Results
-
£29.95Song for the Skies
Song for the Skies was commissioned by Tuba virtuoso Les Neish and was given its world premier on the December 9th 2010 with the James Madison University Brass Band in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.Les asked me to compose a slow melody that highlights the wonderful sonorous sound of the Tuba. I am a big fan of Les and of the instrument and knowing the capabilities of Les as a soloist I wanted to experiment with the range and colour of the instrument in this solo.After a warm introduction from the ensemble the soloist enters almost timeless over the muted cornets. The melody when it is first heard has a somewhat haunting Celtic feel to it. It is intentionally marked as con rubato so that the soloist can really put their own musical stamp on the music. As the haunting melody repeats again this time in a change of key the accompaniment takes more of a role within the piece of music performing counter melodies within this second section.The middle of the piece introduces a new secondary melodic device that serves as an introduction to the original melody played in all its glory by the ensemble. This dies away to leave the second half of the melody in the euphoniums and baritones as the soloist plays a soaring counter melody in the highest register of the instrument.The piece starts to return home with a recapitulation of the introduction followed by the second part of the original melody by the soloist. After a momentary reflective solo from the soloist the introduction is used for a final time before the tuba guides us home to conclude.For the soloist, there are a number of occasions where the opportunity to play in the upper register of the instrument arises. However, I have also given the opportunity for the soloist to play various passages down the octave so it suits the performers playing style and range.Song for the Skies is very simple yet beautiful and I feel it suits the playing of the Eb Tuba perfectly. I hope you enjoy performing it.Paul Lovatt-Cooper
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£32.50Vienna Nights (Score Only)
The City of Vienna stands at one of the historic crossroads of the world, linking east and west and embracing artistic influences from all sides. In the 250th anniversary year of Mozart's birth, this fantasy on Mozart's celebrated Piano Sonata in A (K331), has been composed true to the form and content of the original, but also to the underlying substance of the conception.One of Mozart's distinguishing features, and one that links him to later music by Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Schoenberg, is the breadth of his musical vision. His music links intellectual rigour with ecstatic utterance and darker preoccupations. It is, perhaps, this shadow-laden side of his musical nature which gives his work a profundity often absent in the work of his contemporaries. Admirers of his Requiem Mass or the Statue music in Don Giovanni will recognise that it is this extra sense of reality which makes Mozart so relevant to the modern age, and where he may link hands with the other great Viennese thinkers such as Berg, Webern and Adorno.The composer follows the three movement plan of the Sonata closely. The original begins with a Theme and Variations which is freely quoted. His Minuet is mirrored in the Recitative and Notturno, where each section of the band lays down a metaphoric rose to his memory. Famously, the sonata ends in populistic style with a Turkish Rondo. Ever since the Hapsburg-Ottoman Wars, which came to an end in the seventeenth century, Viennese composers have included Turkish elements in their music, not least in the use of certain percussion instruments. Vienna Nights is thusly a homage.It celebrates the world's greatest composer, but also the city which fostered his work. Here, in your imagination, you might easily conjure up a caf table near the Opera House, where Mozart, Mahler and Sigmund Freud, observed by us all from a discreet distance, may meet as old friends.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£236.00A Poem Against War - Harrie Janssen
A Poem against War A Poem against War was commissioned by Psalm 150, Dinxperlo for the project Leven in Vrijheid!.Starting point of the composition of this piece was the poem A Poem against War from the American poet Karen Kapowich. The poem tells of young lives that are broken in their start because of war.A monument - founded in memory of the soldiers who gave their lives - is hardly noticed and even ignored. Children find the tree-sheltered memorial place rather scary and even the narrator speeds up his stride when passing. Underlying theme is the otiosity of war.The musical piece is composed of two parts that are being played without interruption. The first part explains the drama of the battle. The second part is based on the poem of Karen Karpowich in which we look back on the sacrifices that have been made. The text is sung by a Mezzo Soprano and emphasizes the bloodshed that comes along with every war. The opening theme returns at the end of the piece but in a complete metamorphosis, wherein optimism and vigor take place for resignation knowing that history repeats itself time and time again. A Poem against War had its premiere on 25th November 2012 in de DRU Cultuurfabriek in Ulft by Fanfare-orchestra Psalm 150, Dinxperlo led by Tijmen Botma. The Mezzo Soprano was Elske ter Lindert.commissioned by Psalm 150, Dinxperlo for the project Leven in Vrijheid!.Starting point of the composition of this piece was the poem A Poem against War from the American poet Karen Kapowich. The poem tells of young lives that are broken in their start because of war.A monument - founded in memory of the soldiers who gave their lives - is hardly noticed and even ignored. Children find the tree-sheltered memorial place rather scary and even the narrator speeds up his stride when passing. Underlying theme is the otiosity of war.The musical piece is composed of two parts that are being played without interruption. The first part explains the drama of the battle. The second part is based on the poem of Karen Karpowich in which we look back on the sacrifices that have been made. The text is sung by a Mezzo Soprano and emphasizes the bloodshed that comes along with every war. The opening theme returns at the end of the piece but in a complete metamorphosis, wherein optimism and vigor take place for resignation knowing that history repeats itself time and time again. A Poem against War had its premiere on 25th November 2012 in de DRU Cultuurfabriek in Ulft by Fanfare-orchestra Psalm 150, Dinxperlo led by Tijmen Botma. The Mezzo Soprano was Elske ter Lindert.
