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£113.30Moderate Dances - Angelo Sormani
This piece is a tribute to dance music, especially passionate, intense and meditative dance music. "Moderate Dances" is divided into three movements: a "Tango", a "Slow Waltz" and a "Bossa Nova". Each movement and each dance has its own particular characteristics but, when combined, these different rhythmic beats and times give the piece a feeling of completeness and uniformity. The Tango started to flourish in the suburbs of Buenos Aires in around 1880. There is still some doubt as to its origins, which may be Cuban (Habanera) but are probably African. It was most popular in Argentina and Brazil: here the male protagonist was originally the "gaucho" with his inseparable guitar, later to be replaced by the proud, elegant "compadre". By around 1910 the Tango had spread to Italy and France. New clubs opened, where the upper classes could watch and dance the Tango. Here the dance also underwent some rapid transformations. The exaggerated and extravagant gestures and body movements disappeared. Slow, gliding steps replaced the old rotational movements. The women's red ankle-boots and the partners "staring into each other's eyes" accentuated the erotic nature and sensuality of this dance. So much so that, in 1913, the German government banned soldiers from dancing the Tango. Those who broke the law were immediately discharged from the army. From a strictly musical perspective, the basic instruments were a flute, a harp (the diatonic harp typically played by the Indians of Paraguay) and a violin, or flute, guitar and violin or even clarinet, guitar and violin. These instruments were easy to transport, ideal for playing at parties, in the streets and in courtyards. The musicians played by ear, frequently improvising: there were no scores, no records, which is the main reason why it is impossible to trace the Tango back to its exact origins. However, the Tango's evolution (and growing popularity) was once again fostered by its fundamental ability to absorb "other" cultures, languages and sounds. And it was the arrival of the "bandoneon" (an accordion-like instrument that was invented in Germany and brought to Rio de la Plata by some immigrant), which replaced the flute, that marked the beginning of the Tango's huge success outside Argentina. A number of talented composers, above all the great Astor Piazzola (1921-1992), transformed the bandoneon from a simple accompanying instrument to a solo instrument that was to become the distinguishing feature of the 20th century Tango. The Slow Waltz originated from the Waltz, the typical dance of the Bavarian and Tyrolese peasants in the 1700s. It was composers like Johann Strauss, father and son, who carried the Waltz to its zenith in the 1800s, creating the sensual and melancholy yet joyful and charming dance we are all familiar with. When the Waltz first became popular in Germany, the members of respectable society were shocked at the closeness of the dancing partners, who had always previously danced apart. The main difference between the Waltz and Slow Waltz is that the latter has a slower, more expressive rhythm: the men wear tails and the women wear ball gowns decorated with beads and feathers and couples dance in graceful rotational movements. "Bossa Nova" is the title of the last movement in the piece. Jobim, the great Brazilian musician, described this musical genre as a combination of modern Jazz and Samba. Bossa Nova means "new wave". This was the name of the artistic and musical movement that evolved in Brazil in the late Fifties and was extremely popular throughout the Sixties. The songs are usually about love or social matters, drawing inspiration from the slums of Rio De Janeiro and the lives of their inhabitants. Bossa Nova, with its original compositions and the artistic talent of its musicians, also became hugely popular in the United States and Europe, and top Jazz musicians (Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Bob Cooper, Charlie Bird, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie) started to include Bossa in their repertoires.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£121.00Peace Variations - Robert E. Foster
A major work commissioned by and for the U.S. Army Ground Forces Band, this selection displays the technical virtuosity of the modern concert band in a demonstration of colors and textures, which will excite the band and the audience alike. The piece concludes with a blazing finale, which will "bring the house down".
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£121.00Variations On A Revolutionary Hymn - Claude T. Smith
Commissioned and premiered in 1987 by the U.S. Army Field Band, this was Claude T. Smiths last completed work, written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution. Based on the hymn tune Resignation (How Firm a Foundation), this is a mature work by the celebrated American bandmaster, displaying the technical capabilities of each section of the wind band. A bold concert statement and a fitting commentary on the founding fathers whose faith and determination launched the great American Experiment.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£71.50Warriors Of Sparta - Robert E. Foster Jr.
