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£168.50Music of the Spheres (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Sparke, Philip
Music of the Spheres was commissioned by the Yorkshire Building Society Band and first performed by them at the European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow, May 2004. The piece reflects the composers fascination with the origins of the universe and deep space in general. The title comes from a theory, formulated by Pythagoras, that the cosmos was ruled by the same laws he had discovered that govern the ratios of note frequencies of the musical scale. ('Harmonia' in Ancient Greek, which means scale or tuning rather than harmony - Greek music was monophonic). He also believed that these ratios corresponded to the distances of the six known planets from the sun and thatthe planets each produced a musical note which combined to weave a continuous heavenly melody (which, unfortunately, we humans cannot hear). In this work, these six notes form the basis of the sections Music of the Spheres and Harmonia. The pieces opens with a horn solo called t = 0, a name given by some scientists to the moment of the Big Bang when time and space were created, and this is followed by a depiction of the Big Bang itself, as the entire universe bursts out from a single point. A slower section follows called The Lonely Planet which is a meditation on the incredible and unlikely set of circumstances which led to the creation of the Earth as a planet that can support life, and the constant search for other civilisations elsewhere in the universe. Asteroids and Shooting Stars depicts both the benign and dangerous objects that are flying through space and which constantly threaten our planet, and the piece ends with The Unknown, leaving in question whether our continually expanding exploration of the universe will eventually lead to enlightenment or destruction.Duration: 18:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£82.95The Flowers of the Forest (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bennett, Richard Rodney - Hindmarsh, Paul
In a preface to the score, the composer explains that 'the folk song The Flowers of the Forest is believed to date from 1513, the time if the battle of Flodden, in the course of which the archers of the Forest (a part of Scotland) were killed almost to a man'. Bennett had already used the same tune in his Six Scottish Folksongs (1972) for soprano, tenor and piano, and it is the arrangement he made then that forms the starting-point for the brass-band piece. A slow introduction (Poco Adagio) presents the folk song theme three times in succession - on solo cornet, on solo cornets and tenor horns, and on muted ripieno cornets in close harmony - after which the work unfolds through five sections and a coda. Although played without a break, each of these five sections has its own identity, developing elements of the tune somewhat in the manner of variations, but with each arising from and evolving into the next. The first of these sections (Con moto, tranquillo) is marked by an abrupt shift of tonality, and makes much of the slow rises and falls characteristic of the tune itself. The tempo gradually increases, to arrive at a scherzando section (Vivo) which includes the first appearance of the theme in its inverted form. A waltz-like trio is followed by a brief return of the scherzando, leading directly to a second, more extended, scherzo (con brio) based on a lilting figure no longer directly related to the theme. As this fades, a single side drum introduces an element of more overtly martial tension (Alla Marcia) and Bennett says that, from this point on, he was thinking of Debussy's tribute to the memory of an unknown soldier (in the second movement of En Blanc et noir, for two pianos). Bennett's march gradually gathers momentum, eventually culminating in a short-lived elegiac climax (Maestoso) before the music returns full-circle to the subdued melancholy of the opening. The work ends with a haunting pianissimo statement of the original tune.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95
The Flowers of the Forest (Brass Band - Score only) - Bennett, Richard Rodney - Hindmarsh, Paul
In a preface to the score, the composer explains that 'the folk song The Flowers of the Forest is believed to date from 1513, the time if the battle of Flodden, in the course of which the archers of the Forest (a part of Scotland) were killed almost to a man'. Bennett had already used the same tune in his Six Scottish Folksongs (1972) for soprano, tenor and piano, and it is the arrangement he made then that forms the starting-point for the brass-band piece. A slow introduction (Poco Adagio) presents the folk song theme three times in succession - on solo cornet, on solo cornets and tenor horns, and on muted ripieno cornets in close harmony - after which the work unfolds through five sections and a coda. Although played without a break, each of these five sections has its own identity, developing elements of the tune somewhat in the manner of variations, but with each arising from and evolving into the next. The first of these sections (Con moto, tranquillo) is marked by an abrupt shift of tonality, and makes much of the slow rises and falls characteristic of the tune itself. The tempo gradually increases, to arrive at a scherzando section (Vivo) which includes the first appearance of the theme in its inverted form. A waltz-like trio is followed by a brief return of the scherzando, leading directly to a second, more extended, scherzo (con brio) based on a lilting figure no longer directly related to the theme. As this fades, a single side drum introduces an element of more overtly martial tension (Alla Marcia) and Bennett says that, from this point on, he was thinking of Debussy's tribute to the memory of an unknown soldier (in the second movement of En Blanc et noir, for two pianos). Bennett's march gradually gathers momentum, eventually culminating in a short-lived elegiac climax (Maestoso) before the music returns full-circle to the subdued melancholy of the opening. The work ends with a haunting pianissimo statement of the original tune.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£89.95
