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£82.50Incantation and Shadow Dance - Barry E. Kopetz
Incantation and Shadow Dance is a musical representation of the appearance of the witches in the Shakespeare play "Macbeth." The piece opens with two exceptionally long and emotionally charged measures, the mood slowly building, much like "chanting over a cauldron," dark, mystical and enchanting, invoking the spirits of the night. Then everything changes very abruptly, as a rhythmic introduction announces the appearance of the spirit dance. It represents a "dance macabre" and as such, brings a sense of impending evil and darkness to the mood until the full complement of spirits are now dancing around the fire. The gathering of "storm clouds" heralds the appearance of all manner of dark and sinister creatures joining the dance which builds to climax as all the spirits gather for the final frenzied finale.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£118.99North Hills Fantasy - Philip Sparke
North Hills Fantasy was commissioned by the North Hills High School Bands, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (director: Len Lavelle) as part of a commissioning programme that has run since 1965 - the longest of its kind in the USA. The work opens with a reflective, unaccompanied solo for alto saxophone which develops into a chorale for horns and saxes. This is taken up by the trumpets and subsides to a change of key and mood, with highly decorated folk-like solos for clarinet, bassoon and saxes. These solos build to a climax for full band, which heralds a triumphant return of the horn chorale, accompanied by florid woodwind figuration. But the mood soon winds down; fragments of earlier melodies return calmly to peacefully close the work.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£214.80Skies - Oliver Waespi
Program notes by Oliver Waespi on his composition Skies:Skies is the plural of Sky. We may wonder are there several skies? Is the sky we all long for not the same for everybody? While travelling on foot and "in the open air" I have observed the firmament often in quite different shapes, so that I can say I have indeed experienced the sky in different ways. Years ago I already wanted to portray "my sky" in music; I finally have been able to realise this long-cherished dream.This composition deals with the sky, more precisely with my sensual and emotional experience of the sky in all its aspects. Two point of views are combined in this composition: one showing the sky as it presents itself to me, the other showing the sky as I observe it. The music was bom simultaneously by intemal and extemal inspiration: it describes nature but also the emotional and spiritual experience of nature. To me, the experience of nature is not abstract, but it is connected with concrete ages, places or people from my neighbourhood. This is why I have combined several parts of this composition with certain landscapes.The sky presents itself in different landscapes in the most varied ways: for the sensual experience, there is no sky as such. The indications of places spread all over the score, are primarily clues for myself; they represent certain atmospheres, which I have experienced especially in England and Scotland. They can however also be useful to the musicians and the audience, providing they know those landscapes and the celestial atmospheres linked to them.The music is independent from the atmospheres described in the subtitles, as those are rather connected to a tragic nature, and so the music is not based on any program. Musically spoken, the composition has a symphonic structure, which means that the complete musical material is derived from three contrasting main themes. In the first part, the description of a noctumal sky ("Night") two themes are developed in an organic way; the first, rather "dusky", is to be found with the horns, the second, "in bright daylight", with the oboe and flute, the third, "more quiet" , with the brass instruments. In the next part, we have clouds and rain over the Isle of Skye (one of the Hebrides islands in Scotland) and here several elements of the first theme are still more developed. Then we get an increasingly dark mood, which is released, in heavy chords. Then suddenly, the sun breaks through and the music gets a majestic character. We have a new shape of the initial theme, first with the French horns and then with the trombones. The music gets a quicker tempo and flows into a quick movement describing the winds and waves at sea ("Wind and Waves"). Three themes are gathering and some variations are developed. The music gets more and more energetic and, after a climax, calms down again. Then we have a kind of "summer pastoral" which suggests summer at the South coast of Cornwall ("South Coast of Penwith Peninsuia in Summer"). This is certainly not the hotte st summer in Europe, but still it is beautiful in this country that is blessed with so much rain. In the "pastoral" , the sea is already sketched in broad outlines in the French horn solo. The magnificence of an aftemoon at the seaside is developed at the end of the composition ("Noon at Treen Cliff', a rock protruding in the sea next to Porthcumo at the South Coast of Cornwall); here the music gets stronger and stronger and after a majestic climax it vanishes completely.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£84.99Hungarian Rondo - Árpád Balázs
The Hungarian Rondo by rpd Balzs is cheerful, good-humoured music, a finely formed work crafted withgreat professional skill. Its structure is clear: the double recurrence of the rondo theme results in a five-part form. The two episodes differ in character. The first consists of increasingly densely woven imitations that chase eachother playfully, the second evokes the mood of bagpipe tunes. In the latter, above the melody moving evenly in crotchets in the middle parts a pastel-tinted cloud of woodwind notes floats upwards, while the sound is extended downwards by the deep-toned brass stepping lower by semitones. A brilliant device by the composer! In thecourse of its repeats the rondo theme appears more and more richly garbed, particularly the sparkling semiquavers of the woodwind make it ever more decorative. The Hungarian Rondo is the kind of music that drives your cares away.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£149.40Tenn Lys - Eyvind Skeie
