Results
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£22.50Princethorpe Variations (Brass Band - Score only) - Downie, Kenneth
Colourful harmony, rhythmic flair and melodic invention are the hallmarks of this excellent set of variations by Kenneth Downie, based on the well known church tune, Princethorpe.This major work demonstrates the well-known characteristics of the composer: colourful harmony, rhythmic flair and melodic invention, all encapsulated in scoring which is engulfing both to players and listeners alike. Following a presentation of the theme there are five variations culminating in what can be described as either a finale or coda.Theme. The composer shows his originality in the harmonic sense of this introduction. Perhaps it could be suggested that over-indulgence of rubato may be a temptation to be avoided.Sections A to F. Relentless rhythmic drive is of paramount importance in this first variation. Conscientious observance of dynamics is of course an essential requirement in conveying the exciting quality of the music; there are moments of sudden contrast of which all will need to be aware. Moving between the time-signatures of 5/4 and 6/4 these sections are built from strong easily-identifiable fragments of the theme. These is a significant increase in temp at letter F which will further the exciting impact of the music.Sections G & H. In a pastorale style this short, gentle variation affords a contrast in style between the previous and succeeding ones. The gentle undulating character of the melodic lines is governed by the Allegretto grazioso directive.Sections I to M. Commencing two bars before letter I the music is now exuberant and the tempo and style is that of a march in compound time. In this exhilarating movement there are moments of contrast and indeed of delicacy which are a foil to the more energetic moments. Rhythmic control will be essential to maintain a consistent tempo. As elsewhere in the work, the percussion section will contribute much to the success of the performance there are bars where this section alone is heard and there are important entries for glockenspiel.Sections N & O. With emotional content this Adagio variation has the first two notes of the melody as its melodic impetus. Apart from just over two bars at O (where there is an interpolatory phrase from Cornets and Trombones), the melodic line is entrusted to the plaintive sounds of the horn section. Cornets and Trombones provide a change of tone colour at the beginning of section O. Under a poco rall, this very expressive variation is concluded; there is an important link supplied by Eb Bass.Sections P & Q. A lively march-tempo is launched immediately and these sections are in the nature of an introduction to the final variations. There is a quickening of pace at Q which assists the generation of excitement which should be an essential part of the performance. Solo Cornets introduce a melodic line at Q which anticipates the compound time of the following section.Sections R & S. The Solo Cornet theme of the previous section is now a contrapuntal line accompanying the theme tune. With an elongation of the notes in the melody, the conductor will need to call on the sustaining powers of the band and at no time should the interesting accompanying lines be allowed to detract from the sonorous presentation of the basic theme.Sections T, U & V. Following a poco rit, the finale begins at letter T with the directive, molto vivace. There is much detail to be rehearsed, not least being the dynamic contrasts which are encountered. As throughout the work, the listener should have no difficulty in identifying the thematic sources of the composer's music.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£94.95Rhapsody on a Theme by Purcell (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Norbury, Kevin
Contest VersionIn his relatively short lifetime, Henry Purcell (1659 -1695) achieved stellar musical success and was known and admired internationally by his contemporaries. He is justifiably considered one of England's greatest composers.I thought long and hard before using this magnificent theme as the basis for a band piece because I think that Benjamin Britten has said just about everything possible regarding it in his The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Bearing this in mind, I tentatively set about working on this composition. Once started though, the job became fun because the theme still yielded possibilities - even after Britten!The piece is basically a set of linked variations, much like Rachmaninov's great Rhapsody on theme by Paginini. The music starts slowly and makes much use of crisply dotted rhythms - a Purcellian characteristic. The theme is heard twice before the music changes into a jaunty duple time variation based on the opening motif of Purcell's theme. After this, the mood changes to a waltz-like variation in which clear references to the original theme can be heard. The slow movement follows, and is based on rising and descending scalic figures. This variation is an 'A-B-A' movement with two similar passages framing a more vigorous middle section which features antiphonal fanfare-like figures. Without any preamble, the last variation launches itself - a rumbustious dance which has a distinctive feel to it.The theme eventually reappears as a counter-melody to this dance music before a final triumphant treatment of the melody featuring a somewhat athletic bass line. The music accelerates at the Coda and disappears in a 'puff of smoke'.- Kevin Norbury
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£39.95Rhapsody on a Theme by Purcell (Brass Band - Score only) - Norbury, Kevin
Contest VersionIn his relatively short lifetime, Henry Purcell (1659 -1695) achieved stellar musical success and was known and admired internationally by his contemporaries. He is justifiably considered one of England's greatest composers.I thought long and hard before using this magnificent theme as the basis for a band piece because I think that Benjamin Britten has said just about everything possible regarding it in his The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Bearing this in mind, I tentatively set about working on this composition. Once started though, the job became fun because the theme still yielded possibilities - even after Britten!The piece is basically a set of linked variations, much like Rachmaninov's great Rhapsody on theme by Paginini. The music starts slowly and makes much use of crisply dotted rhythms - a Purcellian characteristic. The theme is heard twice before the music changes into a jaunty duple time variation based on the opening motif of Purcell's theme. After this, the mood changes to a waltz-like variation in which clear references to the original theme can be heard. The slow movement follows, and is based on rising and descending scalic figures. This variation is an 'A-B-A' movement with two similar passages framing a more vigorous middle section which features antiphonal fanfare-like figures. Without any preamble, the last variation launches itself - a rumbustious dance which has a distinctive feel to it.The theme eventually reappears as a counter-melody to this dance music before a final triumphant treatment of the melody featuring a somewhat athletic bass line. The music accelerates at the Coda and disappears in a 'puff of smoke'.- Kevin Norbury
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£60.99Minerva (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Van der Roost, Jan
