Results
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£98.20Space Lab - Giuseppe Ratti
A long pedal-note of evanescent chords, based on empty parallel fifths, announces the theme;flutes and reed instruments exploit some almost imperceptible micro-fragments, supported by muted trumpets, creating what is an almost surreal and spatial atmosphere. This was Giuseppe Ratti's starting point for his "Space Lab", a laboratory of sounds and, later (when the main theme is taken up once more), of rhythms. Although it may sound complicated, this piece is ultimately based on a single motif: the descending fourth played on the second beat by the woodwinds. In this piece, Giuseppe Ratti, with his usual pallet of clear, transparent colours at hand, appropriate for the general public, together with simple, effective themes, has sought to experiment with new atmospheres and rhythms. First of all we hear the entire theme in the Allegro. Then the rhythm changes in a simple but at the same time complex manner: almost a genetic mutation. The part leading up to the final Lento flows smoothly for the listener but requires great skill and experience on the part of those performing it. In the final lento the main theme reappears in all its simplicity and sincerity, purified of all contrasts. A metaphor for a life that leads us towards unimaginable frontiers but which, in the end, always brings us back to the point from where we started.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£157.50Flumen - Marco Somadossi
In October 2000, the River Po produced its highest flood waters in the last hundred years, provoking a natural disaster of dramatic dimensions. To the thousands of valiant men and women committed to defending their villages against the threat of the flood is dedicated the symphonic poem entitled "Flumen" (river, in Latin), inspired by the thematic material in the Gregorian sequence, "Victimae paschali laudes". The main melody is elaborated and its essence is transfigured in an alchemy of modern sounds from which, at times, archaic echoes emerge. The composition is structured in two parts: the first ("The River") is sullen and menacing, with sounds that portray the turbulent water and the inexorable and frightening rise of the flood;this contrasts with a second section ("The People"), with its primitive rhythms and vaguely multiethnic character (expressed through modal harmonies). Here the work evokes man's ancestral struggle against the forces of nature: the strenuous defence of the Po riverside communities to against the threat of flooding. In the finale, the two themes interweave and overlap, re-establishing a symbolic and primordial equilibrium where man and nature are again in harmony with each other.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£113.30Caleidoscopio - Lorenzo Pusceddu
The incommunicability between different cultures and worlds and the confusion that this generates lie at the heart of this work: the fanfare-like themes that characterise the introduction, together with the "Arabian" melodies of the Presto, represent these differences. The bare theme of the Andante, while offering a glimpse of hope, also describes the impossibility of a meeting and the pain this situation causes. The empty fifth and dissonance of the minor second are elements that feature throughout this work. In the Coda, moreover, all these ideas reappear "kaleidoscopically", amidst a convulsive and excitingly chaotic atmosphere.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£120.40Intermissions - Daniele Carnevali
This piece was commissioned by the organising committee of the "La Prime Luz 1812" national band contest, held in Bertiolo (Udine), as the compulsory piece for category A. It consists of three movements and, rated as a first international category or national excellence grade piece, it requires the appropriate variety of timbres and instrumentalists with the necessary skills. The themes, enhanced by the use of unusual tones and compound beats, are often broken, interrupted: hence the title of the piece, intermissions, meaning interruptions. The unifying element is the musical language that, through the use of artificial modes and fourths, seeks to create a balance between tensions of differing intensity and nature.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£113.30Visions Of Jericho - Daniele Carnevali
The piece, commissioned by the "Banda Orchestra G. Bovo" from Carmignano di Brenta (Padua), was inspired by two paintings by the artist Galeazzo Vigan, which were in turn commissioned to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the band. The two paintings, entitled "Gerico 1 and 2", their mirror-like arrangement, the alternation between fullness and fineness and the use of numerical symbols (especially the repetition of the number 7) are used as musical material in the formation and subsequent development of the themes. Similarly, the formal mirror-like arrangement of the allegro vivo and the alternation of the monodic and chordal styles (fineness - fullness) seek to create a bond between the pictorial and musical languages.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£235.95Spring Serenade - Eric Ewazen
