Results
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£110.00Diversions after Benjamin Britten (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Suite by Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson, Paul McGhee and Gavin HigginsHaving devised a collective centenary tribute for Michael Tippett at the 2006 RNCM Festival of Brass (Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett by five eminent composers of brass band music, PHM002), I commissioned this companion piece as a Benjamin Britten tribute for the 2013 festival. In the late 1970s, while researching a book about the English composer, and Britten's first teacher, Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), I came across a copy of the printed score of Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Op.10) for string orchestra, in which Britten had written descriptive titles for each of the variations suggesting appropriate character traits of his much loved mentor and guide. The character variations are cast in march, song and dance forms.Taking inspiration from Britten's youthful tribute, I invited four award-winning composers, who have all made significant contributions to the brass band medium, to create their own personal reflections on four aspects of Britten's character and music, designed to form a suite of Diversions after Benjamin Britten, but which can also be played separately.Lucy Pankhurst's hauntingly lyrical Prelude: His Depth refers to the emotional and symbolic subtexts that underpin Britten's operas, taking its musical cue from Britten's many arrangements of folk songs. The flugel horn takes a prominent role throughout.Simon Dobson's breathless Scherzo: His Vitality reminds us with its rapid passage work and leaping bass 'groove' that Britten loved tennis and fast cars in his younger days.Paul McGhee's evocative interpretation of the March: His Sympathy represents Benjamin Britten's pacifism, as the composer writes: 'We view the music through the eyes of a pacifist. Whilst war and violence surround us, we do not engage in it and though it continues to happen around us. With the use of muted effects in most of the band throughout the piece, the flugel horn is the lone voice of reason, standing firm against the mechanical and destructive society in which it is forced to live. As the machine of war continues around the lone voice, the voice is gradually dismissed and mocked as the war machine rumbles on into the distance.'In an extended finale, entitled Toccata: His Skill, Gavin Higgins celebrates Benjamin Britten's consummate creativity. For the RNCM Festival of Brass premiere, the four contrasting movements were framed and connected by Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury for three trumpets, with the trumpet soloists spaced round the hall. I am grateful to the Britten Estate and publishers Boosey & Hawkes for giving permission for the elements of Britten's fanfare to be incorporated in the collective work.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 19.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£120.00Destroy, Trample, As Swiftly As She (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Higgins, Gavin
Destroy, Trample, As Swiftly As She, was commissioned by the Tredegar Town Brass Band. This dramatic, virtuoso score contrasts episodes of visceral energy of pounding rhythms and wild flutter tonguing and brassy angular themes with the ominous stillness of calmer moments suffused with the unique sound of four flugel horns. Suitable for Championship Section Bands. Duration: 18.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.99A Symphony of Colours (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
A Symphony Of Colours contains four movements, which merge seamlessly together; Joy; Chroma (a journey through the composer's perception of synesthesia); Endless Time (where tuned percussion features alongside extended solos for the euphonium); and the final, climactic Ascent. This virtuoso score won a BASCA British Composer Award in the Brass & Wind Band category for its composer, Simon Dobson. Suitable for Championship Section Bands. Duration: 17.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95March Of The Hours (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Soderstrom, Emil
March of the Hours was first performed at Star Lake Music Camp in 1962 with the composer supplying an informative listening guide which was printed in the published score; "The phrases are of 12 crotchets each (three bars) signifying the 12 hours. Up to the trio, the music describes the headlong search for pleasure by the thoughtless. Abruptly, the trio brings 'I need thee every hour', but an episode employing the original theme pushes it aside until it reappears, this time against a background of chimes of the full hour (Westminster chimes). While the hour strikes 12, a paraphrase of the opening strains of 'When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more' is heard. Here the music stops, to be followed by the trumpet sounding (cornets and trombones) and the rest of the band responds with 'When the roll is called up yonder' with a final 'I'll be there'."
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95The Canadian (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Merritt, James
The centrepiece of this decidedly patriotic and stately march is the Canadian anthem 'O Canada' although the original score (1932) refers to a different set of words ('O Canaan'). The anthem is presented in successively more ornate fashion in the trio section, the musical drama building like a Sousa march so that a da capo is not required. While now considered to be bit of a 'war horse', the march remains great fun to play.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.95Red Priest (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wilby, Philip
Concerto After VivaldiDuring his lifetime, Antonio Vivaldi was known as 'il Prete Rosso', the Red Priest, thanks to his youthful ordination and his flaming red hair. The son of a violinist at San Marco in Venice, Vivaldi's musical pedigree was impeccable and an excellent start to his career was coupled with astounding energy and productivity. His vast output of concerti grossi, using soloists in groups, inspired this composition and performers may choose appropriate stage positions for the various groupings of cornets and trombones, spaced around the performance area. The score quotes freely from some of Vivaldi's most popular compositions, including 'Winter' from The Four Seasons, the motet Nisi Dominus, the famous Gloria and the fugue from the Concerto grosso in D minor found in L'Estro Armonico.However, it is the musical spirit of Vivaldi, a close contemporary of both Handel and Casanova, that inspired this music, which should be played with a mixture of accuracy and abandoned virtuosity. The musical images in this piece have clear associations in the composer's mind with individual Venetian locations, ranging from bustling street scenes to vaulted interiors, and describing the famous journey down the Grand Canal, past the Doge's Palace, to the Ospedale della Pieta where Vivaldi worked for so many years.Suitable for Championship Section BandsDuration: 14.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95Christus Victor (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Downie, Kenneth
This is a glorious selection of music to celebrate the supreme victory of Jesus Christ. The predominant theme of 'Crown Him!' comes from the Thomas Kelly hymn 'Look, ye saints! The sight is glorious' which are associated with Henry Smart's tune 'Regent Square'. Also featured are Andre Crouch's song 'Soon and very soon' as well as Dave Bilborough's 'All hail the lamb'. In the final pages of the score, all three tunes come together in a statement of affirmation.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95Rhapsody On The Isle Of Mull (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Downie, Kenneth
Mull is an island off the west coast of Scotland and it gives its name to the lovely tune which forms the basis of this music. It is very scenic, with some beautiful mountains and the composer has tried to suggest something of the atmosphere of grandeur in his score. The largely pentatonic nature of the tune heavily colours the musical texture.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95The Flag Of Freedom (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Coles, Bramwell
This march's title is not patriotic but relates to the Salvation Army flag, a symbol of spiritual liberation and salvation. The score notes, written by the editor, Lieut-Colonel Frederick Hawkes, refer to 'the well-contrasted melodies, the balanced effect of the scoring and ever-changing effects in regard to light and shade'.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95To Regions Fair (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bearcroft, Norman
Clive Bright, in his score note when To Regions Fair was originally published in 1958, predicted that the march would 'have a good run'. In retrospect, this turned out to be something of an understatement as this march (and many other Bearcroft marches) remains vibrantly active fifty years after its original publication. The title is derived from the song 'Meet in bliss' which is featured in the trio section.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
