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£154.60Selection Robert Le Diable - Giacomo Meyerbeer - Ray Farr
This Selection from Giacomo Meyerbeers opera Robert le Diable was arranged by James Smyth. Enderby Jackson commissioned the arrangement which was used as the test piece for the third National Brass Band Contest held at the Crystal Palace, London in 1862.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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£159.99Rush Hour - Etienne Crausaz
Rush Hour was commissioned by the Swiss Brass Band Association (SBBV) on the occasion of the 38th Swiss National Brass Band Championships 2012 (Montreux SBBW) as the test piece in the Championship division.Structured in three parts without breaks, the work opens in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere, sometimes even noisy. After a short passage in a lighter mood a quick tempo takes over, the music becomes nervous and unrelenting, with constant twists and turns. The tension builds, leading to a slower movement in which various soloists are highlighted. A few humorous touches are heard in contrast to a majestic, powerful and dramatic chorale. The end of this part is brighter andmore peaceful. This atmosphere is soon replaced by a return of the thematic material heard in the first movement, developing into an oppressive moos. The piece concludes with a last ecstatic tutti, reusing the harmonies of the introduction in a kind of final flurry.Rush Hour attempts to express the range of feelings we may experience when caught in various stressful situations in the middle of the rush hour.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£119.99
Chain - Piet Swerts
Chain was composed between June and August 2000 as the test piece for the 2002 European Brass Band Championship. The composer's idea was to compose a one-movement piece - a work that starts mysteriously and develops in various directions. As his basic material, he chose a figure that is the abbreviation of the European Brass Band Championship: EBBC. This figure is developed in a chain of figures which gradually lead to the climax of the piece.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£40.00Little Christmas - Elaine Agnew
An atmospheric, contemporary piece for brass band by prolific composer Elaine Agnew. The work was originally commissioned by the North of Ireland Bands' Association as the 'B Section' test piece for the 2006 European Brass Band Championships, with funds from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Lottery Unit and Belfast City Council.Programme notes:The night of Sunday the sixth of January 1839 was a night of madness. On this night, Ireland was hit by a devastating storm. Little Christmas focuses on the events of that day, leading to the arrival of the storm itself.The piece opens with a blast, which is quickly hushed by a motionless phrase whose silence suggests something not quite right. A solo euphonium mimics the local seer who prophesizes the coming of the storm but who is ignored by the locals, who are well used to his rantings and ravings.A brief percussion improvisation hints at an uncertainty in the air but this is quickly ignored by the following fast section with the bustle and excitement of the day's preparations.Quiet solo chromatic lines swoosh over harmonic pillars of sound before the final "dizzy" section where the band lets rip at the arrival of the storm!
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£69.95ON ALDERLEY EDGE - Peter Graham
Additional Score: 24.95Additional B4 Score: 34.95The much acclaimed 1997 National Brass BandChampionships of Great Britain Championship Section Finals Test-Piece. Set test for the 2013 Swiss Open Brass Band Championships and the Grand Shield 2014.
Estimated dispatch 3-7 working days
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£87.00
Stormseye (Bra) - Stijn Aertgeerts
With 'Stormseye', the composer describes the passing of a storm. The calm joyful opening by the cornets reflects the open blue sky. The weather very quickly turns as the music clearly becomes more and more chaotic. The storm gains momentum and the band also becomes more and more tempestuous. The solos in the flugelhorn, cornet and euphonium, among others, reflect a moment of tranquillity, with a growing anxiety about what is to come. The quietness of the eye of the storm before all hell breaks loose again. The music then builds to a grand finale that combines the opening theme with the storm's thematic material. The storm is overcome and the sky clears completely! 'Stormseye' was written as a test piece for the B division of the 'Flemish Open Brass Band Championship' 2024 in Mechelen (B).
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£12.00Canzonetta
DescriptionCanzonetta is a tenor horn solo with optional brass band or piano accompaniment.Canzonetta was one of my earliest compositions, written in my early days as an undergraduate. Along with a companion piece called Caprice it was written for an old friend, Louise Hunt (now Louise Skillander), to whom it is dedicated. We had both been in the Northop Youth Band together, and both pieces were the result of a conversation about the lack of 'good tenor horn solos' for lower section and youth players at the time.With more mature consideration the Caprice has been consigned to the dustbin of history, but the simplicity of Canzonetta has allowed it to stand the test of time with a few minor scoring revisions.Performance Notes:Percussion instruments required are 2 x timpani, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, concert bass drum (NOT a kit/pedal bass drum) and tam-tam. All cornets will require cup mutes.Duration approximately 3'40"You can follow the score while listening to an audio preview below:
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£164.99Raveling Unraveling - Philip Sparke
Winning Performance EBBC Lille 2016 Raveling, Unraveling In Search of 'La Valse' was written for the Cory Band as their own-choice test piece for the 2016 European Brass Band Championships in Lille. The piece found its genesis in Sparke's The Unknown Journey (2014) for concert band, and the use of Ravel's La Valse as a structural undercurrent to the original piece is an act of reverence. Sparke's aim was to produce a work that is organic rather than episodic in nature. The composer's view is that little in music does this better than La Valse and for this reason he uses various sections of this masterpiece, both manipulated and quoted verbatim (including much of itsstunningclosing passages) to provide the overall geography of his new work. As the music progresses, more of the Ravel appears, surfacing completely as the piece reaches its climax - a gesture of homage to the French master.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£119.99Landscapes - Bertrand Moren
Landscapes is a work structured around two main ideas. On the one hand, the music freely paints some of the superb landscapes I've seen during several of my trips around the world. Listeners should, however, not be influenced by this programmatic framework and are encouraged to build their own 'mind pictures'.On the other hand, Landscapes constitutes a test piece for each section of the brass band. Indeed, each musical landscape highlights a particular register. A small group of soloists is given the opportunity to fully display its skills in dialogue with the rest of the band (the tutti), hence the name 'concerto grosso'. Landscapes also relies on the band's different soloistmusicians when it comes to express highly complex, musically and technically challenging passages.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£94.95Of Men and Mountains - Edward Gregson
Of Men and Mountains was commissioned by the Netherlands Brass Band Championships for their tenth anniversary contest in Drachten in December 1990. In July the previous year, Edward Gregson and his wife took the Trans Canadian Railway from Toronto to Vancouver. The journey through the Rocky Mountains was the starting point for Of Men and Mountains. Gregson writes that: 'its high peaks and shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds, its canyons and ferocious rapids made me understand a little more about the majesty of nature and the fragility of humanity. The eternal struggle between man and nature was personified in the building of this incredible railway... hence my title (after Blake).' The work is dedicated to the memory of Eric Ball, who died shortly before the writing of the work was commenced. Of Men and Mountains is in one continuous movement with a duration of approximately 17 minutes. Its form is difficult to describe because of its motivic and accumulative nature, but it is essentially a symphonic tone poem in search of a theme, which eventually comes in its final and complete state in the majestic ending after an ever-increasing paced scherzo. Of Men and Mountains has been selected as the test pieces for the 2023 National Brass Championships of Great Britain at the Albert Hall.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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