"Candles in Advent" is a beautiful melody with great lyrics. It was originally written for an Norwegian Advent TV-series in 1985.In this arrangement, the oboe has some solo passages (cue notes in flute). I Have tried to vary the instrumentation without going beyond the beautiful Christmas mood.The harmonization is simple and functional. Let the soloists "speak" with good phrasing and focus also on harmony in the unison melody lines. Good balance and intonation in the accompaniment can make the performance a little gem on the Christmas concert.- Reid Gilje -
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£127.30Ballade fra Fantasistykker for Piano op. 36 - Agathe Backer-Grøndahl
Agathe Backer Grndahl's 'Ballade' can best be described as a Romantic character piece. Such one-movement piano pieces with titles that loosely indicate a mood/idea made out a central genre in the 19th century. In Backer Grndahl's production, several of these are grouped under the term 'fantasy pieces'. There are six collections with a total of 48 fantasy pieces on her opus list and 'Ballade' is from the first of these (Op. 36), published in 1895. 'Ballade' is a broader work than the other fantasy pieces. It is built around a dramatic theme that keeps returning after episodes with strongly contrasting thematic material.The arrangement is close to Backer Grndahl's original composition. It is transposed a semitone down: from E flat minor to D minor. The arrangement contains some challenging passages and is well-suited for amateur bands of a certain level. The instrumentation makes no special demands beyond normal concert band instrumentation and will sound just as good in small as in large bands.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£102.99Little Suite - László Dubrovay
This work was written in 2005, prompted by the composer's determination that young members of junior, music school and conservatoire wind ensembles should not be limited to transcriptions for lack of original compositions, especially contemporary ones. The new devices used in the Little Suite are suitable for student players to try out. Indeed, they enjoy them - for instance, purring or whistling into the instrument. Each of the three-or-four-minute movements of this four-movement work can also be performed separately. The titles of the movements are the following: 1. In cheerful mood, 2. Song, 3. Joke, 4. March. This music in modern idiom, full of interesting new effects, offers young players an opportunity for enjoyable music-making together, and at the same time prepares them for playing more difficult contemporary works.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£149.99A Nottingham Festival - Philip Sparke
This celebratory work, which Philip Sparke wrote for the 20th anniversary of the Nottingham Concert Band, starts with a hymn-like theme played as a fanfare in the brass. With a change of mood from 'solemn' to 'merry' and back to 'majestic', together with an unusual orchestration, in which may different instruments feature and in which at points the entire wind orchestra shimmers in tutti passages, A Nottingham Festival is a real pleasure for musicians and public alike.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£199.99Fanfare No. 1 - Wataru Hokoyama
Fanfare No. 1 (1995) In the summer of 1995 before his departure to the United States, a request from his high school band friends for a good concert opener sparked 19 year old Hokoyama to write his very first wind band composition.To capture the excitement of the rising curtain, the piece begins with magnificent brass ascending in 4th and 5th intervals. This is followed by the energetic entrance of the full ensemble like celebratory cannon fire. The following melody has many notes, yet is still simple. Do not overestimate it, just perform with driving momentum.In the slower middle section, utilize an instinctive vision of a scorching midsummer sun shimmering on the horizon. (Likely this shimmering sunset image was scored unconsciously, being composed in midsummer. A more applicable mood might be "Indian sunset". Perhaps this Indian style came from a capricious feeling of youthfulness.)The bright tempo and melody return for the last section. The climactic volley of musical display is like explosive fireworks as the last sounds echo throughout the concert hall.The composer wishes for performers to play from their hearts and not be limited by an analytic approach to the score-absolute accuracy is not required. Above all, the deepest pleasure for the composer is to know that teachers and students share the joy of music making with the intention of sharing it with others all over the world.With deepest gratitude, thank you for performing this work.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£141.99Jalan-Jalan - Shin'ya Takahashi
Jalan-jalan was inspired by the music of Bali, Indonesia based upon its unique melodies, modes and rhythms. As part of the independent archipelago "Ryukyu", Okinawa (southernmost Japan) had an active exchange with Bali that included cultural and musical influences. Jalan-jalan means "walkabout" or "walking journey" in Indonesian. It describes a walk in the so-called Isle of the Gods, encountering Bali's beautiful scenery and daily life. Its four themes include "Dawn," "Morning Market," "Beach in Early Afternoon" and "Kecak Dance (a form of Balinese dance and music drama, performed primarily by men) in Torchlight."An imposing pesante introduction will properly establish this song's mood. Boldly balance winds and percussion to the prominent timpani solo. At Allegro Vivo, observe the lighter abbreviated scoring and balance melody/countermelody at E. Melodies are elongated at the Grazioso, and tenor/bass rhythm figures need enough separation to be felt. The urgent-feeling Presto must initially be reserved except for the percussive "slaps"; same thing again at O. The daunting rhythmic figure at Q is actually a chattering effect-combine the two elements to teach continuity and placement. Don't "over blow" the ending, but continue to emphasize unique rhythmic elements.(Shin'ya Takahashi)
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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