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£79.95Amundsen - Jonathan Bates
DURATION: 14'00". DIFFICULTY: 1st+. 'Amundsen' was commissioned by rskog Brass, Norway for their winning performance at the 2020 Norwegian National Championships held at the Grieghallen in Bergen. In December 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen gained global fame by becoming the first explorer to lead a team to the geographic South Pole. Amundsen and 4 other members of his team arrived 5 weeks ahead of a rival team from the UK led by Robert Falcon Scott, all of which perished on their attempted return from the pole. Initially when Amundsen's team set out in 1910, they were under the impression that they would be making the far shorter journey to the arctic drift to attempt to reach the North Pole, but Amundsen had received news that American explorers Peary and Cook had beaten them to this goal, and so Amundsen's focus changed southward. 'Fram, Forward' - 'Fram' (translating to English as "forward") was the name of the ship Amundsen used for this particular polar expedition. Amundsen had only informed 2 people of his real intentions of conquering the South Pole when the ship first left port in Kristiansand before heading south to the Portuguese island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean. After weeks at sea - causing the uninformed members of the crew to raise a number of questions and produce a general feel of uncertainty and low spirits - it was here that Amundsen announced his true plans to the rest of his crew. They were asked whether they wished to continue with their expedition, to which all - some begrudgingly - agreed to sail on to the South Pole, through the great Ice Barrier before docking in the Bay of Whales on the Ross Ice Shelf. 'Ross Ice Shelf' - Upon Amundsen's arrival in the Bay of Whales, the team were greeted by the sight of the enormous ice plateau's and glaciers, towering into the Antarctic sky. In 1907, Ernest Shackleton had attempted - and failed - to reach the South Pole, but his route and mapping was by now well documented. Scott and the UK team were to follow this route, whereas Amundsen and his men forged their own way to the pole through unchartered territory and deadly terrain littered with deep crevasses and canyons. The music here though, is a picture of tranquility. The eerie silence of total emptiness with only the heavy snow falling around Amundsen as Fram and the Bay of Whales disappears into the distance, faced by the maginute of the expedition ahead. 'Advance to Polheim' - The first new challenge Amundsen discovered on this route was a rough, sharp and extremely steep glacier (which was later named the Axel heiberg Glacier after the Norwegian monarch who funded much of the expedition), which would take his team up from sea level to an altitude of over 9,000ft in just 20 miles, with most of this over just 7 miles. Once scaled, only the vast Antarctic Plateau stood between Amundsen and the pole. Here the race began, with only one aim - victory for himself, his team, and for the whole of Norway. .
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£133.00
Bipolarity (Bra) - Stijn Aertgeerts
In the close environment of the composer some people struggle with bipolar disorder. It's hard to imagine how hard it must be to live with those episodes, going rapidly between a state of hypomania and severe depression, or worse. With this piece I wanted to try and describe those different episodes, from a highly elevated mood into a great feeling of sadness, from euphoria to complete darkness. The piece starts off really excited, almost overexcited and a touch nervous. This mood quickly shifts into self-doubt, announced by the multiple cadenzas in cornet, euphonium, flugelhorn and trombone. Out of this follows a haunting feeling of growing sadness. Another eerie reminder of the opening shifts the mood into calmness, optimism and even for just a second complete happiness. This however fades in an instant, as you hear someone literally being dragged down by a chain. Here starts the total spiral into darkness, spinning more and more out of control to a heavy and dark conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£153.00
Bipolar (Bra) - Stijn Aertgeerts
With 'Bipolar', the composer Stijn Aertgeerts wants to try to describe the vast feelings someone suffering from bipolar disorder can go through. It's difficult to imagine how hard it must be to live with the range of emotions of bipolarity, going rapidly from a state of hypomania to severe depression, or worse. This piece of music aims to describe those episodes, from a highly elevated mood to a great feeling of sadness; from euphoria to complete darkness. The piece starts off excited, almost overexcited, as well as a touch nervous. The mood quickly shifts to one of self-doubt, introduced by the multiple cadenza's in cornet, euphonium, flugelhorn and trombone. This grows into a haunting feeling of growing sadness. We're served with another eerie reminder of the opening shifts in the mood, with calmness, optimism and - even for just a second - complete happiness. This, however, fades instantly as you hear someone literally being dragged down by a chain. A total spiral into darkness follows, spinning more and more out of control into a heavy and dark conclusion.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£35.00The Witches' Sabbath - Berlioz
An effective arrangement of the exciting finale from Berlioz's greatest masterpiece 'Symphonie Fantastique'.This new 'finisher' is all about an opium induced fantasy Berlioz had about rescuing a woman he was madly in love with from a group of evil witches and other assorted ghouls.After many brilliant musical descriptions of the eerie scenes, Berlioz triumphantly rescues his beloved narrowly saving her from being sacrificed by the witches!First performed by Whitburn Band at Spennymoor 24 and recorded by them on the 'Live from Spennymoor 24' CD.
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 3-5 working days
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£59.95Judd: Caelum Corona - Stephen Bulla
Stephen Bulla's 'Caelum Corona' ('Crown of Heaven') portrays, in sound, a Christian's walk in faith, intended metaphorically via a musical narrative reminiscent of the early church pilgrims, their struggles and triumphs. The composer initially evokes the atmosphere of Rome at the time of St. Paul and other martyrs, thus the Latin title. Bulla marks his imaginative tone poem with dark, brooding music in the first two of three parts, in each of which he has embedded an appropriate hymn or song reference as thematic material. The first of these sounds in a minor key following a symphonic exposition made up primarily of fanfare-like motives, the music at times quite harsh and abrasive. The song is Paul's statement of exuberant faith (2 Timothy 1:12) in the midst of prison and persecution: 'For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.' More challenging, aggressive music returns until a further point of reflection on Christ's sacrifice is reached. The music graphically evokes the barren landscape of Golgatha, the horror of the crucifixion, including stark wind sounds, a loss of stability via eerie, dissonant chord clusters, and even the nails being driven into Christ's body. The Baritones and then Flugel Horn softly play 'He died of a broken heart.' Yet the Christian life, despite its perils - both at the time of Paul and now - is a victorious life, and the composer resolves the tensions of the work in a scintillating finale, a brilliant setting of the old song about spiritual warfare and the ultimate triumph of Christ the King: 'Victory for me!' (T.B. 841). The chorus of that tune proclaims: 'No retreating, hell defeating, shoulder to shoulder we stand; God look down, with glory crown our conq'ring band.' That crowning is the same one sought and claimed by St. Paul (2 Timothy 4:8): 'Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.' Believers look forward to participating in the final coronation of their Saviour - King of Kings and Lord of Lords - while humbly desiring their own 'crown of heaven.'
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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