Results
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£40.00Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett (Brass Band - Score only)
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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£34.95The High Council (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This march was written at the request of the then Chief of the Staff, Commissioner Arnold Brown for the welcome meeting of the 1974 High Council, a gathering of The Salvation Army's top leaders from around the world who meet to elect a new General. The scintillating music is filled with many wonderful and surprising shifts of key, rhythm and instrumental colour. Evangeline Booth's song 'The world for God' provides the international reference while at the trio's peak, the composer joins three tunes in impressive counterpoint; 'We're the Army' (cornets), 'A Robe of White' (horns and baritones) and 'Bound for Canaan's Shore' (trombones). The march ends with a dazzling shift into triple time and an impressive molto allargando codetta.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£24.95Beautiful World (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This beautiful impressionistic work by Kenneth Downie features fragments of the hymn 'All things bright and beautiful', and paints a soft sound image of an idyllic English countryside.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£59.95Festival Suite (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This three movement suite for brass band was commissioned by the Solothurnischer Blasmusikverband (SOBV) in Switzerland for their 2009 Festival. The first movement, Energy, is appropriately lively in character. It is dominated by an agitated theme on trombones and cornets, driven by a percussion accompaniment, and complemented by pulsating counterpoint from the rest of the band. The second movement is called Repose and its opening melodious theme on cornets provides a welcome respite from the restlessness and verve of the opening movement. The lyrical nature of the music is sustained throughout. The finale, Suspense, opens with a theme containing more than a hint of foreboding which recurs several times. There are numerous abrupt changes of dynamics, and also a brightening of mood, before everything finishes in a blaze of sound.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95Rich Heritage (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This music was written to celebrate the distinguished work done by Leighton Rich as Music Director of the Hampshire County Youth Band. Leighton's Welsh origins and his past link with the Coldtsream Guards are expressed in the music.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£49.99A Thames Journey (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Thames Journey is a 10-minute musical journey that follows the river Thames from its origins, as a few drops of water in Wiltshire, to the point where it meets the open sea at Greenwich. Along the way, Hess draws upon many musical links along the Thames, such as an old Wiltshire melody, morris dancing in Oxfordshire, boating songs from Berkshire and street songs in London. With such rich and diverse sources of music across several counties and centuries, this has quite understandably become one of Hess's most popular works to date. Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and above. Duration: 10.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£27.00Auld Lang Syne (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
It is a tradition in most English-speaking countries to sing this song at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve to usher in the New Year. The words are at least partially written by Robert Burns and the words "Auld Lang Syne" literally mean "old long ago" or "the good old days", providing a moment of reflection before moving forwards into the New Year.The tubular bells, although pitched, sound midnight when they enter at bar 10.This arrangement was prepared for Brass Band of the Western Reserve, musical director Keith M Wilkinson, to perform at First Night, Akron, Ohio, December 31st, 2007. The following choreography is suggested:Commence the performance with all the cornets scattered around the auditorium.At the end of bar 18 invite the audience to sing along with the band.At bar 27 the cornets move to stand in front of the other members of the band to lead to the stirring conclusion. Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£54.99Sleepers, Wake (Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme) (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This enchanting melody is from the fourth movement of Bach's Cantata 140 which was composed in 1731 using the parable of the wise and foolish virgins as the text. The work is beautiful in its simplicity with only three melodic lines, demonstrating Bach's counterpoint at its best. For greatest effect it is suggested that the cornets and trombones play behind the band or to the right and left of the stage.Duration: 4:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£16.99The Foggy Dew (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
The Foggy Dew is one of those charming Irish melodies which seem to capture the beauty and serenity of that country, all of which is evoked in this delicate arrangement by Philip Doe. Suitable for Youth/4th Section Bands and above. Duration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£119.95Harrison's Dream (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
At 8.00pm on the 22nd of October 1707, the Association, flagship of the Royal Navy, struck rocks off the Scilly Isles with the loss of the entire crew. Throughout the rest of the evening the remaining three ships in the fleet suffered the same fate. Only 26 of the original 1,647 crew members survived. This disaster was a direct result of an inability to calculate longitude, the most pressing scientific problem of the time. It pushed the longitude question to the forefront of the national consciousness and precipitated the Longitude Act. Parliament funded a prize of �20,000 to anyone whose method or device would solve the dilemma. For carpenter and self-taught clockmaker John Harrison, this was the beginning of a 40 year obsession. To calculate longitude it is necessary to know the time aboard ship and at the home port or place of known longitude, at precisely the same moment. Harrison's dream was to build a clock so accurate that this calculation could be made, an audacious feat of engineering. This work reflects on aspects of this epic tale, brilliantly brought to life in Dava Sobel's book Longitude. Much of the music is mechanistic in tone and is constructed along precise mathematical and metrical lines. The heart of the work however is human - the attraction of the �20,000 prize is often cited as Harrison's motivation. However, the realisation that countless lives depended on a solution was one which haunted Harrison. The emotional core of the music reflects on this, and in particular the evening of 22ndOctober 1707. Peter GrahamCheshireJuly 2000
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days