Results
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£40.00A Wartime Sketchbook (Brass Band - Score only) - Walton, William - Hindmarsh, Paul
Early in 1941 William Walton, 39, received his call-up papers. He was by then one of the most eminent of British composers and was exempted from military service on condition that he provided music for films deemed to be of 'national importance'. Scoring Lawrence Olivier's Shakespeare epic Henry V in 1943 was the most substantial of these wartime projects. His role in patriotic films from 1941 and 42 like The Foreman went to France, Next of Kin, Went the day Well and The First of the Few was to provide appropriate title music and some underscoring at key moments. Walton extracted the most substantial portions of the latter as the popular Spitfire Prelude and Fugue for orchestra. The remaining music remained unpublished until 1990, when Christopher Palmer assembled the highlights into A Wartime Sketchbook. I was intrigued to hear these examples of Walton's wartime music and having discovered that they would fit naturally and idiomatically onto the brass band, I arranged six of the numbers into a suite for Besses o' th' Barn Band, which I was conducting at the time.In 1995 the brass band suite was recorded by the famous Black Dyke Mills Band as part of an all Walton album which I produced for the ASV label (ASV CD WHL 2093). This award- winning CD also included Walton's First Shoot, in the edition by Elgar Howarth, my transcription of movements from Music for Children and two substantial brass versions by Edward Watson of the suite from Henry V (with narrator) and the March and Siegfried Music from The Battle of Britain music.Prologue: This is the stirring title music from Went the day Well, a screen play by Graham Greene about a German airborne invasion of an English village. The main theme leads toBicycle Chase: Characteristic musical high-jinks for J.B.Priestley's The Foreman went to France.Refugees: From the same film, this is a poignant accompaniment to the long march of refugees. As Ernest Irving, the film's musical director, put it, "this really makes your feet sore and your knees sag."Young Siegfrieds: This lively movement comes from the music that Walton composed for The Battle of Britain in 1968, with the assistance of Malcolm Arnold, but which the film's producer rejected. It portrays first the Berliners, cheerfully ignoring the black-out and then, in the trio, the Young Siegfrieds of the Luftwaffe, courtesy of a parody of Siegfried's horn call from Wagner's opera.Romance: A soldier and a Dutch refugee snatch a few tender moments together in Next of Kin.Epilogue: At the end of The Foreman went to France, the French look forward with hope and optimism to eventual liberation.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 14.00
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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£89.95Diversions, Op.97 (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bourgeois, Derek
This work was commissioned in1985 by Skellerup, Christchurch, New ZealandMovements:Allegro VivaceAndante Con Moto Molto ExpressivoAllegro VivaceDerek Bourgeois wrote Diversions in the summer of 1985 to a commissioned from the Skellerup Brass Band.Bourgeois previous test piece, Blitz, was aggressive and forceful, therefore the composer decided to write a work of a completely different character, which although technically very demanding, is light-hearted in style, and easy on the ear, as the title suggests.The first and third movements share the same tempo, but are rather different in character. The first movement is a sonata allegro contrasting two main themes. The first is bold and jaunty and is heavily scored, the second announced by the solo horn is more lyrical in character. The development section and recapitulation are merged into a continuous interplay of the two themes.The second movement is an expressive andante in free rondo form. It is lightly scored for the most part with a lot of solo passages that make demands on the musicianship of the players and conductor alike. The very simplicity of its textures and the breadth of its melodic writing demand firm control of vibrato, phrasing and rubato.The brief finale is nothing short of a romp. Its ternary structure is highly rhythmic in character and only rarely do the performers enjoy the luxury of two consecutive bars in the same time signature!Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£44.95
Diversions, Op.97 (Brass Band - Score only) - Bourgeois, Derek
This work was commissioned in1985 by Skellerup, Christchurch, New ZealandMovements:Allegro VivaceAndante Con Moto Molto ExpressivoAllegro VivaceDerek Bourgeois wrote Diversions in the summer of 1985 to a commissioned from the Skellerup Brass Band.Bourgeois previous test piece, Blitz, was aggressive and forceful, therefore the composer decided to write a work of a completely different character, which although technically very demanding, is light-hearted in style, and easy on the ear, as the title suggests.The first and third movements share the same tempo, but are rather different in character. The first movement is a sonata allegro contrasting two main themes. The first is bold and jaunty and is heavily scored, the second announced by the solo horn is more lyrical in character. The development section and recapitulation are merged into a continuous interplay of the two themes.The second movement is an expressive andante in free rondo form. It is lightly scored for the most part with a lot of solo passages that make demands on the musicianship of the players and conductor alike. The very simplicity of its textures and the breadth of its melodic writing demand firm control of vibrato, phrasing and rubato.The brief finale is nothing short of a romp. Its ternary structure is highly rhythmic in character and only rarely do the performers enjoy the luxury of two consecutive bars in the same time signature!Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£45.00March Slav (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Littlemore, Phillip
March Slav?was composed in 1876 at the request of Nicolai Rubenstein (who had recently spurned Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, and might have wanted to return to favour with the composer). Tchaikovsky loved Russian folk music--looking to it for inspiration throughout his career--and he makes considerable use of it here. From the opening theme to the final glorious statement of the Czarist national anthem, the march draws on the music of his motherland. It was first performed in a charity concert to support a war effort in the Balkans. He composed and fully scored the march in the short time of just 5 days. At the first performance its impact was such that it had to be encored in full, receiving a tumultuous reception - twice! Duration: 7:20
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£40.00Pomp and Circumstance March No.2 (Brass Band) - Littlemore, Phillip
