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£34.95Song of the Night Sky - Christopher Bond
Orpheus is known as the most talented music player of the ancient times. It is said that god Apollo was his father, from whom took his extreme talent in music, and the Muse Calliope was his mother. Tragedy struck when his wife, Eurydice stepped on a viper which in turn bit her, injecting its fatal venom. Nothing could stop his cries of anguish and sheer pain and sorrow upon realizing his beautiful Eurydice was dead. Orpheus decided to go into the Underworld to get his wife back. Apollo, his father, would talk to Hades, the god of the Underworld to accept him and hear his plea. And so Orpheus set off into the Underworld and was warned that for no reason must he look back while his wife was still in the dark, for that would undo everything he hoped for. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear the footfalls of his wife approaching him. As his was approaching the exit, his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he stepped on the world of the living, he turned his head to hug his wife. Unfortunately, he got only a glimpse of Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the underworld. When Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the dark, she hadn't seen the sun and, was drowned back to the dark world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over him and shuddering with grief he approached the Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry, the gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus, wouldn't let him in. His songs were no more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort was to lay on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only vision were the open skies. Song of the Night Sky was recorded by Tom Hutchinson and the Cory Band in June 2015, featuring on his debut solo album.
Estimated dispatch 5-10 working days
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£95.00
Journey of the Lone Wolf (score & parts) - Simon Dobson
Journey of the Lone Wolf tells the story of the hungarian composer Bla Bartk. It was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs for Black Dyke Band, who gave the first performance on Sunday 26 January 2014 at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester as part of the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass.The composer's programme notes for each movement: 1. Capturing the Peasants' SongAfter the upheaval of moving to Budapest the young Bla Bartk meets Zoltn Kodly and the pair embark on summertime adventures throughout the Hungarian countryside to collect and catalogue the astonishing variety (both harmonically and rhythmically) of gypsy and folk music heard in the Balkans. The arrival of WW1 plunges Bartk's beloved Hungary into chaos.2. Night MusicBartk was at times a cold man, aloof and lonely. The odd moments of tenderness he showed are portrayed here in a series of evocative solos. 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 Bartk may have heard in the USA later in his life.3. Flight and FightHaving been forced by the world's evils to leave his homeland of Hungary for America, Bartk, the anti-fascist, felt isolated and angry. In this movement 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 minutes.Level: Championship
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£55.00Teens At The Junkyard - Brass Band Full Score & Parts - LM995
COMPOSER: Chris AllenProgramme NotesWriting about beautiful rural scenes and seascapes seems to be a very British thing to do. The themes of the English Pastoral School seem especially alive and well in the brass band musical repertoire, featuring in popular works such as John McCabe's Cloudcatcher Fells and Ray Steadman-Allen's Seascapes among many others. McCabe's engrossing depictions of place in Cloudcatcher, Maunsell Forts and Scenes in America Deserta conviced me that music really can transport the listener to a different environment, but rather than describing a landmark or a pastoral scene, I decided to give some attention to an ugly, neglected place.In Square Enix's Life is Strange, an episodic adventure game released in 2015, two teens use the local junkyard as a place of escape from the drama of their lives, unbeknowst to the fact that their friend, recently missing, was murdered and buried in that very place. Inspired by these dark images, I sought to write music that reflected the strewn broken glass, the piles of trash, the stories left behind in the waste of the junkyard. In keeping with this theme of buried history, I unearthed a musical relic from the brass band repertoire, cannibalising themes from Eric Ball's Journey into Freedom. In fragmenting and distorting such a treasured work I hope to make the listener feel a process of wasting away of precious memories.The first movement should be spiky, clinical and bleak, with a similar character to that of Harrison Birtwistle's Grimethorpe Aria, and the second, an intense, reminiscing, lyrical slow section. The final movement is in a similar vein to Elgar Howarth's Songs for B.L., ending with a blazing finish as if standing upon the tallest pile of trash in the junkyard and looking down upon the chaos below.Chris