Estimated dispatch 10-14 working days
-
£151.00Rainforest Concerto - Saskia Apon
Rainforest Concerto has been commissioned by the Brass Band Rijnmond. This double concerto for two trombones and wind band consists of three parts with the cadenza in the slow niddle movement. Saskia Apon was inspired by the threat of the destruction of the rainforest. In the first part, Creation, we hear an accelerated reproduction of the birth of this impressive natural phenomenon. We hear the first birds, we see the growth of the mangrove trees and we witness the struggle for light and the force necessary to keep the realized equilibrium in a perpetual balance.The second part, Ode, is a tribute to the wonder and splendour of the rainforest. By means of subtle and extremely delicate sonorities we hear how nature adds an inestimable value to the rainforest. However it is also extremely fragile and this engenders a certain melancholy due to the awareness of man's impotence to respect this beautiful nature.In the last part, Contra Demolition, we hear the threatening decline, but also the revolt against this possible ruin. It is a heartfelt cry to leave nuture in peace and to work hard for the preservation of the beauty and the value of the rainforest.
Estimated dispatch 10-14 working days
-
£109.99Modern Times - Etienne Crausaz
Modern Times is a concert suite from the musical and theatrical show Le Temps de Lyre, written and directed by Nicolas Bussard. The work was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Lyre de La Roche, directed by Marc-Olivier Broillet, with the premiere taking place in July 2024 in front of an audience of over 2,000.This suite highlights three of the dozen tableaux in the show. After an introduction evoking a sort of journey back in time, the first tableau (bar 20) illustrates various disasters that have occurred in the village over the years. The sky darkens, the thunder rumbles, the rain lashes down, and violent gusts of wind are unleashed on this corner of the country. The storm finally calms down, giving way to great desolation.The second tableau (bar 117) describes the resilience of the villagers, who summon up all their courage to repair the damage. The music is soft, calm, and hopeful.On the strength of this new beginning, the village can embrace modernity: motor vehicles replace horses, a dam is built, and tourism develops, encouraging a society open to other cultures. The third tableau in this suite illustrates all these advances (bar 177). Musically, this final section pays tribute to George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, two of the 20th century's great musicians and composers, who worked during the fascinating period of modern times and well beyond.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
-
£76.99The Shopping Centre - William Vean
Many people when asked the question 'Do you have any hobbies?' will answer 'Shopping' (even though the female part of the population may be more interested in this than the male one). Of course it is great fun to walk about in a Shopping Mall, browsing in various small shops, looking for things you have always wanted to possess. This was what William Vean was doing one day when he came across the idea to write a composition in which several shops could try to sell their wares (and this idea didn't cost him a penny). First, the audience are taken to a 'Jeans store', then a 'Phone shop' is visited, after which a visit is made to a 'Perfumery'. Thefourth part depicts a profession which is practised in several premises, namely that of shoplifter. In the fifth part there is room for a bite to eat at a Chinese restaurant, and finally after a visit to the hairdresser's it's time to go home.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
-
£55.00New York. - Nigel Hess
'New York'... or to be more precise, Manhattan. For anyone who is familiar with this bizarre and wonderful city, this piece needs no explanation. This brass band transcription has been made by Phillip Littlemore and provides adriving and punchy 4 minute work for brass band. 'New York' is the third movement of 'East Coast Pictures', originally written for wind band, commissioned in 1985 by the British Youth Wind Orchestra with funds from NationalWestminster Bank plc. These three short 'pictures' were inspired by several visits by the composer to a small part of the USA's East Coast, an area that provides great extremes in the geography and thepeople.This work has recently been recorded on the CD 'East Coast Pictures' by the Leyland Band, conducted by Michael Fowles, and is available from this site (catalogue number: 0-571-52109-6).
