Hail the Dragon! est une commande du Brass Band gallois Cory Band pour les festivités du 125e anniversaire de la création de la formation. La première a eu lieu le 20 juin 2009 dans le cadre du gala d?anniversaire au St. David?s Hall de Cardiff.Philip Sparke a écrit : « Après avoir composé The Year of the Dragon en 1984 pour célébrer le centenaire du Cory Band je fus ravi d?être sollicité à nouveau pour écrire une œuvre à l?occasion du 125e anniversaire de la formation. Hail the Dragon! est une pièce d?ouverture. Elle débute avec une fanfare particulièrement énergique qui cède sa place à un motif dansant. La musique s?apaise et laisseentendre un solo de trompette qui évolue dans un passage central expressif gagnant peu à peu en intensité émotionnelle. Une fois la densité maximale atteinte la thématique initiale revient sous la forme d?un contre-chant à un fragment musical extrait du dernier mouvement de The Year of the Dragon. Le finale est fougueux. »

Originally commissioned as the set test piece for Section B of the 2007 European Brass Band Championships The Drop was re-worked and extended as The Drop: Remixed for Leyland Band to perform at the 2008 RNCM Festival of Brass in Manchester. Ideal as a First Section brass band test piece The Drop: Remixed contains much tuneful and dance-based music and finishes with a massive drum ‘n ‘bass-inspired ending.Brass Band Grade 5: 1st Section Duration: 12 minutes       The work has subsequently been recorded by the Leyland Band conducted by Jason Katsikaris an is on the CDentitled Penlee .

Principe:Les cath?drales excitent l?imagination : pendant des centaines d?ann?es des hommes se sont donn? toutes les peines du monde pour achever ces ?difices et ceux-ci restent aujourd?hui les t?moins imposants de l?architecture et de l?histoire. La cath?drale repr?sentait par cons?quent une excellente source d?inspiration pour composer une ?uvre pleine d?effets acoustiques d??cho de m?lodies gr?goriennes et de th?mes d?orgue choraux.L??uvre ouvre sur un motif ? cinq tons en double slap qui r?sonne ? travers l?espace comme par un effet d??cho. Ensuite retentit l?antienne gr?gorienne ? Salve Regina ? jou?e ? l?euphonium combin?e peu apr?s avec lemotif d?ouverture. Le passage rapide qui suit est enti?rement bas? sur les intervalles de ce motif qui est ? pr?sent rythmiquement vari? et incorpor? sous des formes diverses (notamment en tant que th?me de fugue). L??uvre s??l?ve vers un premier moment fort qui laisse entendre de myst?rieux sons ?touff?s qui ?voquent une atmosph?re mystique et myst?rieuse.Petit ? petit appara?t un nombre toujours croissant d?extraits m?lodiques de l?antienne gr?gorienne jusqu?? ce que ce th?me comme une orgue surgisse de la masse sonore comme un grandiose th?me choral. L?ensemble rev?t un son de plus en plus puissant et brillant jusqu?? ce que tout cela aboutisse ? un final court mais ?clatant dans lequel se trouvent r?unis tous les ?l?ments de l??uvre.Remarques pour l?ex?cution:Dans la premi?re partie c?est l?effet acoustique d?une cath?drale qui est imit? c?est-?-dire que les r?ponses du motif ? cinq tons qui arrivent une fraction plus tard s?att?nuent sur leur fin (dim.) comme le ferait l??cho dans une cath?drale. Les r?ponses devraient elles aussi ?tre jou?es ? chaque fois un soup?on moins fort afin d?obtenir un effet d??cho optimal.Le rapport de tempo entre la mesure 1 et la mesure 32 est de 3/2. Ce faisant les motifs ? partir de la mesure 45 semblent aussi rapides qu?au d?but (mais sont ?videmment not?s diff?remment). Lorsque le tempo passe

This composition by Bertrand Moren presents various dreams which could have an effect on a dreamer’s life. Its very high level of difficulty provides a great challenge for the conductor and musicians. You will be taken through a living Nightmare with spine-chilling passages as dissonant chords alternate with aggressive percussion. Daydream is a patchwork of solos with all the brass band soloists playing serene and soft melodic lines with a virtuosic trombone cadenza. Finally Visions portrays visions of insanity reflected by violent and discordant descending motifs leading to visions of joy presented in a sparkling and cheerful finale.

from The Phantom of the Opera-Né en 1948 à Londres Andrew Lloyd Webber a composé la musique de nombreuses comédies musicales célèbres dans le monde entier ; de l?opéra-rock Jesus Christ Superstar à Evita Cats Starlight Express et bien entendu The Phantom Of The Opera (Le Fantôme de l?Opéra) écrit en 1986. Dans les années 80 il compose également un superbe Requiem dont les airs Hosanna et Pie Jesu sont les plus connus du grand public. Andrew Lloyd Webber excelle dans la création de mélodies à succès pleines de sensibilité et d?émotion telles que Memory et Don?t Cry For Me Argentina suscitant l?admiration à travers le monde.All I AskOf You extrait de la comédie musicale The Phantom of the Opera est un duo interprété par deux personnages majeurs de la comédie musicale Christine et Raoul. L?intrigue de l?histoire est basée sur le roman de l?écrivain français Gaston Leroux. Le personnage principal (Le Fantôme de l?Opéra) est un être étrange défiguré et masqué qui vit et hante les sous-sols de l?Opéra de Paris. Son amour obsessionnel pour la jeune cantatrice Christine le pousse à promouvoir sa carrière à tout prix. Mais quand il s?aperçoit qu?elle est éprise de Raoul Vicomte de Chagny et ami d?enfance de la cantatrice la fureur s?empare de lui. Il élabore de nombreux complots aussi terrifiants que dramatiques mais finit par cesser de poursuivre Christine et disparaît à jamais.All I Ask Of You a été repris à juste titre par divers grands interprètes dont Barbra Streisand et de nombreux arrangements en ont été réalisés. Cette superbe version pour Orchestre d?Harmonie est signée Peter Kleine Schaars.