Minerva by Jan Van der Roost was composed on the commission of the German "Musikverein Braunshausen" on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the orchestra. The composition, first performed on September 17, 1999, is not a street march but a concert march, just like Mercury and Arsenal. The use and variation of different rhythmic patterns gives the first part of this march a distinctly dynamic character. Two main themes are presented in several instrumental combinations. The theme from the trio, on the other hand, is characterized by a broad melodic approach using large intervals. This theme, wreathed by high woodwinds, is heard one more time after a contrasting new part, but now in a somewhat slower tempo. The counterpoint in this part refers to the first part of the march. The brilliant ending suits a festive anniversary march!Duration: 4:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£95.00Penlee (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Dobson, Simon
2013 Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain - 3rd SectioTo some, the tragic story of the Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne, would need no introduction, and to some the pain felt is still very much a reality. The composer, born just a few weeks before that fateful night on the 19th December 1981, has created this work as a musical homage to the bravery of the souls who lost their lives and has dedicated it to their memory.Penlee was commissioned by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band using funds bequeathed by Michael Pickett. The first performance was given by the Cornish Youth Brass Band, conducted by Ian Porthouse, at St. Michael's Church, Newquay, on 30th December 2008.Penlee has been voted into the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2011 at No.106. Not only is it the first time a brass work has been featured in the Hall of Fame, but it was also the highest new entry.The work has subsequently been recorded by the Leyland Band, conducted by Jason Katsikaris, on the CD entitled Penlee.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveDuration: 13:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£17.99Penlee (Brass Band - Score only) - Dobson, Simon
2013 Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain - 3rd SectionTo some, the tragic story of the Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne, would need no introduction, and to some the pain felt is still very much a reality. The composer, born just a few weeks before that fateful night on the 19th December 1981, has created this work as a musical homage to the bravery of the souls who lost their lives and has dedicated it to their memory.Penlee was commissioned by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band using funds bequeathed by Michael Pickett. The first performance was given by the Cornish Youth Brass Band, conducted by Ian Porthouse, at St. Michael's Church, Newquay, on 30th December 2008.Penlee has been voted into the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2011 at No.106. Not only is it the first time a brass work has been featured in the Hall of Fame, but it was also the highest new entry.The work has subsequently been recorded by the Leyland Band, conducted by Jason Katsikaris, on the CD entitled Penlee.Suitable for Advanced Youth/3rd Section Bands and aboveDuration: 13:30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£45.00Symphony No.1, Finale from (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Rachmaninoff, Sergei - Littlemore, Phillip
Rachmaninov composed his First Symphony in 1895, at the age of just 22 years. It received its first performance on March 27, 1897, at a Russian Symphony Society concert in St. Petersburg with Alexander Glazunov conducting. The premiere was not well-received, and Rachmaninov himself blamed Glazunov for a lacklustre approach for beating time rather than finding the music. Some contemporary reports even suggested that Glazunov was inebriated when he took to the stage! Despite the disappointment of the premiere performance, Rachmaninov never destroyed the score but left it behind when he left Russia to settle in the West, eventually it was given up for lost. After the composer's death, a two-piano transcription of the symphony surfaced in Moscow, followed by a set of orchestral parts at the conservatory in Saint Petersburg. In March 1945, the symphony was performed in Moscow for the first time since its 1897 premiere. It was a grand success, and this led to a new and more enthusiastic evaluation of the symphony. In March 1948 it received a similarly successful American premiere and the work proceeded to establish itself in the general repertory. The final movement (Allegro con fuoco) is colourful and grand but not without its darkly contrasting, menacing episodes that intensifies its malevolence. It is a work overflowing with ideas demonstrating a strong, highly individual, and self-assured young talent. Duration: 5:40
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£69.95Concerto for Horn (Horn Solo with Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Horn in F with Brass BandComposed in 1971 for Ifor James, the Concerto for French Horn and Band revealed some of those elements that have made Gregson's music so popular with audiences (and not just brass band audiences) worldwide: the boldness of his melodies, with the interval of the fourth revealing his admiration for the music of Paul Hindemith; his incisive rhythms, betraying the influence of another favourite composer, Bla Bartk; an admirable economy of means; and the clarity of his scoring.Each of the Concerto's three movements displays a different facet of the French Horn's character. The first is serious, symphonic in impulse, the rising fourths of the opening gesture giving the music an almost Germanic weight. In the slow movement, the soloist becomes the first among equals, sharing with the cornet soloist some typically haunting melodies. The lyrical flow is interrupted at the mid-point by mysterious, fleet-of-foot cadenzas. A rondo finale brings the concerto to a light-hearted conclusion. The rising fourths here are the impulse for a jaunty theme which reveals another of Gregson's early influences - William Walton, and in particular that composer's Partita for orchestra.Duration: 18.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£23.95Romance (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wiffin, Rob
This simple little romance was written in the style of a Catalan folk song. It is entirely original and undoubtedly influenced by the arrangements of Catalan folk songs for guitar by Miguel Llobet (1878-1938). Typical of the style, the tune is in 6/8 with a gentle lilt and has just one rather refined outburst of passion before retreating back into its shell. The lyrical nature of the music is particularly suited to the brass band.Duration: 3.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£28.95Caribbean Calypso (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wiffin, Rob
This vivacious calypso seeks to capture the vital rhythm and spirit of Caribbean dance music. It was written just after a visit to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Calypso music was everywhere and its beat was highly infectious. The composer catches the essence of calypso in the music and the sense of fun comes through to both the players and listeners.Duration: 3.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
