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£159.99Guardian Angels - Kevin Houben
Guardian Angels gives a musical expression to the legend of Reverend Louis Henri Bhler referring to the use of Psalm 34.North-west Veluwe and in particular Oldebroek (The Netherlands) has a very rich religious tradition which is demonstrated by its monumental churches. They tell the story of a stirring history in which Reverend Bhler played a crucial role. Inspired by his arrival as a pastor in 1870 in the neighbouring Oosterwolde, two big religious communities came into existence with their characteristic churches but this rivalry also resulted in great social unrest.This composition reflects on this striking personality and in particular on the story of the Angel Guard.'One evening Reverend Bhler has given a sermon in Oldebroek and he walks over the Church path through the pastures to Oosterwolde. On this dark and stormy evening Bhler's opponents are waiting for the pastor in ambush. They want to drown him in a watercourse near the Church path but abandon their plan because Bhler is accompanied by two men. The next day it comes to an encounter between Bhler and his opponents. They repent their, fortunately unexecuted , plan. Bhler firmly believes that on the previous night he walked alone over the Church path, and was not accompanied by two men. It was concluded that it must have been the angels who had protected Bhler.'Psalm 34 is central to this composition and this because of its powerful melody but also because the lyrics of verse 4 of the rhymed version fit in well with the special legend of Reverend Bhler:The Lord's angel gathered round himAn invincible heavenly guard,Who tries God's will, around himSo he's well guard(ed)A second melodious and harmonic cell is a musical transformation of the name 'Bhler'. This cell is varied in major and minor third chords and sometimes used as the main idea or apotheosis, but also serves as an accompanying cell or as a bridge between other melodic and rhythmic constructions.The composition was made possible by contributions of: Mr Evert van de Poll, owner of the Van Gelder Groep, Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Gelderland en Het Feteris Oosterbaan Fonds.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£435.40Goldberg 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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£214.80Missa Solemnis - Serge Lancen
This Mass has been dedicated to His Holyness Pope John Paul II, to witness Lancens deep and respectful admiration for the Holy Father. The work was composed in 1986 and written for two solo voices: a soprano and a baryton-Martin (high baritone), mixed choir, harp (ad libitum) and symphonic band or organ. It has ten parts: INTROIT - KYRIE - GLORIA - OFFERTORIUM - SANCTUS - PATER NOSTER - AGNUS DEI - COMMUNIO - DEO GRATIAS - and as final part an ALLELUIA. Lancen expressed his views about this Mass as follows: 'The most important aspect of the Mass is the praising of God and the sacrificing to God; that is why I thought it suitable to use both the themes of the Sanctus and the Offertorium in writing the Introtus. It seemed to me also quite logical that the initial themes of the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei would be rather similar as these are two moments where the priest and the worshippers invoke God. The composition ends with a brilliant Alleluia in which I also briefly quote the theme of the Sanctus.' This Mass was premiered on 27 may 1989 at 'Our Lady's Church' in Maastricht, The Netherlands, as part of the celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the Roman Catholic Band Federation of the Limburg County. The Bishop Castermans celebrated the Mass, whereas Jan Cober conducted this first performance. The Missa Solemnis is an alternation of meditating, though often impressive, orchestral passages with angelical choral sounds and the pious singing of both soloists. This may not be the type of music we usually expect from Serge Lancen, but nevertheless the composer remains faithful to his own typical style of composition. You can call this work romantic, though it surely is 'contemporary' or, why not, 'from all times'. The instrumentation is varied and extremely rich, mostly due to Lancen's typical use of 'wind band colours'. This Latin Mass suits perfectly well in the tradition of Roman-Catholic Masses that have been written by several great composers.
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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£204.99Storia Eroica - André Waignein
Andr Waignein received order of this composition of the "Municipal Brass Band of Luxembourg-Bonnevoie". It is in the presence of the Grand-Duke Heir Henri that took place first interpretation on January 24, 1998 with this orchestra, and with the composer as director.This work is a musical evocation describing this magnificent Luxembourgian region and her inhabitants.The overture evokes the serenity met in this region. An orchestrale development, as rhythmic as sound, propels the orchestra in a "military" atmosphere putting in evidence all the registers of the orchestra. This tension is maintained until the general explosion of the whole. One cantilena appears in all theinnocence. Gradually, the orchestration suppresses, until the exhaustion. The passage which follows represents the tempestuous events which took place through ages. A spectacular cadence, by the clarinet or by the soprano saxophone, terminates this desorder.An ample and lyric theme reflects the generosity which always played an important role. Then, having found some of initial themes, work ends in an atmosphere of enjoyment, developed in rich and eclectic one variety which proves the sphere of influence of the sound colour at Andr Waignein.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£214.80Dance Suite - Joseph Horovitz
This work follows a tradition established at the end of the seventeenth century: the creation of a musical structure by using a succession of dance movements, composed in such a way that a satisfying cumulative effect is produced. This method can be traced, starting from the works of Corelli, through the so-called Mannheim school to Mozart, and on to Brahms and beyond. Indeed, most classical symphonies owe their origin to this tradition.Each of the three movements of Dance Suite contains themes and motifs which are based on clearly identifiable dance patterns, more or less traditional and tonal in harmonic language.The first movement is a mixture af march- and gavotte elements, but these occur as variants of a single main theme. The tempo is brisk and the strongly accentuated four-beat measures creates a feeling of motoric drive. This is often counteracted by unexpected syncopation and surprising modulations. Horovitz dispenses with a second subject in favour of a very elaborate development, which makes the final quotation of the theme into a sort of recapitulation.In contrast, the second movement is a gentle, gracefully undulating dance, using two steady beats in every measure. Here there are two themes, the first more rhythmic, the second more lyrical. The second theme always uses the first as accompaniment, rather as a singer might use a guitar. Both themes undergo several modulations before returning to the home key. A Spanish flavour pervades the rhythmic and melodic elements of this movement.The finale is a fast rondo (in 6/8) whose main theme is best described as a tarantella. This alternates several times with a more solid, rustic theme (in 2/4). However, the main theme is recalled in varying guises, including a parody Latin-American version. The orchestration becomes mor elaborate and exciting as the movement proceeds, and the whole work ends with a coda recalling the main rond-theme with an enthusiastic flourish.Joseph Horovitz wrote about Dance Suite: "Most of the melodies and rhythms in the Dance Suite have been in my thoughts for many years, ever since my eraly career as conductor of ballet, and later as composer of some sixteen ballet scores. Some of these ideas were sketched on manuscript paper, others remained in my head and even in my dreams. The composition of this work gave me the chance to search among these half-subconscious sources and to offer my discoveries to the wind-orchestra repertoire."
