Results
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£42.00The Beacons (Parts only) - Ray Steadman-Allen
For centuries hilltop beacon fires blazed across the land signals of important happenings or warnings of invasion. This music tells no specific story but the titles of the four thematically related sections are a guide to the idea: The Beacons; Far Horizons; The Invaders; Celebration. The first movement has something of the character of the march and the fanfare; spirited and tightly driving, it promises most of the thematic material of the work. The second is largelt tranquil and is thinly scores with solo passages. The third has the most dramatic potential; its energy and conflict subsides to a lament and a tolling bell before a vigorous rounding off. Appropriately, the fourth movement is in a merry-making mood, and the jubilant music concludes with fragment statements of the main themes. The Beacons was first performed by IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band (James Scott) at the 'Concert of the Century', celebrating the Centenary of the British Bandsman, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 5 September 1987. Duration: 12:30
Estimated dispatch 7-9 working days
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£74.00Montage (Parts only) - Peter Graham
Each of the movements of the symphony take as their starting point forms originating in music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The first, an intrada, introduces the main thematic material (based on the interval of a minor third) in its embryonic state. As the piece progresses, this material is developed and manipulated in a variety of ways. The interval of the third remains central to the overall scheme of the work, even unifying the three movements on a tonal plane (I: F (minor); II: A flat (major); III: C flat (minor). The internal structure of the intrada is an arch form: ABCBA, roughly modelled on the first movement of Concerto for Orchestra by Witold Lutoslawski, to whose memory the movement is dedicated. A chaconne follows - the basic material now transformed into expansive solo lines underpinned by a recurring sequence of five chords (again, a third apart). The movement's structure combines both ternary form and golden section principles and the chaconne's continuous cycle of chords may be visualised as circles. The final movement, a rondo, bears the dramatic weight of the entire work, as the underlying tonal tensions surface. A musical journey ensues, making diversions through lyrical territories as well as through more spiky, jazz-flavoured ones. The aural (and visual) montage is perhaps most apparent towards the climax of the piece, where three keys and polyrhythms sound simultaneously in the upper brass, xylophone, horns, and timpani. The climax itself combines the lyrical music heard earlier with the rondo theme, now presented by cornets and trombones in canon. The teleological thrust of the movement (if not the entire work) can be symbolized by the flight of an arrow, as it steers a predetermined course towards its target. Duration: 16:00
Estimated dispatch 7-9 working days
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£29.95The Strong Tower (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Following the popularity of Turris Fortissima, I decided, albeit many years later, to revisit some of the material it contains and create a shorter piece, expanding on some of the ideas and motifs, allowing myself to follow those in different directions altogether. The result is this piece which I hope will also excite players and listeners alike.The music is marked at a quick tempo from the start, but despite several changes in meter, the tempo doesn't change until the small accelerando leads us into the presto section. In order to maintain the excitement and drama, it's important to set the pace and keep it consistent throughout.Section A introduces a few of the motifs that will be developed during the piece, including the main Turris Fortissima theme from bar 13 to 18.At section B, ensure the quavers are tight across the whole band with a strong attack, making an obvious difference in dynamic when fff is marked, in bars 23, 25 and 27. A more lyrical approach will be effective from the Horns in section C, with vigorous interruptions from the rest of the band breaking up their melody.Section D features long notes from muted 1st and 2nd Cornets and Trombones, with crescendos each time. These should be significant and sound as though they emerge from nowhere, completely cutting through the overall texture.Section D features long notes from muted 1st and 2nd Cornets and Trombones, with crescendos each time. These should be significant and sound as though they emerge from nowhere, completely cutting through the overall texture.Sections E and F are both passages of building intensity. Various contrasting motifs are layered, including a subtle reference to the hymn tune Ein' feste Burg (A mighty fortress is our God) from the Euphonium. The music becomes more busy and muddled, before reaching its climax at section G where the lyrical melody is heard again, this time from the Solo Cornets and Euphonium.In bars 141 to 145, there is a reference to Dean Goffin's My strength, my tower in the Basses, as used in Turris Fortissima. Allow this motif to dominate, keeping the notes full and grand-sounding. In bars 149 to 151 there is further use of the line from Ein' feste Burg in the Baritones, Trombones, Euphoniums and Basses leading into the final section.- Steven Ponsford
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£40.00A Song for Bram (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
