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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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£22.50Edward Gregson: Concertante for Piano and Brass Band
DescriptionProgramme NoteThe Concertante for Piano and Brass Band was written in 1966, when the composer was an undergraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It received its first public concert performance in 1967 at the Royal Festival Hall, London, when the composer was the soloist with the International Band of the Salvation Army, conducted by Bernard Adams. It was one of the first major works to be written for this particular combination.The Concertante is unashamedly romantic in idiom and is in three movements: Prelude, Nocturne and Rondo. The Prelude is cast in sonata form and opens with a short cadenza-like flourish from the soloist, followed by two main ideas - the first sweepingly dramatic, the second highly lyrical. The interplay between these two themes forms the main focus of the movement, and after a return to the opening theme, an exuberant codetta brings the music to a close, albeit a quiet one. https://morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-1st-movt-clip.mp3The tender Nocturne opens with an introduction from the band that contains precursors of the two main ideas to follow. The solo piano announces the main theme, which has a slightly 'bluesy' character with its flattened third and seventh notes of the scale, and is a love song dedicated to the composer's wife-to-be. The band enters with phrases of a chorale already hinted at in the introduction - Ray Steadman-Allen's hymn tune 'Esher' - but never quite presented in its complete state. Both ideas are developed alongside each other, with eventually the first theme returning, this time with piano and band together, and building to a majestic climax, before subsiding to a peaceful coda - a return to the very opening of the movement. https://morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-movt-2-clip.mp3The final Rondo is full of energetic rhythms and changing time patterns. The main theme is playful in character, with much interplay between soloist and band, whilst the middle section presents a new theme, and one that has more than a hint of the hymn tune 'Onward Christian Soldiers', in what amounts to a good humoured parody. The opening Rondo theme returns, this time leading to a powerful and dissonant climax from the band. This is followed by an extended piano cadenza, underlying the virtuoso aspect of the work, and leading to an energetic and life-affirming coda, which brings the work to a triumphant conclusion. https://morthanveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gregson-Concertante-movt-3-clip.mp3Duration: 18 minutesInstrumentation:Please note that there is no 1st/Repiano Cornet part in this work. The 1st/Repiano Cornet player should join the Solo Cornet bench. As such an extra Solo Cornet part is provided in the set of parts.Version for two pianosA version of the Concertante for two pianos is available for rehearsal purposes. Piano 1 is the solo part and Piano 2 the band reduction. However, for those pianists not needing to rehearse the work in this way, a solo piano part is also provided with the main set of band parts.To view a preview of the solo part for the first movement click here.The youthful Gregson (his work was written as a third year undergraduate) was seemingly a bit of a musical magpie - but one heck of a skilful one at that.These were shiny baubles of poise, panache and pastiche, with affectionate, remarkably mature nods of appreciation towards Gershwin, Rachmaninov, Ireland and even Elmer as well as Leonard Bernstein.The rich colour palette and flowing lines (with the tenderest of central Nocturnes) were a joy - as were the little buds of motifs that dotted the score like seeds ready to be planted on a future fertile brass band compositional field. - Iwan Fox, 4Barsrest.com, June 2019For 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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£159.99Omaggio (Euphonium Concerto No.4) (Euphonium Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Sparke, Philip
Omaggio was commissioned by Steven Mead in celebration of his 60th birthday and in memory of his father, Rex. He gave the premiere of the brass band version in Rome in March 2022, accompanied by the Italian Brass Band conducted by Filippo Cangiamilla. The concert band premiere took place on 6th July that year as part of the 2022 Spanish International Tuba Euphonium Conference, accompanied by the Banda municipal de msica de Malaga.The concerto is set in 3 continuous movements, which are united by a recurring syncopated interval of a fifth. The first movement, Fantasia, opens with this motive accompanying an extended monologue for the soloist. This is followed by a lengthy bridge passage by the band, which is eventually joined by the soloist, who guides the music back to the opening soliloquy, leading to an energetic central section. This develops until the opening material again returns to introduce the second movement, Ballad, which revolves around an expressive melody for the soloist, interspersed by accompanied cadenzas. The third movement, The King Triumphant, pays homage to Steven's late father, Rex, and its title alludes both to Rex's name (Rex being Latin for king) as well as his love of Eric Ball's Salvationist masterpiece, The Kingdom Triumphant. The finale is an energetic tour-de-force featuring an acrobatic 6/8 melody, which is interrupted twice by the magnificent hymn tune, Helmsley, which Ball uses so effectively in The Kingdom Triumphant. A galloping coda brings the work to a close.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£55.00Mr Shilkret's Maggot (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Holst, Gustav - Hindmarsh, Paul