Spring Serenade was written for Butler University Wind Ensemble's Robert Greschesky and a 2006 wind ensemble music festival hosted by the school. The work brims with lively themes, rich chorales, lyrical lines and fanfarish gestures, all celebrating the beautiful, rich colors inherent in the glorious sounds of wind instruments, says the composer.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£154.95
Two Poems of Robert Frost - David Campo
Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) was one of the most popular, widely read and honored American poets of the 20th century; the two of his poems arguably most popular in the mainstream are "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" and "The Road Not Taken." On the surface, these two poems appear quite different; "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" is contemplative, set in the quietude of a winter night's snow, while "The Road Not Taken" is decisive, kinetic and brightly lit by a morning sun. These similarities and differences resonated deeply with the composer, and the opportunity to set recurring themes and melodies in such contrasting musical environments was the impetus and inspiration for this two movement work. Both movements conjure the remarkably different atmospheres of the respective poems but are interconnected thematically, giving the work cohesion and depth. Both are strikingly colorful and evocative. While the poems are not set literally, there are recurring allusions to the words present in the rhythm, particularly in the phrase "and miles to go before I sleep," as this line seems to especially reflect the physical and spiritual duality of both poems.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£75.50Essence of Memory - BJ Brooks
In the fall of 2021, as occurs countless times across the United States, band director Darin Johns was traveling with his marching band to a Friday night football game. Tragically, a wrong-way driver struck the Andrews Band bus, taking the lives of both Darin and the bus driver. Over the next few months, tributes to Darin came in waves, culminating in a 1,000-member parade with 30 different bands at Christmastime. The Association of Texas Small-School Bands, of which Darin and the Andrews Band were a part, commissioned me to write a piece in honor of Mr. Johns. The music reflects the waves of memory that one experiences when contemplating the deepest of thoughts. First nebulous, sometimes sharply focused, resonating motifs, highs and lows. The four-chord chaconne figure is the unifying core of the work. It grounds the various melodies as they enter and return, sometimes densely paired, sometimes transparently isolated. The themes are structured as an arch form ABCBA, but as they recur, they are added together, giving them more density, as if the memories overlap, before the calmness, first heard as an ethereal haze, recurs.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£110.00Mount Everest - Kees Vlak
This composition basically consists of three fragments and an epilogue (conclusion):1) Plateaux, 2) Sherpas, 3) Climb. The piece starts with a musical depiction of the deserted plateauxs and mountain peaks of the Himalayas. The mysteriousness of theTibetan country was caused by its inaccessibility to other nations. One even believed that there was a paradise behind the huge mountains; the land of Shangra La. 1) After the sound of a gong, the Asian-like theme arises extremely softly from thedecay of the percussion. In bars 4 and 5 the syllables of Hi-ma-la-ya echo. Then a second theme appears; it symbolises the enchantment of the mountaineers by seeing the Mount Everest. 2) Eastern percussion, very evenly without emotion, sound from thedeserted village of the sherpas. The phrasing is prescribed by the number 'three'. From measure 56 Tibetian monks sing a chant, also with the religious background of the number 'three'. 3) The third part starts of with the sight of the giant MountEverest with an entirely new theme, that is played impressively by the strong low brass instruments of the band, immediately followed by the excited big climbing. The many surprises are depicted by the changing time signatures. Two themes are inconstant battle; the binary Himalaya theme and the ternary Mount Everest theme. Only once there is a steely composure. The registers in which the piece is played increase. The tension rises...Then the peak is reached. A long pause follows before onerealises that one is on top of the world. Slowly the emotions of joy grow and lead to an enormous climax. The first enchanted theme sounds again in total glory.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£137.00Rondo for Winds and Percussion - Walter S. Hartley
This challenging, dramatic work appeared relatively early among the concert band projects of Walter Hartley. It is filled with Hartleys unique approach to mid-20th century serial composition at a vigorous allegro con brio. Bold unisons, expanded harmonic clusters, and soloistic passages appear in tandem with two recognizable themes that recur in a classic rondo form. This is a quick, smart, concise look at an important time of musical creativity for the accomplished band.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days