, we imagine the Phoenix catching fire, burning intensely with huge flames as it gradually turns into ash. We reach a tonic pedal point in the music, over which chord progressions subtly weave in and out of the texture. Here, we imagine the Phoenix rising from the ashes, with the dynamics gradually increasing to reflect this, slowly taking shape as it is born again.A return to earlier material follows, this time manipulated to reflect the Phoenix in its new form - the same bird; the same animal; but at the same time different. A beautiful chorale-like passage is heard before the music transports us back into a magical land, where delicate rhythmic ideas are juxtaposed against bolder lower chords; both ideas together transporting the listener forward into the next piece.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£174.10Three Gentle Giants - Svein H. Giske
Three Gentle Giantswas commissioned by Grenland International Brass Festival as a test piece for the 2nd division in 2008.Three Gentle Giants. The three giants each have their own monologue which leads into a conversation. They gather recognition and respect from each others views as the dialogue evolves. Eventually they find a more nutual and singular expression to their conversation.The giants are old with a long life behind them. This can be heard through a slow, melancholic waltz. A waltz is dance commonly linked to festiveoccasions, such as weddings, but for the giants it holds much more significance. It gives room to think about people they have met, placesthey have been, and all that life has given them.Quietly it ends, more or less like it began. We hear echoes of the past, before it all fades out.The giants wander off into a new beginning.Svein H. Giske- January 2023 -In Memoriam Thorvald, Finn and Thor Louis
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£69.99The Green Hills of Tyrol - Philip Sparke
The Green Hills of Tyrol was commissioned by Jrena and Beat Knusel for their son, Swiss euphonium player Joel Knusel, to celebrate his 20th birthday in 2019. The request was for a piece suitable for use in a solo competition, possibly using a Scottish or Irish melody, and composer Philip Sparke suggested an 'old-fashioned' air varie might be a suitable idea. The piece follows the well-established formula of a theme followed by four variations. The history of the original melody is fascinating and, although it is now well-known as a bagpipe tune, its background is Austrian or Italian, rather than Scottish. The tune appears as a chorus of Swiss soldiers in Rossini's 1829 opera William Tell but was possibly an existing Tyrolean folk tune. In 1854, during the Crimean War, Pipe Major John MacLeod of the 93rd Highlanders heard a band of the Sardinian contingent playing selections from the opera in camp before the Siege of Sebastopol. He was struck by the melody and arranged it for his pipers, calling it The Green Hills of Tyrol, referring to Tell's visit to that corner of Austria in the opera. It has since become universally popular among pipe bands who usually refer to it as A Scottish Soldier, following the addition of new lyrics in a 1961 hit by Andy Stewart.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£127.30Graceful Ghost - William Bolcom
I came to know of this piece when hearing famous Norwegian ragtime pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen playing it at a concert with the Norwegian Navy Band Bergen. I was struck by its melancholic beauty and wanted to arrange it for band.Ragtimes are rarely in a minor key (which this one is) and when you first hear it, you might think it was written around the time when Scott Joplin was the main ragtime composer. But, if you listen more carefully, you notice that some of theharmonies are more advanced than one might expect in traditional ragtime, giving the piece a slightly more contemporary feel. The composer William Bolcom wrote Graceful Ghost in 1970 to honour the memory of his father and it is one of hismost popular pieces.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£60.99Angels from the Realms of Glory - Roland Kernen
The title of this clever arrangement reveals the Christmas song it is based on. The melody can be traced back to a French folksong from the 18th century which is now known around the world. In France it is called Les anges dans nos campagnes, in Germany it is most widely known as Engel auf den Feldern singen and in England it was originally called Angels From the Realms of Glory but it often known as Angels We Have Heard on High. Everyone will rejoice upon hearing the 'Gloria in excelsis Deo' refrain!
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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To Ancient Light - Matt Kingston - Matt Kingston
"This is an absolutely stunning composition - huge contrasts between passages, some beautiful chords and subtle resolutions - it raises heart-tugging emotions and your ears just can't get enough. Buy it. Find a big church. Play it. Then play it again."
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£29.99Harbour Bridge, Joseph Knight
This is a light concert piece which has been created in the 1960s cool jazz style. It is a great conversation piece and requires an advanced band with a good percussion section. Interestingly it requires a vibraphone to play it effectively. The concept of the piece is that it could be the title music to a fictional 1960s espionage film.
Estimated dispatch 5-9 working days
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