This short piece was composed in 1932 during a visit Gustav Holst was making to the USA. He was invited by the band leader Nathaniel Shilkret to contribute to a series of piece for concert jazz band based on a folk song. Rather than using a traditional tune, Holst invented one of his own in folk song style and therefore the piece was not performed. Holst considered various titles for the piece including Mr. Shilkret's Dump, Folly and Maggot. On the manuscript he described it as a Jazz Band Piece. When the composer's daughter Imogen re-scored the piece for the English Chamber Orchestra to record under her direction in 1967, she changed decided to use the title Capriccio.Her re-orchestration involved removing the saxophone quartet, adding cor anglais and a second bassoon and changing cornet parts to trumpets. She retained the harp, extensive percussion, piano and celesta. My brass band version is based on the composer's manuscript, held at the British Library. It retains the composer's cornet parts, re-voices the woodwinds and strings, and places keyboards and harp onto glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone and xylophone.I have selected the title Mr. Shilkret's Maggot for my scoring of Jazz Band Piece, which was first performed by The Cory Band, conducted by Philip Harper, at the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band Festival, 29 January 2017.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 5.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£91.99Pulcinella (Euphonium Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Sparke, Philip
Pulcinella was commissioned by the Taiwanese euphonium player Tzu-Hsiang Lin. Lin is a renowned soloist and teacher and a Besson Euphonium Artist. He teaches euphonium at Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, Shih Chien University and National Kaohsiung Normal University. Lin gave the premiere of Pulcinella in both its concert band and brass band versions in January 2021. Pulcinella continues Sparke's series of euphonium solos named after characters of the Italian commedia dell'arte and opens with a long and expressive minor melody for the soloist over a brooding accompaniment. This is taken up briefly by the full band and is extended by the soloist after a change of key. A cadenza, accompanied by fragments of the main melody leads to a complete change of mood, tempo and tonality, introducing a Vivo section starting with a perky syncopated tune for the soloist. The band then uses elements of this new tune to introduce a change of key, where the soloist introduces a more lyrical second subject over a pulsing accompaniment. The band then takes this up and changes key to reintroduce the original Vivo melody, which leads to a short and acrobatic coda to bring the work to a spectacular close. Duration: 6.45
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£107.95Cornet Concerto (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Cornet Concerto was commissioned by Black Dyke Band for their principal cornet, Richard Marshall, and was premiered at the European Brass Band Festival's Gala Concert in Lille, France, on 30 April 2016 by the same performers, conducted by Nicholas Childs.It is challenging work, both musically and technically, and one that exploits the wide range of the instrument's capabilities. Lasting for some 17 minutes, it is in the usual three movements: Sonata, Intermezzo (subtitled 'Of More Distant Memories') and Rondo.The first movement presents four main ideas:Cadenzas (which recur throughout the movement, and indeed appear at the end of the work); a fast and rhythmically energetic motive; Bugle calls (echoing the ancestor of the cornet), and a lyrical and expressive melody, full of yearning. These four ideas are juxtaposed within the broad shape of a Sonata form structure, although here the word 'Sonata' is used in its original meaning of 'sounding together'.The second movement is music in search of a theme, which eventually comes at the end of the movement. In the middle section there are brief quotations, albeit mostly hidden, from three cornet solos written by the Swedish/American composer Erik Leidzen for the Salvation Army in the 1940s and 50s; these are solos I loved as a teenager, and my use of them is by way of tribute, not imitation - a sort of memory bank, just as the main theme of the movement, when it eventually comes, is reminiscent of the tune from my earlier work for brass band, 'Of Distant Memories'.The final Rondo, the shortest of the three movements, is a lively and 'fleet-of foot' Scherzo, its main theme full of cascading arpeggios, but with a contrasting lyrical second theme intertwined in the structure. There is much interplay between soloist and band in the development of the music, but eventually a brief reprise of the opening cadenzas leads to an exciting and climactic coda.Click here for the piano reduction