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
-
£15.00Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Study Score) - Gregson, Edward
Selected as the Championship Section test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£64.95Dance Spirit (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Wiffin, Rob
Dance Spirit is a three movement suite of dances comprising Stomping Dance, Waltz Interlude and Duende linked by solo dancer cadenzas. It started life as the wind band piece Spirit of the Dance. In it I attempted to capture some of the elements of this most fundamental of human activities, the urge to move our bodies to the rhythm of the music. In re-working it for brass band I extended the duration of the Waltz Interlude and increased the technical level in some areas with the intention of making it a suitable test piece.Stomping Dance - The suite starts with perhaps the most basic dance feeling, the desire to stomp our feet to the music, unrefined, no knowledge of steps needed. The heavy stomp is not always present in the music here, and sometimes you can sense the dancers trying something a little more refined, but it is always lurking in the background, ready to draw us back to the elemental rhythm of the beat.Waltz Interlude - Of course, dance does not always have to have heat, it can be elegant and restrained, emphasising fluidity of line and movement. In the waltz it is occasionally suspended by the held poses before the motion starts again. Unlike the outer movements, the Waltz Interlude is cool, danced in moonlight rather than under the sun. The two dancers sometimes move as one and at other times the man provides a frame for the more intricate arabesques of his partner.Duende - During my time living in Spain I went to watch some flamenco dancing. I was expecting the normal tourist cliches but the dancers were serious students of Flamenco Nuevo y Viejo (new and old). They performed with passion to some pounding asymmetric rhythms and their performance was the inspiration for Duende. Duende as a term is hard to define. It is a spirit of performance - that moment when you are right in the middle of the creative spirit of the music. It is about soul and a heightened state of emotion. Federico Garcia Lorca wrote: I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet. Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation.- Rob WiffinDuration: 13.45
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
-
£107.95Symphony in Two Movements (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Gregson, Edward
Selected as the Championship Section test piece for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2025This work was jointly commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) and the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW), the latter with funding from T Cerdd (Music Centre Wales), to celebrate their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively. The first performances were given at Cadogan Hall, London, in April 2012, by the NYBBGB, conducted by Bramwell Tovey; and at the Great Hall, Aberystwyth University, in July 2012, by the NYBBW, conducted by Nicholas Childs.When I was approached about a joint commission to write a new work to celebrate the anniversaries of these two outstanding youth bands I was delighted to accept, and decided to respond by writing a work apposite for the magnitude of these special occasions, namely a 'symphony for brass'.Through a long journey of writing music for brass band, which commenced with Connotations (1977), and continued with Dances and Arias (1984), Of Men and Mountains (1991), The Trumpets of the Angels (2000) and Rococo Variations (2008), I arrived at what I regard as the most important work of the cycle to date, combining as it does serious musical intent with considerable technical demands. It is perhaps my most abstract work for brass band, avoiding any programmatic content.The symphony lasts for some 19 minutes and is structured in two linked movements. The form is based on that used by Beethoven in his final piano sonata (Op.111), which is in two movements only: a compact sonata-form allegro, followed by a more expansive theme and four variations. Prokofiev also adopted this model in his 2nd Symphony of 1925.The opening Toccata of this Symphony is highly dramatic but compact, whilst still retaining the 'traditional' structural elements of exposition, development and recapitulation; indeed, it also has the 'traditional' element of a contrasting second subject - a gentle, lyrical modal melody first heard on solo cornets.In contrast, the longer and more substantial second movement Variations is built around a theme and four variations. The slowly unfolding chorale-like theme accumulates both added note harmony and increasing instrumentation, whilst the four variations which follow are by turn mercurial (fast, starting with all the instruments muted), march-like (menacing, with short rhythmic articulations underpinning an extended atonal melody), serene (a series of 'romances' for solo instruments alongside echoes of the chorale) with an emerging theme eventually bursting into a climax of passionate intent; whilst the final variation is a dynamic scherzo (concertante-like in its series of rapid-fire solos, duets, trios and quartets) with the music gradually incorporating elements of the main ideas from the first movement, thus acting as a recapitulation for the whole work. It reaches its peroration with a return to the very opening of the symphony, now in the 'home' tonality of F, and thus creating a truly symphonic dimension to the music.Most of the melodic material of the symphony is derived from the opening eleven-note 'row', which contains various intervallic sets, and although the work is not serially conceived it does use some typical quasi-serial procedures, such as canons, inversions, and retrogrades. The symphony uses somewhat limited percussion, in line with a 'classical' approach to the sound world of the brass band, alongside a use of multi-divisi instrumentation, whereby each player has an individual part rather than the traditional doubling within certain sections of the band.- Edward GregsonDuration: 19.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
Listen to MP3
View Music