TRUMPETS OF THE ANGELS - 2016 Edition (Gregson) (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
The Trumpets of the Angels is a large-scale work, scored for seven solo trumpets (or cornets), brass band and percussion (deploying 'dark' instruments such as three tam-tams, bass drum and two sets of timpani). The genesis of the work is a quotation from the Book of Revelation ... and I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.Thus the idea behind the work is highly dramatic and I have tried to achieve this by the spatial deployment of seven solo trumpets around the band. Trumpet 7 remains separate from the band throughout and, indeed, has the most dramatic and extended cadenza, representing the words of the seventh angel ... and time shall be no more.The work opens with a four-note motif announced by off-stage horns and baritones and answered by fanfare figures on four solo trumpets. In turn, each then play cadenzas before joining together, independently playing their own music. This leads to a sung Kyrie Eleison with accompanying solos for Flugel Horn and Baritone, after which we hear the entry of solo trumpets 5 and 6 with music that is more urgent and rhythmic, describing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.The music reaches another climax, more intense this time, with the horns and baritones (now on-stage) again sounding the transformed motif, before subsiding into what might be described as a lament of humanity - slow, yearning music, which builds from low to high, from soft to loud, with a melody that is both simple and poignant. At its climax, Trumpet 7 makes a dramatic entry, playing the opening four-note motif, but expanded to almost three octaves. This cadenza (to the partial accompaniment of 3 tam-tams, representing the Holy Trinity) introduces new material and foreshadows the ensuing Scherzo, introduced by antiphonal timpani before the band enters with music that is fast and foreboding. Despite the somewhat desolate and 'unstable' mood of this music, it slowly moves towards an optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant statement.The original version of The Trumpets of the Angels was commissioned by the Fodens Band for their centenary concert at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, in 2000, and contained an important part for organ. In 2015 I was asked by Nicholas Childs to create a New Performing Edition for the Black Dyke Band; without organ, and including newly composed material. This New Performing Edition was given its first performance at the European Brass Band Festival in Lille in April 2016. The work is dedicated In tribute to Olivier Messiaen.- Edward Gregson
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95
TRUMPETS OF THE ANGELS - 2016 Edition (Gregson) (Brass Band - Score only) - Gregson, Edward
The Trumpets of the Angels is a large-scale work, scored for seven solo trumpets (or cornets), brass band and percussion (deploying 'dark' instruments such as three tam-tams, bass drum and two sets of timpani). The genesis of the work is a quotation from the Book of Revelation ... and I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.Thus the idea behind the work is highly dramatic and I have tried to achieve this by the spatial deployment of seven solo trumpets around the band. Trumpet 7 remains separate from the band throughout and, indeed, has the most dramatic and extended cadenza, representing the words of the seventh angel ... and time shall be no more.The work opens with a four-note motif announced by off-stage horns and baritones and answered by fanfare figures on four solo trumpets. In turn, each then play cadenzas before joining together, independently playing their own music. This leads to a sung Kyrie Eleison with accompanying solos for Flugel Horn and Baritone, after which we hear the entry of solo trumpets 5 and 6 with music that is more urgent and rhythmic, describing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.The music reaches another climax, more intense this time, with the horns and baritones (now on-stage) again sounding the transformed motif, before subsiding into what might be described as a lament of humanity - slow, yearning music, which builds from low to high, from soft to loud, with a melody that is both simple and poignant. At its climax, Trumpet 7 makes a dramatic entry, playing the opening four-note motif, but expanded to almost three octaves. This cadenza (to the partial accompaniment of 3 tam-tams, representing the Holy Trinity) introduces new material and foreshadows the ensuing Scherzo, introduced by antiphonal timpani before the band enters with music that is fast and foreboding. Despite the somewhat desolate and 'unstable' mood of this music, it slowly moves towards an optimistic conclusion, transforming the 'humanity' music into an affirmative and triumphant statement.The original version of The Trumpets of the Angels was commissioned by the Fodens Band for their centenary concert at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, in 2000, and contained an important part for organ. In 2015 I was asked by Nicholas Childs to create a New Performing Edition for the Black Dyke Band; without organ, and including newly composed material. This New Performing Edition was given its first performance at the European Brass Band Festival in Lille in April 2016. The work is dedicated In tribute to Olivier Messiaen.- Edward Gregson