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£49.95Cornet Concerto (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
The Cornet Concerto was commissioned by Black Dyke Band for their principal cornet, Richard Marshall, and was premiered at the European Brass Band Festival's Gala Concert in Lille, France, on 30 April 2016 by the same performers, conducted by Nicholas Childs.It is challenging work, both musically and technically, and one that exploits the wide range of the instrument's capabilities. Lasting for some 17 minutes, it is in the usual three movements: Sonata, Intermezzo (subtitled 'Of More Distant Memories') and Rondo.The first movement presents four main ideas:Cadenzas (which recur throughout the movement, and indeed appear at the end of the work); a fast and rhythmically energetic motive; Bugle calls (echoing the ancestor of the cornet), and a lyrical and expressive melody, full of yearning. These four ideas are juxtaposed within the broad shape of a Sonata form structure, although here the word 'Sonata' is used in its original meaning of 'sounding together'.The second movement is music in search of a theme, which eventually comes at the end of the movement. In the middle section there are brief quotations, albeit mostly hidden, from three cornet solos written by the Swedish/American composer Erik Leidzen for the Salvation Army in the 1940s and 50s; these are solos I loved as a teenager, and my use of them is by way of tribute, not imitation - a sort of memory bank, just as the main theme of the movement, when it eventually comes, is reminiscent of the tune from my earlier work for brass band, 'Of Distant Memories'.The final Rondo, the shortest of the three movements, is a lively and 'fleet-of foot' Scherzo, its main theme full of cascading arpeggios, but with a contrasting lyrical second theme intertwined in the structure. There is much interplay between soloist and band in the development of the music, but eventually a brief reprise of the opening cadenzas leads to an exciting and climactic coda.Duration: 17.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£62.00Set To (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Turnage, Mark-Anthony - Houlding, Christopher
Set To is dedicated to London Brass and arranged for brass band by Christopher Houlding. It was commissioned by the Aldeburgh Foundation and received its first performance on August 24th 1993 at the Maltings, Snape. Originally divided into two movements, a pensive and richly harmonic Blues and an aptly named Bacchanale, sometimes slow but mostly fast and furious. "I remember playing the original brass ensemble version of "Set To" numerous times in the early nineties with London Brass and always wondered if the composer would consider writing something for Brass Band. As Director of The Guildhall Brass Band, a possible performance opportunity arose in 2010 and I successfully approached Mark and gained his permission to scale it up for brass band with added percussion parts. I conducted the premier of this new Brass Band version at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in February 2011 with the composer present and he liked it. Although very contemporary compared to most brass music, I feel that Mark's easily accessible style makes this rhythmically quirky and harmonically 'bluesy' work a really interesting concert piece, suitable for any occasion" - Chris Houlding. Duration: 7.30. Suitable for Championship Section Bands
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.99Torsion (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Torsion was commissioned by the Leyland Band and first performed on 23 January 2010 at the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass, Manchester, by Leyland Band conducted by Jason Katsikaris. This colourful and dynamic work is the most personal and ambitious that Simon Dobson composed during his residency with the Lancashire brass band. The dictionary defines torsion as the state of being twisted and the composer interprets this as the imagined dis-torsions and con-torsions of Time, Light and Sound in three contrasting movements. Simon Dobson fuses the traditional brass band sound with drive and energy of pop and funk jazz with optional digitally distorted 'echoes' providing added aural confusion at the points of climax. Although composed as a substantial concert work, Torsion would also make a challenging test-piece for contesting brass bands in the elite divisions. Suitable for Championship Section Bands. Duration: 15.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£95.00Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - 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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