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£344.30Goldberg 2012 - Svein H. Giske
The first time I heard Bach's Goldberg Variations was in the movie Silence of the lambs, in the early 1990s. I noticed the beautiful background music in one of the scenes, but at that time I didn't know what it was. A few years later, when I was studiying at the Grieg Academy, I got to know the entire piece. For me, this is a piece of music which I can listen to countless times. I think it sounds as fresh today as it did more than 15 years ago and it never ceases to inspire me. Both Bach's composition and Glenn Gould's famous 1955 recording (which was the first one I heard) still makes a great impression on me. Before Gould recorded it at age 22, it wasn't a highly ranked piece amongst pianists and Bach was by many viewed as a bit old-fashioned. The young Canadian turned all this around. He managed to portray Bach in a reformed way, producing fine nuances in phrasing and making the many layers in Bach's music more transparent than anyone before him. Thus he plunged both himself and Bach (back) onto the international music scene. When The Norwegian Band Federation (NMF) asked me to write the test piece for NM in 2012, it was only natural for me to use the Goldberg Variations as a starting point and inspiration for my work. Since I was a teenager at NMF's summer courses in the mid eighties I've always listened to many different styles of music. Growing up in Sunnmre with the Brazz Brothers as teachers and mentors, jazz-, pop/rock- and folk music were early on a natural part of my musical background. I also have my classical education from the Grieg Academy on trumpet. As the title of my piece implies, I've wanted to bring Bach to the present and put his music into various modern musical landscapes. I think you can bring about a special kind of energy when music from different genres are mixed and I've tried to do this by mixing Bach with artists and musical styles from the present. In Goldberg 2012, the music is often constructed by several layers, which in a way are living parallel musical lives. They are seemingly moving or floating freely, almost unaware of each other, but bound together by the same basic pulse. The rythms, however, are often notated on a different rythmic subdivision level than the usual 8th- or 16th note levels. By doing this, I hope to achieve transparent sounds that rythmically are perceived as more free and detached from each other. In large sections of the piece, pop/jazz is fusioned with elements from Bach. I guess you could have this little scene as a synopsis for the piece: picture a group of musicians meeting: some are classical performers, some are jazz. They start to improvise together, each in their own voice or musical dialect and I'm sort of in the middle, trying to write down what they are playing. This is what I feel much of Goldberg 2012 is about. The foundation of the piece, in addition to Bach and references from pop/jazz music, lies also in my own material. This material, basically two chords, is heard in it's purest form in the 1st movement. I use these chords to create scales, new chords and different motifs which contribute to blend together the different moods of the piece. It has not been my intention to copy Bach's form (theme and 30 variations), but rather to use the bits and pieces that I like the most as an inspiration for my own variations. The 1st movement, Aria 2, is for my 3rd son, Olav, who was born on the 21st of April 2011, and the 5th movement, From long ago, is dedicated to the memory of my father, Svein J. Giske, who passed away on the 6th of June 2011. -Svein H. Giske, January 2012-
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£189.99Godzilla Eats Las Vegas (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Whitacre, Eric
Note from Composer:It took me seven years to get my bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. By the time I graduated I was ready to eat Las Vegas.Tom Leslie asked me to write another piece for the group as I was leaving, and I thought it would be a blast to do something completely ridiculous. The players are called upon to scream in terror, dress like Elvises (Elvi), and play in about thirty different styles from mambo to cheesy lounge music. The audience follows a script that I wrote simulating a campy, over the top Godzilla movie (is there any other kind?).I wrote the bulk of the piece while in my first year at Juilliard, and no kidding, I used to act out the script every morning devouring animal crackers, wreaking havoc all over the breakfast table. The script was originally twice as long, and had an entire subplot devoted to a young scientist and his love interest. As I started to finish the piece, however, it didn't seem that funny and that story (along with an extended Elvis tribute) ended up on the cutting room floor.The idea that this piece is being played all over the world in such serious concert venues is the single funniest thing I have ever heard. It has been played on the steps of the Capitol by the United States Marine Band, by the Scottish National Wind Symphony (they play in kilts, so help me God), and I have a video of a Japanese audience visibly confused and shaken by the whole experience. Can you imagine? I'm laughing my head off even as I write this!Godzilla Eats Las Vegas! was commissioned by the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Thomas G. Leslie, conductor, and received its premiere November 28th, 1996.The performers are encouraged to go crazy: wear showgirl costumes, Elvis costumes, act out scenes on stage, use video and lighting - anything to get a laugh.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.99
Matreshka (Concert Band - Score and Parts)
For more than a hundred years, the matreshka dolls have been a traditional trademark of Russia. The story behind these dolls is that many years ago, a little Russian girl, Olga, got lost in a forest. When her older sister finally found her, she said, ?Let me hold you.? Next, their mother also arrived, and said, ?Let me hold you both.? Subsequently, the grandmother joined them, and said, ?Let me hold you all.? As a result of this story, these popular ?nesting dolls? came into being. The work Matreshka consists of originally-composed themes. The first theme, reminiscent of a Russian hymn, is followed by another theme in a typically Russian style. A slow passage forms the transition to the final, energetic movement ? this Russian troika in two-four time starts slowly and ends very exuberantly. A great piece of Russian exuberance that will delight any audience. 04:17
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.99Matreshka - Johan Nijs
For more than a hundred years, the matreshka dolls have been a traditional trademark of Russia. The story behind these dolls is that many years ago, a little Russian girl, Olga, got lost in a forest. When her older sister finally found her, she said, ?Let me hold you.? Next, their mother also arrived, and said, ?Let me hold you both.? Subsequently, the grandmother joined them, and said, ?Let me hold you all.? As a result of this story, these popular ?nesting dolls? came into being. The work Matreshka consists of originally-composed themes. The first theme, reminiscent of a Russian hymn, is followed by another theme in a typically Russian style. A slow passage forms thetransition to the final, energetic movement ? this Russian troika in two-four time starts slowly and ends very exuberantly. A great piece of Russian exuberance that will delight any audience.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£159.99