Experience the exploits of the great Spartan warriors through this bold musical portrayal. Beginning with a call to battle, the music builds as the proud army grows and drama builds. A final triumphant celebration of victory highlights the powerful conclusion. Young players will enjoy performing and audiences wont forget Warriors of Sparta.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£121.00Halls Of Honor - David Gorham
Here is a dynamic work of stature, displaying accomplished compositional skills and spectacular concert band writing. Halls of Honor was commissioned by the Arkansas Chapter of Phi Beta Mu in honor of Eldon Jansen, Band Director Emeritus at the University of Arkansas. The premier performance was at the Arkansas Bandmasters Convention by the United States Army Field Band, Colonel Thomas H. Palmatier, conductor.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£71.50Let Freedom Ring - Darren W. Jenkins
Let Freedom Ring is an arrangement of the famous song America, also known as My Country Tis of Thee. While information on who and when the actual melody was composed is disputed it is known that the melody was a very well known tune. This setting begins and ends with a bold fanfare that is stately and majestic with snare drum interjections played softly with the melody, as if to represent a marching army from far away. The full band enters on the final statement of the melody for a broad, sustained, and majestic finale.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£104.50March of the Tankmen - Simeon Chernetski
Composer Semeon Alexanderovich Chernetsky was born in 1881 and died in 1950. A trombonist and a composition student of Alexander Glazunov, he was also a prominent military bandmaster. He was named Director of the Band of the Soviet Army in 1932, and in 1935 he founded the Band of the Ministry of Defense. He composed over 70 marches including March of the Tankmen, which he wrote in 1946, as well as other works for band. The stately manner of this stirring march displays a profound sense of loyalty and national pride that is unmistakable.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£82.50By Virtue of the Skies - John Prescott
The composers father, Jack Prescott, was born in 1922, and at the age of 17 became the youngest pilot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was somewhat of a daredevil, flying under drawbridges and doing snap rolls down deserted beaches at an altitude of 50 feet. During World War II he joined the Army Air Corps and flew C-47 transport planes from India to China over the Himalayan mountains. He flew 83 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Harry Truman. The heroism of these flights in the face of severe adversity is depicted by the dignified thematic material of the opening. Somewhat dissonant fanfares appear at times, reminding us of the constant dangers that were ever present, before the work concludes in ultimate triumph.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£106.95
Armed Forces - The Pride Of America! - Capt. Alfred H. Miles
This is the definitive patriotic armed forces tribute. It features the official songs of all five branches of the Armed Forces, plus The Pledge of Allegiance and The Star-Spangled Banner, with optional audience participation. It even includes parts of Sousa marches as interludes! At under seven minutes' duration, this is ideal for chorus and piano or with concert band! (The U. S. Army song is the original The Caissons Go Rolling Along version.) Reproducible string parts are also included in the set for string orchestra.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£209.99Dunamis - AndrĂ© Waignein
Major Yvon Ducene wanted a new lush and colourful composition for his Guides military band, with Andr Waignein as its composer. Early in 1979 the composer began his assignement and in October of the same year, the finished full score was on the music stands of this prestigious military band of the Belgian Army.The introduction (Grave) mirrors an atmosphere full of serenity in which the theme, played by the oboes and the English horn is predominant and immediately holds the listener spell-bound. It is taken up again as central element of the slow movement.The Allegro breaks away from the quiet passion of the introduction. Here, the band can really show its capabilities to thefull. Based on a very precise rythm, an idiom of sudden desperation and adversity develops which, fused with a crushing agression, culminates in a kind of eruption, soom calmed down by a Lento : peace and quiet has returned thanks to a melody by the horns and soon taken over by the clarinets. In the meantime, the saxophone - an instrument full of human emotion - express the main spatial dimension in contemporary psyche. Following a harmonic transition the brass-players take up the theme again in forte whilst the basses and the woodwinds interwine in technical arabesques.The movings of the mind and the heart get an audible and almost touchable shape in the ensuing Allegro, a movement characterized by a rhythmic dialogue in which the whole orchestra participates and where the exposition contains a wealth of sound and technical contrasts. The Lento finally uses the central theme of the slow movement again, with some occasional references to the two allegros. The last page is of unprecedented grandeur. All the instruments display their most beautiful sound which were named by Jacques Ferschotte, when speaking about Honneger, "harmonies d'intensits" harmonies of the unmeasurable.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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