Results
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£127.30Rendezvous - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Rendezvous was commissioned by Krohnengen Brass Band for their 50th Anniversary in 2019.Rendezvous is devided into three sections. Each section are referring to Edvard Grieg's own titles. but twisted, to make sure that everybody understand that this music is a mash-up of themes Edvard Grieg used in opus 54 (for piano) and opus 61 (songs for children).1. Trolltog med avsporing (March of the Trolls derailment)March of the Trolls is a famous part of Edvard Grieg lyric pieces, opus 54.2. Klokkeklang i feil sang (Bell ringing in wrong tune).Bell ringing show that Grieg was one of the first composers to write the way impressionists did. What happens if this beatiful piece is combined with several other themes from the same book? It somehow works in its own way.3. Pep talk til Blakken (Pep talk to Blakken)The riff used in the first part becomes an important part of the third part: a funky treat of the childrens song "Kveldssang for Blakken" (Evening song for Blakken).I felt that a rather tired old horse needed a pep talk more than a slow tune. So that is why you get this music(!) - and this is how my rendezvous with Grieg ends.Not sure what maestro Grieg would have thougt... But, I have read that the fiddlers that played the tunes Grieg used was not happy with the way Grieg used them.So there you go...Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£106.99Evolution - Philip Sparke
Evolution was commissioned by Kunstfactor for the 4th section of the Dutch National Brass Band Championships (NBK) 2011. It is dedicated to Jappie Dijkstra and the Music Information Centre (MUI), Arnhem, Holland, in acknowledgement of their outstanding work in developing brass band repertoire. The composer writes:-The idea for the piece came when I was reading an article about a branch of Chinese philosophy which is abbreviated as Wu Xing, which has no exact translation but can mean, for example, five elements, five phases or five states of change. It is central to all elements of Chinese thought, including science, philosophy, medicine and astrology, and in simpleterms tries to create various cyclic relationships between five elements in all walks of life. An example is: Earth - Metal - Water - Wood - Fire - (Earth) etc. where (in one cycle) earth bears metal, metal changes to liquid (water) when heated, water helps trees grow, wood burns to create fire, fire produces ash (earth) and the cycle continues.I was particularly interested in the cycle of emotions: Meditation - Sorrow - Fear - Anger - Joy - (Meditation) etc. and thought this cyclic principle would provide an effective emotional journey for a piece of music. So Evolution has five equal sections which loosely characterise this emotional cycle. I have tried to make the music grow organically, with minimal repetition, and each movement evolves from the musical elements at the end of the previous one, with the opening material appearing, transformed, at the end of the piece to complete the cycle.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£149.40Viking Saga - Ray Farr
"Viking Saga" was inspired by my conducting engagements in Norway in the 1980s. Among them was a visit to the Flekkefjord Pike Korps who asked me to write a piece for them. I had just written "Adventures in Brass" which was very popular, particularly with younger bands, so I decided to pursue the creative energy. My teacher, at that time, was Professor Edward Gregson who encouraged me to develop my ideas into a full-scale work. The piece received a few performances in this version but neither I, nor my teacher, were satisfied so the manuscripts lay dormant. In the summer of 2002 a band from Switzerland- Cordula Brass Baden and Christoph Moor, who had played the piece under mydirection in the Swiss National Youth Band, commissioned me to finish the work and make the changes that, I felt, were needed. In 2016 the Tonsberg Wind Band, from Norway, commissioned a wind band version for their performance in the Norwegian Championships held in Trondheim 2017.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£154.99The Divine Right - Philip Harper
At the time of composing this piece, the Arab Spring was sweeping through the Middle East. It seemed that almost every week a new countrys people had risen up against the regimes and dictatorships which had prevailed for generations, leaving manynations at a defining crossroads in their history. There were so many possible ways ahead: so many hopes, yet so many uncertainties.My music is a depiction of these revolutionary times, and several musical themes are in turn presented, discussed, considered, fought over, altered, rejected or accepted. Most nations have had, or probably will have, their own Arab Spring, including my own, the United Kingdom. Events of 17th Century Britain provide the context for this piece, particularly those following the execution of the tyrant King Charles I on30 January 1649. The regicide was in part due to Charless steadfast belief in the Divine Right of Kings, and led to a tumultuous interregnum, where England stood at its own defining crossroads.The music begins turbulently, before King Charles appears and is led to the gallows outside Banqueting House in central London where he is brutally decapitated. From the assembled crowd rose, according to one observer, a moan as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again.The music descends to emptiness. The musical argument which follows is not strictly programmatic, but a number of musical themes are all thrown into the melting pot, representing ideas such as: religion; military force; reasoned Parliamentary debate; and the chattering,irrepressible voice of the people. Additionally, there are some quotations from the music of royalist composer Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), who was often in tune with the feeling of the times. This defining episode in Englands history was brought to a close with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and as the exiled King Charles II rode back into London the diarist John Evelyn wrote: Never was so joyful a day seen in this nation. I stood in the Strand and beheld it, and blessed God.At the end of the piece the bells ring out, and the musical appearance of the King has transformed from turbulent to triumphant. Philip Harper, 2013
