Results
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£24.95The Dark Side Of The Moon (Score Only)
This piece was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs and Black Dyke Band on behalf of Rotary International and received its world premire performance at St. David's Hall, Cardiff on Saturday 27th January 2007. It is dedicated to the composer's father, Harry Cooper.The music was selected by the National Contesting Council as the 3rd section test piece for the 2008 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. A Note from the Composer...Have you ever thought of a holiday destination, tourist attraction, event, place, site or period in history and thought 'I wonder what it would be like?' - somwhere you have never been and can only let your imagination run wild on. What would the place be like, and all the things surrounding it such as the mood, feelings you get experiencing it, the temperature? Who would be there and what you would see? This piece is my musical imagination of the dark side of the moon. I know from news reports, the internet and other footage that the moon is a very desolate place, very barren and rugged. So from the start the piece gives the listener a musical picture of the rugged landscape with little light and warmth.However, the one place that has had me thinking about is the side of the moon that we don't see in our night skies, the side of the moon with no sun and no light pollution from civilisation. I can only imagine the eeriness one would feel being stood in complete darkness on the moon's surface looking around.As you slowly explore the surroundings and your eyes drift up to the night sky, there is an awesome sight unfolding in front of you - countless stars and galaxies, planets and different solar systems and all right in front of you glistening from the light of the sun beaming from the other side of the moon. The Dark Side of the Moon portrays a musical picture of the whole experience as seen in my imagination taking the listener from the rugged landscape to the awesome beauty that sits endlessly in front of you.Paul Lovatt-Cooper, September 2007
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£16.00Three Haworth Impressions (Brass Band - Score only)
A wonderful three movement suite which conjures up fabulous musical imagery of the lands of northern England. Well worth including as a concert item in your next programme, but this great original composition should really should be set again as a test-piece soon - rewarding musically for audience and bandsmen alike.Includes:TOP WITHENS - A GENERAL EVOCATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS The sinister opening motif symbolises the influence of the evil Heathcliffe, Soon this motif experiences several changes of character in order to portray emotions other than those of hatred and jealousy. The overall mood is, however, one of gloom and foreboding.THE THREE BELLS This is a reference to the pseudonyms adopted by Ann, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. The music begins with three "bell"-notes; Ab for Acton Bell, Cb for Currer Bell and Eb for Ellis Bell, and these three notes form the basis of a wistful waltz tune. Again the mood is rather sombre -- save for a brighter middle section -- and the opening motif from "Top Withens" is to be heard, again symbolising the frustrations and ill-fortune by which their lives were plagued.THE WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY The Brontes were not the only people in Haworth and not all is desperation and gloom. The third impression is a celebration of the victory of the people of Haworth in their fight to retain their railway. The nine-eight rhythm of a slow train is prominent, and our once-sombre motif is transformed into a triumphant fanfare.Duration: 12.00Please note that there are only 3 solo cornet parts included in this set
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£17.50Almighty (Brass Band - Score only) - Trigg, Roger
'Almighty' was written for Bandmaster Ross Johnson and Camberwell Citadel Band (Australia) for use on the band's 2009 tour of New Zealand. This energetic work takes its title from the opening line of the well-loved hymn, 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation' (S.A.S.B. 19). It is based on the hymn tune 'Lobe den Herren' (T.B. 721) and whilst the tune is only heard in its entirety once, fragments of the tune can be heard throughout the music. The music is a shout of acclamation to the King of Kings.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£22.00Journey of the Lone Wolf (Brass Band - Score only)
Championship Section Test Piece for the 2016 National Finals of the British Brass Band Championship.The Lone Wolf of the title is the great Hungarian composer and folklorist Bla Bartok. Bartok's journey took him from the hills of the Balkans to the heart of the new world. His singular vision may have meant a life out in the cold, a life without warmth and love, a life without true happiness, a death mourned by a few in a strange land.The first of the three linked movements is capturing the Peasants' Song and follows the young Bartok and fellow composer Zoltan Kolday as they embark on Summertime adventures through the Hungarian countryside to collect and catalogue the astonishing variety of Gypsy and folk music heard in the Balkan hills. The arrival of WW1 plunges Bartok's beloved Hungary into chaos.Bartok was at times a cold man, aloof and lonely. The occasional moments of tenderness he showed are portrayed in Night Music. His brief but intense affairs speak of a love he could only long for. Jazz is my night music and here there are hints of what Bartok may have heard in the USA later in his life.Having been forced by the world's evils to leave his homeland of Hungary for America Bartok, the anti-fascist, felt isolated and angry. In the finale, Flight and Fight, we hear his longing for a simpler time of Gypsy folk dances as well as his maturity and depth as a composer finally exploring deeper colours and darker themes.Duration: 15.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£57.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
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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£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
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£22.50
Trailblazers (Brass Band - Score only) - Mackereth, Andrew
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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£17.50
The Covenanters (Brass Band - Score only) - Downie, Kenneth
In 1638, many members of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland signed a document called the National Covenant. By doing so, they were declaring that they acknowledged only Jesus Christ as the spiritual head of their church, and not any king or queen. This had become necessary because the Stuart kings believed in the Divine Right of Monarchs and saw themselves as head of the church. In the previous year, Charles I had forcibly introduced the Book of Common Prayer, invoking the wrath of the common people who faced the threat of torture, transportation or execution if they did not use the new liturgy and worship at their local church. The net result of this was that many met illegally in the countryside or in barns and large houses. These meetings became known as 'conventides' and many took place in the south-west of the country. Anyone caught attending was at risk of execution by the muskets of the dragoons who were employed in the area for that specific purpose. This music was written to honour the bravery and loyalty of these Christians to their faith, in the face of extreme danger, in the hope that it will inspire us also to be faithful. There are overtones of military threat, secrecy and solidarity. An old pentatonic tune is used, which the composer heard as a boy being sung to the words The Lord's My Shepherd.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£22.50
Euphony (Euphonium Solo with Brass Band - Score only) - Redhead, Robert
Previously only available in manuscript form, this euphonium solo with brass band accompaniment is now available in printed format. Euphony (meaning a pleasant, sweet sound) is based on the tunes of Sidney Cox with material taken from the songs; 'He found me', 'This one thing I know', 'You can tell out the sweet story' and 'Deep and wide'. At the time of writing, the composer remarked; 'The euphonium is often associated with melodies and harmonies that lend themselves to pleasing sounds'. That is true of this solo but it also presents considerable technical challenges for the soloist in terms of range and technique.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£22.50
Jubilance (Cornet Solo with Brass Band - Score only) - Himes, William
This exuberant fantasia for soloist and band requires double-tonguing for the quick and brilliant introduction. Not only the soloist will be extended with this work - the band accompaniment is also demanding and will need to be given full attention. The solo builds to a brilliant climax and is an ideal showcase for Cornet soloists.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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