Following the spectacular success of his Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1, which received over 100 performances in its first year, it was almost inevitable that Elgar would write a second. However, what is not commonly known is that the initial sketches for what was to become the?Pomp & Circumstance March No. 2?were written first! Due to the successes of the first march, not least because it now features at every Prom concert, it is forgotten that not only did Elgar submit the manuscript for both marches to his publisher at the same time, but both marches were premi?red at the same concert and both performed a few days later at the same Promenade Concert. Duration: 5:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.95Purcell Variants (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Meechan, Peter
Purcell Variants is based on Purcell's Queen Mary's Funeral Music, which consists of four canzonas (for brass), two elegies and an anthem.The first movement begins by sounding some of Purcell's original music in the trombones, underpinned by a timpani roll with the cornets articulating the beginnings and endings of the phrases. This leads into a cadenza for cornet and horn before the movement heads in different directions, leading us to its mysterious end, where the original music is sounded this time in the 'stabs' of the muted cornets.Originally composed for the funeral of Queen Mary in 1695, Purcell's original funeral music was used later that same year for Purcell's own funeral - he died aged only 34. The second movement is an elegy, inspired by this story. After an introduction (started by cornets sounding a last post), the main melody of the movement is introduced by the solo euphonium, with other solo roles for an off-stage soprano cornet, and trombone. This is then taken over by the cornets who lead us into the middle section of the movement. This is a quasi-funeral march, inspired by the image of Purcell's coffin being taken to its final resting point. The main melody returns in the euphonium, flugel horn and soprano cornet, this time more elaborated. The movement ends with a snare drum fading away - perhaps a metaphor. The Finale is a fast and furious movement combining thematic material from the two previous movements with new rhythmical ideas. This takes us through to the final passage - the triumphant return of Purcell's original theme.Duration: 13.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£72.99English Dances, Set 1, Op.27: No.1, Andantino (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Arnold, Malcolm - Farr, Ray
English Dances, Set I, opus 27, is a light classic composition that was written for orchestra by the British composer Malcolm Arnold in 1950. The set contains four dances that continue without pause: the individual movements are indicated by the tempo markings. The work came about at the request of Bernard de Nevers, at the time the head of publisher Alfred Lengnick & Co., who asked Arnold to write a suite of dances as an English counterpart to Dvovk's Slavonic Dances and Bartk's Romanian Folk Dances. The premire took place in the spring of 1951, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Following the success of the first set, DeNevers asked the composer to write a second one, which Arnold completed the next year (Op. 33). The Andantino from the first set has been skilfully arranged and orchestrated for brass band by Ray Farr.Duration: 2.45
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£45.00Lament (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bridge, Frank - Hindmarsh, Paul
The English composer Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941) did not take an active part in the First World War. However, he was devastated by the slaughter on the western and the eastern fronts, especially the loss of so many of his musicians friends and colleagues. Writing in 1963, his former pupil Benjamin Britten confessed that 'a lot of my feelings about the First World War which people seemed to see in the War Requiem came from Bridge. He had written a piano sonata in memory of a friend killed in France and though he didn't encourage me to take a stand for the sake of a stand, he did make me argue and argue and argue. His own pacifism was not aggressive, but typically gentle'.Bridge composed this Lament for string orchestra on 14 June 1915, in memory of Catherine Crompton, who drowned when the Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine on 7 May, 1915. According to figures researched by Liverpool historian Kevin Roach (www.lusitania.net), 1201 men, women and children lost their lives out of the 1962 people aboard. Ninety-four children died, including Catherine, her twin brother Paul and four other siblings. Paul Crompton, Snr. (44), a British businessman working in Philadelphia, his wife Gladys (40) and the family nanny were also drowned. How Bridge's dedication came about is uncertain. The music critic Edwin Evans, who knew Bridge well, has written that the Catherine was a young friend. It is also possible that he came across the family photograph which was published in many newspapers in the wake of the tragedy. By that time, Bridge was greatly distressed by the war as a whole. It seems perfectly in keeping with his pacifist leanings and the strength of his reaction, that this poignant and deeply touching 'war memorial' should mourn a child who he did not know, rather than one of the thousands of young men who fell in battle.Through the musical tears of this melancholy lullaby, Bridge may have regarded the death of young Catherine Crompton as symbolic of the loss of so many innocent lives in wartime. His response to this personal tragedy was characteristically spontaneous and utterly sincere. It is one of his most effective miniatures, poignant yet restrained in its lyrical beauty, with a compelling directness and simplicity of construction.This brass band transcription is pitched one tone lower than the original for string orchestra.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£154.99Spiriti (Brass Band - Score and Parts)
A Bach chorale stands at the centre of this work (F?r deinen Thron tret? ich hiermit).Anton Bruckner was one of Johann Sebastian Bach's great admirers. His work is full of the spirit of that musical genius. For Thomas Doss, it was Bruckner's spirit that always seemed to be with him while working on Spiriti. Bruckner's spirit is captured in this composition by a quote from the chorale of his Fifth Symphony at the end of the piece.The introduction, written in the style of a funeral march, already displays the first fragments of the chorale. Like splinters they are strewn throughout the first Allegro, combining and recombining in turbulent, powerful tutti passages. As the music becomes more rambunctious, the Bach-like fragments begin to swirl around each other, only to be scattered once more.The middle-section is of a more pensive nature. The Religioso character gives the audience time to reflect. The music is meditative and the quarter-note (or crotchet) elements mimic a soul that is yearning and crying out.The third part of the piece finally leads, by way of minimalist elements and the fragments mentioned earlier, to a magnificent presentation of the Bach chorale. As the church bells ring out, one can almost hear the great masters presiding at the organ. 17:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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