A Song for Bram is a short work, originally composed piano and brass band, and is dedicated to the memory of Bramwell Tovey, a close friend and colleague of the composer, and a conductor, composer, pianist and musician of huge talent, who sadly passed away before his time in the summer of 2022. In this short piece the composer has tried to imagine what kind of tune Bram would have improvised at the piano, something he frequently engaged in. No doubt it would have been a mixture of bluesy jazz, hymn tune, and love song, and this is how the solo piano takes off. In the middle section of a what is a simple tertiary structure, introduced are quotes from two hymn tunes Bram particularly loved, never having forgotten his Salvation Army roots. Bram's 'Song' returns, this time on a plaintive flugelhorn horn, and which reaches a climax with the full band before receding, literally, into the distance.....(to a new life beyond?).Duration: 6.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95Lead, Kindly Light (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
This beautiful hymn is one of trust and faith, building in confidence 'till the night is gone.' This arrangement follows that line of confidence. The melody begins unaccompanied, which is to say 'alone', and the eventual accompanying voices enter sombrely. Instead of a traditional final cadence, the 'leading of the light' continues, using the first four notes of the hymn as a motif that leads to a second, more positive statement of the melody, underscored by a walking motion. The positivity grows and lasts through a final grand statement of the hymn. A short meditative coda follows, and the arrangement ends with a solo note of reflection.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£40.00Fanfare for a New Era (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Fanfare for a New Era is the most substantial of Edward Gregson's fanfares and was the result of a private commission by Lady Sheila Stoller to celebrate the opening in April 2017 of the Stoller Hall at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester. Gregson dedicated it to Sir Norman Stoller, who donated the funding for the new concert hall. The Fanfare was designed to fill the whole space, with separate brass choirs - trumpets, horns, trombones and tuba - playing their own music. A solo trumpeter playing 'on high' announces first the four horns and timpani, who enter with a stately measure. Next the herald trumpeter ushers in trombones, tuba and drums, with a faster dance. Finally, the remaining three trumpets amplify the peeling of bells. All four elements then come together, surrounding the audience with a 'joyful noise' of festive brass and percussion.Duration: 3.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£120.00Dark Arteries Suite (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
Dark Arteries was commissioned by Rambert Dance Company and first performed in May 2015 with the Tredegar Town Band sharing the stage with Rambert dancers. Dark Arteries is a personal and at times highly wrought response to the Miners Strike and its aftermath. It is in three movements, the first and last are expansive, with widely contrasting sound worlds, from dark, brooding melodies and the haunting sounds of solo flugel horn to wild syncopations on cornets, suggestive of an imposing, but often bleak mining landscape. Suitable for 1st Section Bands and above. Duration: 16.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£25.00To a Wild Rose (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
To a Wild Rose, one of MacDowell's most well-known and loved pieces, is part of the larger Woodland Sketches, finished in 1896 for solo piano and has been skilfully arranged here for brass band.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£42.00Planets Align (Score and Parts)
Planets Align is intended to be a dramatic, theatrical opening number using the full space of any auditorium. Featuring fanfares for soprano and principal cornet, and an extended ad lib drum kit solo, the piece is designed to segue into any other piece and will make an arresting start to your concert as it did to Cory Band's 2014 Brass in Concert programme.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£74.95Platform to the Heavens (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
The piece takes its inspiration from the mountain ranges from one of my favourite countries, Switzerland.I have visited the Swiss Alps on many occasions and I am still taken back by its sheer awesome beauty with every visit. This commission gave me the opportunity to pay homage to this wonderful landscape and paint my own musical picture of it.The piece opens with what I imagine daybreak would be like at one of its many peaks. With the sun growing behind the mountain range, the piece builds from a single note to a huge climatic chord revealing Mother Nature's creation.Then at rehearsal figure 'C' the tempo changes dramatically as we fly through the many slopes of the mountains as if on a manic skiing expedition, revealing the many dangers within the Swiss Alps.The twists, turns and climaxes begin to die away as we enter rehearsal figure 'M' - nightfall over the mountains. As the sun disappears, the sky darkens to reveal the beautiful starlit sky above the mountain range. This middle section starts with the various cadenzas that serve as echoes around the Alps. It then leads to a lyrical solo at rehearsal figure 'O' as the moonlight illuminates the icy mountain peaks. A final cadenza to conclude this section highlights the end of nightfall as the sun starts to rise again.This recapitulation from the opening, signals a new dawn as the sun rises above the snowy peaks once again. The music at this point in its slightly altered state highlights the dawn of a new day in the Alps. The fast manic ski ride follows which takes the piece to its grand finale conclusion.The idea behind the title of this piece is that the Swiss Alps are so beautiful and vast; I can only imagine that they could be a platform connecting the earth to the heavens above.Paul Lovatt-Cooper
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days