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£127.95Music of the Angels (Symphonic Brass Ensemble - Score and Parts)
In 1998 Gregson was commissioned by conductor Martyn Brabbins to write a short concert opener with choir to mark his debut as Music Director of the Huddersfield Choral Society. Entitled ...and the seven trumpets... this ten minute flourish is founded on a verse from Chapter 8 of the Revelation To John (The Apocalypse), the last book in the Bible: 'and I saw the seven Angels which stood before God: and to them were given seven trumpets'. The performance employed the full power of the Huddersfield Town Hall organ and the brass section of the BBC Philharmonic, including seven trumpets and four horns placed strategically around hall.The following year, when Gregson received a commission from the Cheshire-based Foden's Brass Band (conducted at that time by Nicholas Childs) for a work to mark its centenary in 2000, he turned to the first portion of ...and the seven trumpets... as the basis for an ambitious celebratory work entitled The Trumpets of the Angels. "The opportunity to create an extended work which would break out of the brass band mould was an important milestone for me," the composer says. In 2015 he was asked by Nicholas Childs to create a new performing edition without organ for the Black Dyke Band. This received its first performance in April 2016 at the European Brass Band Festival in Lille. In 2018, Gregson revisited the music for a third time, returning the opening fanfares to orchestral brass and transforming substantial portions of the 'Black Dyke' version to create Music of the Angels, a dramatic canvas for symphonic brass and percussion.An array of bells and gongs offer an unmistakable key to the source of Gregson's inspiration. Inscribed In tribute to Olivier Messiaen, the work's principal material and its sound world, but crucially not the underlying musical processes, are influenced by Messiaen's masterpiece for wind and percussion, Et exspecto ressurectionem mortuorum (1964). Music of the Angels begins with braying of horns suggestive of the start of an ancient ritual. Six 'angel' trumpeters, set behind the ensemble, answer in sequence, with the evocative sound of tam-tams creating the Messiaen-like aura. Once the horns have reached the performing space, four of the trumpeters deliver highly contrasting fanfare cadenzas. At the climax of this episode, the individual fanfares are presented together, as if, perhaps, to reflect the Biblical writer's apocalyptic visions of hail, fire, seas of blood and the cataclysmic destruction of man and beast.This powerful vision of death and destruction gives way to a prayerful lament, re-imagining a sung Kyrie Eleison from the 'Black Dyke' edition, with flugel horn and euphonium obligati. The hushed atmosphere is broken by tenor and side drums, and trumpets five and six, which gallop away like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In the biblical account their steeds had 'heads like lions with fire and smoke and sulphur issuing from their mouths'.As the reverberation of a dramatic climax dies we hear the entry of the seventh trumpet, from 'on high', blazing forth with a version of the main that extends across the entire compass of the instrument - almost three octaves. Supported by a 'holy trinity' of gongs, an 'epic' final cadenza introduces new material which is further developed in a frenetic final section. This is announced by two sets of timpani, to the left and right. Braying brass (euphoniums and horns) once more adds an air of foreboding. As the music builds towards a magisterial conclusion, the Messiaen-inspired tritones of the principal motif are smoothed out into perfect 5ths and combined with the earlier material in a full-voiced chorale, over which the seventh trumpet blazes in triumph.- Programme note by Paul HindmarshScored for1 Trumpet in E flat (Trumpet 5)6 Trumpets in B flat (Trumpet 4 doubling Flugel Horn)4 Horns in F3 Tenor Trombones1 Bass TromboneEuphonium2 Tubas2 Timpani (Percussion 3 doubles Timpani 2)Percussion (3 players): 3 Tam-tams, 3 Suspended Cymbals, Bass Drum, Tenor Drum, Snare Drum, Tubular Bells.Duration: 16.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£64.95Platform to the Heavens
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
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£49.95The Dark Side Of The Moon (Score and Parts)
This piece was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs and Black Dyke Band on behalf of Rotary International and received its world premire performance at St. David's Hall, Cardiff on Saturday 27th January 2007. It is dedicated to the composer's father, Harry Cooper.The music was selected by the National Contesting Council as the 3rd section test piece for the 2008 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. A Note from the Composer...Have you ever thought of a holiday destination, tourist attraction, event, place, site or period in history and thought 'I wonder what it would be like?' - somwhere you have never been and can only let your imagination run wild on. What would the place be like, and all the things surrounding it such as the mood, feelings you get experiencing it, the temperature? Who would be there and what you would see? This piece is my musical imagination of the dark side of the moon. I know from news reports, the internet and other footage that the moon is a very