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£104.99Prelude and Polonaise - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) composed his opera The Night before Christmas in 1894-95. The premiere took place on December 10 1895 in St. Petersburg. The libretto to the opera came from Rimsky-Korsakov himself and is based on a tale by Nikolai Gogol, which some years earlier had already served as operatic material for Pjotr Tchaikovsky. The opera tells the story of Vakula, the blacksmith of a small Ukranian village. He is madly in love with Oxana who demands - as proof of his love - a most unusual Christmas present: the magnificent slippers of the Empress. Knowing full well that, in normal circumstances, he would never be able to fulfil Oxana's wish, Vakula seekssupernatural assistance and finds it in the shape of the devil, who comes up with a ploy to help him. The devil carries him on his back to St. Petersburg, where during a lavish reception at court Vakula finds an opportunity to present his request to the empress. The Empress actually agrees to Vakula's wish and hands over her slippers to him. Thereupon he returns to his own village. Here, in the meantime, he had been given up for dead, and Oxana had been plunged into great sorrow as she had come to realise that she also truly loved Vakula. In the end, however, all misunderstandings are resolved and all adversities overcome: Oxana receives her extravagant present, the lovers are united, and the church bells call the villagers to the Christmas service.The vibrant Polonaise is played in the 3rd act of the opera at the entrance of the Empress, whose appearance is anticipated in the prelude by the fanfare motives. The music paints a vivid picture of the party atmosphere and the marvellous dcor at the imperial court of St. Petersburg, which Rimsky-Korsakov conjures up in his opera and which can also be played outside of the Advent and Christmas season, for example as an opening piece to any festive concert.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£109.99Arctic Funk - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Arctic Funk might just as well have been a flashing sequel to a scene from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Popular music but with a difference, as indicated by the title. The work's quiet section temporarily soothes down the heated passion of its two corner movements, but everywhere else action is required throughout. The work was commissioned in 1991 by Troms? Brass. Situated just above the Polar Circle, Troms? is one of Norway's northernmost towns. Topographically, the town probably comes across as freezing cold, but Troms? is famous for its 'warm' night-life. The Composer: In Arctic Funk you might get a feeling of a party that takes place betweenice-rocks and snow-capped mountains.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£118.99Elisabeth - Sylvester Levay
The world premiere of the musical Elisabeth took place in Vienna on September 3, 1992. From the great acclaim with which the musical was received, it became clear that the life of the Empress of Austria still appeals to the imagination. Although Elisabeth's life (1837-1898) as an Empress has a fairy-tale-like beginning, it takes a gloomy turn. In this production, Luigi Lucheni, the man who finally takes her life, tells her story. Death plays a major role throughout Elisabeth's life. In the musical, an equally mysterious and attractive man portrays the phenomenon of death, seducing her to the realm of death time after time. Elisabeth's life resembles a fairy tale when shemarries the Emperor Franz Joseph at the age of sixteen. Her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, does not make it easy on Elisabeth. But it is life itself that puts the Empress to the test. First, her youngest daughter dies. Then, not long after her son Rudolf is born, her happiness is clouded when her mother-in-law decides she must take pity on him. After her husband's unfaithfulness and Sophie's death, Elisabeth is so disillusioned that she chooses a travelling existence without realizing her husband and her son, Rudolf, miss her. Rudolf's loneliness is one of the reasons he commits suicide. The accumulation of disappointments in Elisabeth's life almost drives her into the arms of Death. In the end, however, it is Lucheni who kills her.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£149.99Caledonia - Oliver Waespi
In Caledonia, Oliver Waespi adapted three well-known Scottish folk songs into a rhapsodic suite for wind orchestra. The first, rather humorous song, The Devil Came Fiddling Through the Town, tells the story of a devil who, as he passes through the streets of the town, catches the tax inspector and carries him off, much to the delight of the inhabitants. The second song, Ye banks and braes, is gentle and melancholy and based partly on the folk song Hey, tuttie tattie. Oliver Waespi took a symphonic approach to the adaptation of these lovely songs, which makes this a unique and innovative suite that can be performed at a concert or contest. Theindividual parts can also be performed separately.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£137.99Oregon - Jacob de Haan
This fantasy tells the story of Oregon, one of America's north-western states. Traveling by train on the Northern Pacific Railroad, the listener is taken through the fascinating Oregon landscape. Indians, cowboys, golddiggers and hooded wagons will file past on this adventurous journey. The piece has some similarities with a soundtrack of a movie. Various melodies, which could be the main themes of a movie, pass the review.The piece begins in a slow movement, introducing the first theme in minor. Then we hear in the following fast movement the trombones imitate the train, whistling the steam-flute. We hear the characteristic minor theme again, but now in different variants(also in major). The rythmic structure of "western" stile and rock succeed each other. This is leading to the slow movement, where the signals of horns and trumpets introduce a wonderful vocal melody. After this characteristic melody, the fast movement appears shortly again, the trombones whistling the steam-flute again (now in major). We hear also some musical elements, that plays a part in the following Presto. Barchanges, jazzy chords, interesting rhytmic patterns (with bongo) and an original theme are the characteristics of this Presto. After this, the horns announce the last section of the piece. Interesting is the fact that we hear in this Allegro section a variant of the vocal melody in the slow movement. Also the Presto theme returns shortly, followed by the Allargando, which is a grand characteristic end of a soundtrack. The movie of our travelling fantasy has come to an end.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£69.96