Allen (2021)About the Composer:Chris Allen, 22, studied Music at the University of Birmingham, graduating with a 1st in his Bachelor's degree in 2020 and achieving a Distinction in his Master's in Composition in 2021. Chris won the University of Birmingham Music Society's Composition Competition in 2019 with his piece for brass band, The Sirens, and was published for the first time by Modrana Music after winning the Durham University Brass Band's inaugural composition competition with his suite, Three Images of North-East England. Both pieces have been performed in concert and recorded recently and Chris continues to write new, original works for brass band.Chris started playing the tenor horn at the age of 7 under the tutelage of Don Blakeson, first joining the Melton Band and then moving onto Hathern Band,conducted by David Newman. Upon moving to university in Birmingham,Chris studied performance on the tenor horn with Owen Farr for a year,started playing with the University of Birmingham Brass Band, under thebaton of Stuart Birnie, and began writing and occasionally conducting his ownworks for brass band. However, his work is not confined to this ensemble,and as part of his studies, he has written for the Ligeti Quartet and theBirmingham Contemporary Music Group.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£30.00The Sword and the Star
DescriptionThe Sword and the Star was written in 2006 for the Middleton Band at the request of their Musical Director, Carl Whiteoak. The inspiration for the work was the band's badge, which features a medieval archer. The town of Middeton's historical link with the symbol of the Archer came from the English victory at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513, where bowmen from Middleton and Heywood under the command of Sir Richard Assheton played a vital part in crushing the invading Scottish army. Sir Richard captured one of the Scottish commanders and presented the prisoner's sword to the St Leonard's church in Middleton in recognition of the town's contribution. As long time Lords of the Manor, the Assheton family crest was for centuries featured in the coat of arms of Middleton council, and when Middleton became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale the black star from the Assheton crest was used to represent Middleton in the new borough's coat of arms. Hence the title The Sword and the Star, for a piece which attempts to give an impression of the town as it was then and as it is now.The music is in three short sections - a fanfare, a lament and a bright scherzo - and simply aims to contrast the medieval hamlet of Middleton with the bustling urban centre it has now become. The central lament features a Scottish song called "The Flowers of the Forest", written to mourn the loss of so many of Scotland's young men on the field of Flodden; the song returns in a much more positive form at the end of the piece.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£30.00Edward Gregson: Music of the Angels, for Symphonic Brass and Percussion
DescriptionProgramme NoteMusic of the Angels is a dramatic work of some 16 minute's duration, scored for a large symphonic brass ensemble, including seven trumpets, and percussion. The percussion section deploys 'dark' instruments such as three tam-tams, a bass drum and two sets of timpani.The title of the work is based on a quotation from the Book of Revelations:And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpetsThus, the idea behind the work is a dramatic one and the composer has emphasised this by the partial spatial arrangement of the ensemble, with six solo trumpets standing centre stage, but behind the main ensemble, and the seventh trumpet off-stage throughout.The work opens with a four-note motif, dominant throughout the work, announced initially by four off-stage horns and answered by fanfare figures on four solo trumpets. Then in turn each of the first four solo trumpets announce their own cadenzas before joining together, independently playing their own music. This reaches an intense climax before subsiding into slow music which might be described as a Kyrie eleison - a lament for humanity - a cantilena for flugel horn and euphonium, accompanied by trombones. The drama soon returns with the entry of trumpets 5 and 6, playing music that is fast, more urgent and foreboding, and describing in musical terms the horsemen of the Apocalypse.At the climax of this section trumpet 7 enters dramatically, representing the words of the seventh angel ... and time shall be no more. The opening four-note motif is here transformed into a cadenza of epic proportions, to the partial accompaniment of three tam-tams (representing the Holy Trinity). The ensuing scherzo, scored for the ensemble, is fast and furious, but despite the somewhat desolate mood of this music (briefly interrupted by the re-appearance of trumpet 7), it slowly moves towards a more optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'lament for humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant climax.This work has been commercially recorded on a critically acclaimed CD from London Brass on the Chandos label, available HERE.For more information on Edward Gregson's music please visit the composer's website: www.edwardgregson.com