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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£105.80Magellano - Andrea Moncalvo
This composition was written on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer (1480 - 1521), who embarked on what would have become the first circumnavigation of the globe. Unfortunately, he did not complete it because, in 1521, he was killed in the region that is today the Philippines. This adventure triggered various images in the author's mind; evocations that the composer elaborated in this piece, which is in a tripartite form (A B A) and is introduced and concluded by a solemn fanfare evoking the departure of the expedition, consisting of 5 ships with a total of 234 crewmen. The first part (Allegro) presents a main theme with a cantabile character that describes the fleet that, intrepid, plows the ocean. This initial melody is then contrasted by a more rhythmic and syncopated theme in a minor key, which instead refers to the indigenous peoples they have encountered during the journey. The central section (Adagio) is an oasis of reflection because, as in other great adventures, this too has tragic aspects: mutinies, shipwrecks, clashes with indigenous peoples, up to the disappearance of those who had desired and planned this enterprise. The last part proposes the themes of the first section but in reverse order, to describe the return to the homeland. The solemn fanfare welcomes the arrival of the Victoria, the only surviving ship with only 18 men on board, which returns to the port of departure after completing the circumnavigation of the earth in 2 years, 11 months, and 17 days.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£144.99A Century of Music - Etienne Crausaz
This work was commissioned by the Concordia wind band and the cho male choir, based in Mige (Valais, Switzerland), to mark their respective centenaries. The piece is a sanguine sounding work entirely based upon variations in several keys of a main hymn. This creates a festive and 'sprituoso' atmosphere throughout this impressive, highly colourful and energetic work. This work was commissioned by the Concordia wind band and the cho male choir, based in Mige (Valais, Switzerland), to mark their respective centenaries. The piece is a sanguine sounding work entirely based upon variations in several keys of a main hymn. This creates a festive and 'sprituoso'atmosphere throughout this impressive, highly colourful and energetic work.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£134.99
Recalls - Ben Haemhouts
Recalls obviously refers to memories. This piece of music is in fact a series of flashbacks, however, it does not highlight the actual memories of specific thoughts, people or events.The composition evolves around the late Frans Steurs, who for manyyears was the inspirational artist behind the brass band that is currently commissioning this work. The main theme of the work is based on the name STEURS". E = mi, U = do, R = re and S = "si" which is Dutch for the note "ti". This idea forms themusical theme for the entire composition and different variations are used throughout. The structure of the work is based on the concept of a story which father Steurs is telling his two daughters, who play the flute and the clarinet. Each part ofthe work has a story-like character:1. Introduction: following a short ominous intro, the main theme is presented for the first time.2. The Story: father Steurs has both his daughters on his knee and he tells them stories from the old days. Trumpetsand trombones play variations of the theme. The story gets very exciting (accelerande, poco a poco agitato) until the tale takes a dramatic turn when the father tells an exciting story at the time of the Second World War. He tells of being hunteddown by the occupying army and these adventurous episodes are related to us musically in part3. Danger, with its skilful references to "vor dem Sturm" from "Eine Alpensinfonie" by Richard Strauss.4. called Fugitives, is about how he fled in the nightfrom the enemy and this is reflected in the bass tones of a new theme. The aggression of the war is illustrated from bar 117 onwards, by a harsh brass section. The main theme is repeated once again and this time up-tempo. The second theme is broughtonce again from bar 149 onwards.5. Dialogues, depicts the conversations between the two daughters and their father. Father speaks (bar 155); the daughters answer (bar 164 - flute, bar 166 - clarinet); bar 178: father answers with the tune of the maintheme to the two daughters. The discussions gradually intensify but ultimately end in peace in the last part called Conclusion.The piece of music "Recalls" is a free interpretation by the composer who consulted the letters between the two daughtersof Steurs and their father and in this respect it is not really music for a programme."
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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