desolate place, very barren and rugged. So from the start the piece gives the listener a musical picture of the rugged landscape with little light and warmth.However, the one place that has had me thinking about is the side of the moon that we don't see in our night skies, the side of the moon with no sun and no light pollution from civilisation. I can only imagine the eeriness one would feel being stood in complete darkness on the moon's surface looking around.As you slowly explore the surroundings and your eyes drift up to the night sky, there is an awesome sight unfolding in front of you - countless stars and galaxies, planets and different solar systems and all right in front of you glistening from the light of the sun beaming from the other side of the moon. The Dark Side of the Moon portrays a musical picture of the whole experience as seen in my imagination taking the listener from the rugged landscape to the awesome beauty that sits endlessly in front of you.Paul Lovatt-Cooper, September 2007
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£24.95The Dark Side Of The Moon (Score Only)
This piece was commissioned by Dr. Nicholas Childs and Black Dyke Band on behalf of Rotary International and received its world premire performance at St. David's Hall, Cardiff on Saturday 27th January 2007. It is dedicated to the composer's father, Harry Cooper.The music was selected by the National Contesting Council as the 3rd section test piece for the 2008 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. A Note from the Composer...Have you ever thought of a holiday destination, tourist attraction, event, place, site or period in history and thought 'I wonder what it would be like?' - somwhere you have never been and can only let your imagination run wild on. What would the place be like, and all the things surrounding it such as the mood, feelings you get experiencing it, the temperature? Who would be there and what you would see? This piece is my musical imagination of the dark side of the moon. I know from news reports, the internet and other footage that the moon is a very desolate place, very barren and rugged. So from the start the piece gives the listener a musical picture of the rugged landscape with little light and warmth.However, the one place that has had me thinking about is the side of the moon that we don't see in our night skies, the side of the moon with no sun and no light pollution from civilisation. I can only imagine the eeriness one would feel being stood in complete darkness on the moon's surface looking around.As you slowly explore the surroundings and your eyes drift up to the night sky, there is an awesome sight unfolding in front of you - countless stars and galaxies, planets and different solar systems and all right in front of you glistening from the light of the sun beaming from the other side of the moon. The Dark Side of the Moon portrays a musical picture of the whole experience as seen in my imagination taking the listener from the rugged landscape to the awesome beauty that sits endlessly in front of you.Paul Lovatt-Cooper, September 2007
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95
The Land of the Long White Cloud (Score Only)
Dating from 1979, The Land of the Long White Cloud (Aotearoa) was Philip Sparke's first test-piece. It was commissioned by the New Zealand Brass Band Association for their 1980 National Championships (their centenary year) and set for the European Brass Band Championships, the same year, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Aotearoa was the name given to New Zealand by its Polynesian settlers whose first sight of the islands was a long, flat cloud lying low over the land. The work has no specific programme although many have seen pictures of the surging ocean in the opening bars. A faster dance-like section leads to a slow, haunting solo for soprano cornet; this is taken up by the whole band before earlier material returns. The dance-like tune is, this time, given a fugal treatment and the opening bars return to close the work.Philip Sparke was born in London and studied composition, trumpet and piano at the Royal College of Music, where he gained an ARCM. It was at the College that his interest in bands arose. He played in the College wind orchestra and also formed a brass band among the students, writing several works for both ensembles.At that time, his first published works appeared - Concert Prelude (brass band) and Gaudium (wind band). A growing interest in his music led to several commissions, his first major one being this featured piece for the Centennial Brass Band Championships in New Zealand - The Land of the Long White Cloud. He has written for brass band championships in New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and the UK, including three times for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall.In September 2000, he was awarded the Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to brass bands and in 2005 Music of the Spheres won the National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. In 2011, he received the BUMA International Brass Award for his contribution to brass music.His conducting and adjudicating activities have taken him to most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada and the USA. In May 2000, he took the major step of becoming a full-time composer by founding his own publishing company, Anglo Music Press. The company is devoted to publishing his brass band, concert band, fanfare band and instrumental publications as well as recordings dedicated to his latest works.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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