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95
SOUTHERN CROSS, The (Brass Band Set) - Brian Bowen
The Southern Cross is one of several excellent marches by Brian Bowen in which he carried on the more sophisticated pattern of British marches by Wilfred Heaton, Leslie Condon and Ray Steadman-Allen. It was written for the Box Hill (Australia) Corps jubilee celebrations in 1970 and formed part of the band's repertoire when it toured Great Britain in the same year. The first half of the march features part of the song, 'March on!' by Klaus Ostby, an early pioneer of Salvation Army music in Scandinavia. The contrapuntal layering of melodies in the trio, especially in the finale where 'March on!' sounds one more triumphant time, is notable, as is the shift to a slower, more stately tempo. The harmonic and rhythmic style also represents the more modern sounds of Salvation Army brass band music in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Right from the opening gestures, listeners at early performances knew that a page had turned in the evolution of the Salvation Army march.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£68.80When the lights go down - Kevin Houben
Kevin Houben created with When the Lights Go Down, a wonderful chorale that can be a moment of reflection in any concert program.The resigned, magnificent melodies at the beginning of this composition slowly build up to a highlight with an increasing orchestration. The piece starts with a suggestive Adagio Meditativo, after which the main theme is immediately announced. A central bridge section takes the listener along through the different spheres at which the melodic and rhythmic drums embellish the chorale melodies. Thematic elements from the introduction brings the piece to a quiet and peaceful end.The sheer simplicity with which this work is written, makes it a resplendent, magnificent concert piece. 'When the Lights Go Down', refers to a moment when time stand still for a while, stillness within and around yourself.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£119.99The Patriots - Jan de Haan
The Dutch patriottentijd (literally 'Time of the Patriots') was a period of political instability in the 1780s. The country was led by regents who were occupied with their own personal interests rather than dedicating themselves to the needs of the people. In this revolutionary period, the devoted republican Patriots were in conflict with the Orangists. A civil war followed, in which the Patriots were beaten and driven away by a Prussian army. This composition is an abstract piece inspired by the Patriots. The thematic material is based on the Dutch war song 'Merck toch hoe sterck'. Its powerful minor melody, which has its origins in the Eighty Years' War, is recognizablethroughout the work, presented in variations of constantly shifting character.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£271.60Aubade - Dawn Songs of the Fabulous Birds - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Commissioned by The Norwegian Band Federation for The European Brass Band Championship 2003, in Bergen, Norway (Third edition) I remember as a kid the very early morning wake-up ceremonies caused by Seagulls having a "party" outside our home. Very few would describe it as beautiful, particularly not at 4:30 in the morning... But by listening carefully to birds I was fascinated by their diversity and musical language: they dont sing tunes or long phrases, they rather make sounds and signals, based on short motives. Aubade is based on musical pictures of the imaginary birds: the creatures with wings that exists only in myths and legends. The whole story starts with aBaritone-cadenza that evoke all the sleeping creatures. Very soon they all start to sing their songs in one way or another. The composition has a burlesque scherzo-character including slow espressive intersections. Traditional elements like melody and harmony is combined with extensive sounds and textural effects created by use of multiple muting, singing and playing at the same time. I am not too concerned about having a program for the piece. I just know that by thinking of the unheard dragon-songs, griffin-songs, the sound of the dodo, my creativity was stimultated. As a piece of music, Aubade follows its own rules based on well-known elements like melodies, arpeggio-figures, harmonies, rhythms, variations and recapitulation of ideas. - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£115.60The Hippodrome Galop - J. H. White
The Hippodrome Galop by H. White is No. 5 in the first of a series of works called Distin's Brass Band Scores (see advertisement below), published in 1854 by Henry Distin. These publications represent an important stage in the history of bands in Britain.The purpose of this scholarly edition is to produce a performing version, clearing ambiguities and errors, that can be enjoyed by today's performers and listeners, bearing in mind the original function and context. At the same time the edition is an analytical, musicological study of one of the rare treasures of the brass band repertory.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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