Scaff! - Score and Parts - Hector Berlioz
Scaff! is an adaptation of the famous 4th movement of the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz in swing style. The story of the March to the Scaffold is a tragic one where the subject, in a depressive state over a love interest, overdoses on opium. He dreams that he has killed his beloved and after his procession to the scaffold is now witnessing his own death. This arrangement doesn't really reflect those tragic circumstances but instead redresses this great tune into a toe-tapping big band number.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£13.95
Scaff! - Score only - Hector Berlioz
Scaff! is an adaptation of the famous 4th movement of the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz in swing style. The story of the March to the Scaffold is a tragic one where the subject, in a depressive state over a love interest, overdoses on opium. He dreams that he has killed his beloved and after his procession to the scaffold is now witnessing his own death. This arrangement doesn't really reflect those tragic circumstances but instead redresses this great tune into a toe-tapping big band number.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£189.00The Painted Bird (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - De Meij, Johan
A Cry against FascismThe Painted Bird, the controversial novel by Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991), tells the story of a Jewish boy during World War II. For his safety, the child was sent to the Polish countryside by his parents. The title refers to a barbaric tradition among Polish farmers. The wings of a captured bird were painted in bright colours, after which the animal was released. Almost immediately, the bird was attacked and pecked to death by its peers. The boy underwent the same fate. Wherever he wandered, the local rural people cruelly mistreated him because of his distinctly different appearance. However, he survives the horrors and is reunited with his parents after the war. To escape the yoke of the Soviet occupation in his country, the Polish-Jewish Kosinski emigrated with counterfeit papers to the United States in 1957, where he became an American citizen in 1965. His landmark novel The Painted Bird was translated into thirty languages and sold millions of copies. Plagued by illness and accusations of betraying his country and plagiarism the writer ended his life in 1991.Duration: 11.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£79.99Troja (Troy) (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Schwarz, Otto M.
The Greek poet Homer wrote about Troy and the Trojan War, which probably took place in what is now Asia Minor, in his Iliad in the 8th century B.C. Nowadays, the term Trojan generally refers to a malware program that is used to gain unauthorised access to computers. This use comes from the legendary Trojan Horse, which saw the turning point in the battle between Greeks and Trojans through the cunning of Odysseus. Let us return to the beginning of the story: Paris, son of the king of Troy, is tasked by Zeus with judging the beauty of the three goddesses Aphrodite, Pallas Athena, and Hera. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, flatters Paris by promising him the most beautiful woman in the world. Soon afterwards, on a journey to Greece, Paris meets the beautiful Helen, who immediately falls in love with him. Since however she is the wife of Spartan king Menelaus, she eventually lets herself be kidnapped by Paris voluntarily. The Greeks then form a large army and go to war against Troy to retrieve Helen, leading to a ten-year siege of the city. The city is eventually conquered not through combat, however, but through Odysseus' cunning ploy. He has the idea of building an enormous wooden horse with warriors hidden inside. The horse is placed at the gates of the city. Thus, the Trojans are tricked into giving up the siege when, despite various warnings, they bring the horse into the city to dedicate it to the goddess Athena. At night, the soldiers climb out of the horse and open the gate for the Greek army. The troops storm the city and burn it to the ground. The royal family and all the Trojan warriors are killed, only Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite, escapes. Later, following many years' wanderings he and his acolytes will become known as the founders of the Roman people. There are various accounts of the fate of the beautiful Helen. She is said to have returned to Sparta with Menelaus and to have ruled there until the end of her life. Or maybe not...Duration: 6.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£183.99Keystone (Concert Band - Score and Parts) - Deleruyelle, Thierry
Keystone tells the story of the Odeon of Vriezenveen, a town in the Netherlands. Odeon is the name of ancient Greek and Roman buildings used for activities such as singing, music and poetry. This was the name chosen in 1998 by several members of the Vriezenveense Harmonie for the cultural centre they decided to have built. The piece starts slowly with the bass instruments, then speeds up in a counterpoint passage where the main motif moves from one set of instruments to another. After a slower section, the music speeds up again to reach a majestic chorale symbolising the splendid Odeon.Duration: 16.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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