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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£115.60Funky Hedde - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
A good friend of mine, trombonist and professor Jesper Juul Windahl commissioned me a trombone quartet. I then wrote Four Nordic Folk Pops. The last of the four is a Norwegian tune called Havard Hedde in a funky version. Then I made a brass quintet version for Lofoten Brass Quintet for a their Australia tour. The trombonist in the quintet asked me for a brass band version to be used in an entertainment contest (SIDDIS Brass). Havard Hedde did not succeed in getting married, but I think this version wil make him dance again. Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£137.70Mitt hjerte alltid vanker - Fantasi - Hans Adolph Brorson - Svein H. Giske
This arrangement was commissioned by B3 (The Bergen Woodwind Ensemble). B3 is a large woodwind ensemble located in Bergen with a mix of professional and amateur players. My Heart Remains in Wonder is a well-known Christmas hymn in Scandinavia. I wanted my version to be different to the traditional hymn tune style in which it is normally performed. One day I was outside walking and this idea came to me: an ostinato-like, mechanical skeleton of arpeggio semiquavers on which I could 'hang' the melody. However, I also wanted to do the melody line a bit different. The inspiration for this comes from folk music and the way fiddlers hardly ever lift their bow off the strings when they play. Because of this, it is important that the melody is played in a very sostenuto style in this arrangement. The harmonies lie somewhere between jazz and folk music with a little nod towards Grieg (himself heavily influenced by folk music) in the slow middle section.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£115.60Vidda - Ole Edvard Antonsen - Ole Edvard Antonsen
I composed the song "Vidda" after I got my ultimate boy's dream fulfilled; To fly one of the Air Force's F-16 fighter jets! We flew out from Norwegian city Bodo on to the Finnmark plateau, where we flew so-called "low level" (at low altitude). It was such a great experience for me that I immediately wrote the song "Vidda" based on my experience of the trip. Here, I try to describe the meeting between the technical perfection of a machine that surpasses most of the various forces in it's escape through the magnificent scenery passing at great speed, and the pilot who is alone with both the adventure and responsibility. The drums which start the song is meant to describes theenergy in the power of the plane, while the lonely and kind of melancholy melody from the trumpet in the beginning describes the feelings of the pilot. As the song develop, we pass both the mountains and big beautiful plateaus with g-forces quivering body. Hopefully you will share some of my experiences through this song. Have a nice flight! Ole Edvard Antonsen
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£154.60Circius - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
The work is important for me because it was my first piece to be performed outside Norway. Black Dyke Band/David King performed it and did a recording of it in 1991. In the original score I quote a Swedish bishop (Olaus Mangnus) who lived in the 15th century. He travelled around Scandinavia and drew maps - very important historic material. When he came to the north of Norway (where I come from) he decribed the wind from the north as Ciricus: (something like) Worst of all winds is Circius, that revolves (?= turn upside down) heaven and earth. (Well, not a good translation Im afraid). The fast sections reflects the mighty winds from the north. In the middle section, I borrowed afolksong-like tune (by C. Elling, a Norwegian composer). The text (by Kristoffer Janson) tells about old times when the fishermen used open boats: they had to put their lives in the hands of God.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£92.20Takk - Edvard Grieg - Reid Glje
"Gratitude" is one of Grieg's beautiful lyrical pieces, Op. 62 No. 2.Eva Knardahl made a beautiful recording that I well remember was used as background for a picture cavalcade by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation during the passing of His Majesty King Olav V of Norway in 1991.In this arrangement for band, I have tried to vary the instrumentation, both for the sake of more colours and to emphasize the drama.This piece should be played rubato with elastic phrasing. The form can be described as AABACoda. The most dramatic section is the B part from measure 25, which peaks just before measure 38. The last four measures (from measure 53) can be done a bit 'meno' in tempo.Reid Gilje
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