Fantasia Per La Vita E La Morte - Bert Appermont
The mystique surrounding life and death formed the starting point of this composition. I wanted to write a work without a story, mixed up in a kind of musical quest for a new world of sound, original rhythm sequences, melodies filled with suspenseand distinct orchestral tones.The indirect cause was the birth of my first child which took place during this time, followed by the death of a close family member. At such a moment you experience just how close life and death are to each other, anddespite one being the antithesis of the other, they are incredibly similar. Both radical events are passages into new worlds and have great emotional impact. Moreover, the work was commissioned by "New Life", an orchestra that lost one of itsmusician in a plane crash, which also led me to believe that this approach would be appropriate.I would prefer not to comment on which passages in the composition concern life (birth) and which refer to death. It seems to me that it is moreinteresting to question traditional conceptions and leave it open for the listener. If you think that a passage is about birth, and this idea then shifts, it is this that raises fascinating questions, on both a musical and metaphysical level.Music isin an indirect but incredibly persuasive way in which to express the endless striving and seeking of mankind. Music can even touch eternity, as it were, and give us the feeling that we can transcend death. This endless search (and also longing) canbe heard throughout the work; as much in the sound fields and accent shifts in the first part as in the enormous tension curves and compelling themes of the second part. The semi-tone functions in this way as a guide or something to hold on to,running through the whole work and upon which much of the musical material is based. Traces of profound love resound with quiet simplicity in the slow section's melodious solos, after which the work contemplates life and death one last time, musesupon joy and sadness, on the possibilities and limitations of people and on the why of all things.I would like to dedicate this work to my dearest daughter Paulientje, to Meterke and to Johan de Jong of the "New Life" orchestra. May it fare themwell, here or in another dimension...
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£110.00Caramba! (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Blezard, William - Noble, Paul
William Blezard began writing Caramba! during a tour of New Zealand. Yet the musical basis of this work is about as far away from Kiwi culture as one can get. The word Caramba has several translations from the Spanish, including Dear Me!, or Goodness Me!, or perhaps more colloquially, Golly, or even Holy cow!. The entire work has an exotic feel to it that is so suggestive of things Spanish or Latin American. This is helped by the extensive use of percussion, and of course the brass is pure Latin American dance style. The demanding piano part is featured as almost a 'concertante'. In the Concert Band arrangement, the piano is highly desirable to replicate the original score, but the arrangement includes enough doubling and a short cut to make the piece entirely playable without the piano. Caramba! has all the hallmarks of a great piece of concert music that pleases as well as excites. For bands that want a challenge that is sure to bring an audience to its feet, Caramba! is the piece!
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£134.99Aretha! (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Tinner, Gilbert
Aretha Franklin - the 'Queen of Soul' - was an icon and inspiration for women all around the world, and the first female artist to enter the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' in 1987. This medley by Gilbert Tinner contains Aretha Franklin's most famous hits: 'Respect', '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman', 'Son of a Preacher Man' and of course 'Think', one of the greatest up-tempo tracks of all time.Duration: 7.45
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£135.10Cantina Band - John Williams
Cantina Band (or Mad About Me) was written by John Williams in 1977 for the film Star Wars (later Star Wars IV: A New Hope). Even with quite a bit of the Star Wars music being quite well known, Cantina Band is literally in a style of its own. In the Star Wars-universe this style is called jizz, Williams' take on the more well-known genre jazz. Williams was tasked by Star Wars-creator George Lucas to make music that sounded like several creatures in a future century finding some 1930's Benny Goodman swing band music ... and how they might attempt to interpret it and ended up with Cantina Band #1 and #2. Both numbers are played in the legendary scene taking place in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina where Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi gets in a fight causing even the band to stop playing.The band, which goes by the name Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, comes from the planet Clak'dor VII and specializes in jizz and the nearby, slightly older style of jatz. Performers of this music often go by the name "jizz-wailers", and the Bith people from Clak'dor VII are especially well suited for jizz-wailing since they can hold every note as long as they want thanks to a unique respiratory system - something many perhaps would like to be able to do in the performance of this arrangement as well.The arrangement is relatively faithful to Williams' original version, but with a somewhat different ending. Although the woodwind section undoubtedly has the biggest technical challenges, an understanding of the musical style is the very key to making the arrangement sound good - and here all groups must work together. Playing lightly but quite articulated, and very precise, will be an absolute necessity to get the music drifting off all the way to Tatooine.In measure 113 there is a small improvised solo in either trombone or trumpet, but if you want the real authentic Cantina Band-sound this is of course done on a steel drum.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£134.99Aretha!
Aretha Franklin - the 'Queen of Soul' - was an icon and inspiration for women all around the world, and the first female artist to enter the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' in 1987. This medley by Gilbert Tinner contains Aretha Franklin's most famous hits: 'Respect', '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman', 'Son of a Preacher Man' and of course 'Think', one of the greatest up-tempo tracks of all time.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£64.99The Soulful Sixties (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Brown, Michael
The music of the '60's was just about as diverse as musically imaginable. And in the midst of it all, Motown continued to crank out hit after hit of catchy rhythm-based tunes. Here is a medley that is sure to be enjoyed by all ages that includes:I Heard It Through the GrapevineLand of a Thousand Dances(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural WomanAin't No Mountain High EnoughDuration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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