The Dreaded Groove and Hook is an up-tempo acid-jazz number that draws inspiration from bands like Jamiroquai and The Youngblood Brass Band. The groove in question is the main tune that is shared round the band whilst the hook in ‘pop’ terms is the catchy bit of the song. The whole band joins in to play a huge ‘riff’ that acts as a chorus to the jazz-like verses. The piece was commissioned by Jason Katsikaris and The Leyland Band who gave the first performance as part of their programme for the Brass In Concert Championships held at The Sage Gateshead on the 16th November 2008. It has now been recorded by the same bandand conductor on the CD entitled Penlee .Brass Band Grade 5: 1st SectionDuration: 4 minutes

Don???t Cry For Me Argentina is the best-known song from the 1976 musical Evita. It was sung by Eva Peron when she was addressing the crowds amassed in the square below her balcony. More recently it was a hit for Madonna who sang it in the 1996 film version of Evita. This arrangement for Brass Band retains the broad emotive melody of the original together with its intense emotion.

Beating a drum is fun. Beating a big drum is even more fun. Being a soloist and beating a bass drum is best of all. In 'Big Fun on the Bass Drum' the dream of every starter percussionist is realized. He/she is soloist and is allowed to really beat the drum hard without the conductor putting a stop to it but beware: a new skin is rather expensive. 'Big Fun on the Bass Drum' is not only about hitting as hard as you can though. A lot of attention is paid to playing the bass drum very softly. And what is more the composer has found room to offer the soloist a real cadenza - at this point in the composition he/she can either play the partprescribed or give the audience an improvisation of his/her own.

In ‘Land of Legends’ German composer Andreas Ludwig (what’s in a name) Schulte takes you along to the fictional world of legends myths and fairy tales. The introduction to the first part (The Castle) describes the majestic contours of the scene of action. Its instrumentation (horns) immediately makes you imagine being in Medieval spheres. The addition of trenchant copper instruments even gives the part a heroic tinge. After entering through the gate a lot of hustle and bustle appears to be going on in the courtyard. Pages squires and soldiers are busy attending to their arms. Beer is being brewed flax is being spun cattle are being tended and some craftsmen fromneighbouring villages are busily at work. In the upper chamber of the round tower lives an old man (The Old Wizard). He hardly ever comes out and nobody knows exactly what he is doing. It is said that he is engaged in wizardry and magic. It is all very mysterious. There are also festivities some of them sober others exuberant. The wedding in the third part is celebrated in a grand manner. With a flourish of trumpets the bride makes her entrance at the hand of her father. Afterwards at the party there is dancing to the music played by minstrels and of course a plentiful banquet follows.

This piece of music is especially designed to brighten your day! The infectious energy and rhythm, together with the happy melody, will drive all the rainclouds away. Enjoy life with Sunny Side Up!

Durkle Bandrydge is the name of the composers imaginary world but it could very well be anyones invisible dream world with a different name. In this very versatile suite by Bruce Fraser 8 characters are featured each with its ownpeculiarities making Durkle Bandrydge such a colourful place. Do these characters differ that much from us? That is for you to find out! In the last part all characters come together in a special way.Durkle Bandrydge exists at the end ofyour street. It is invisible to humans but Durkle Bandrygators can watch us with great interest. The music will introduce you to some of the characters who live in this unusual place. The parts: Somnanbulyss who is a giant trollguarding the entrance to Durkle Bandryde. At least he is supposed to but he tends to sleep most of the time. His music is therefore very slow moving and sleepy. Long Gwysteen is a tall mysterious and somehow sophisticated character who walls around with a shell on his back. His music glides along rather gracefully. Squelfitch is a rather unpleasant and smelly character who lives in a bog which is why his music sounds rather slimy and a bit like trying to walkthrough quicksand. Perfydlia is a meddling old woman who gossips about everybody and squeals with sudden delight at the small exciting bits of tittletattle about others in the village. In the music you can hear her sudden little squealsof delight. Maryann Lovely is a beautiful young lady graceful gorgeous absolutely devine and her music is obviously just the same. Thistledoo Nicely is a lively character who spends and spends and spends with her credit card buying the latest fashion and never worries about having to pay the bills. Her music reflects her excitement when shopping and het ‘happy go lucky’ approach to life. Marsyn Edginton is the Lord of the manor the richest man in town the‘big cheese’ the man with all the power and of course the biggest house. He is very grand and his music like he could be a king. Jimmy McScotsmyn is a red haired scotsman wearing tartan cap. He misses his home country terribly and eatslots of shortbread oatcakes scotch eggs porridge and drinks an enormous amount of Scotch Wisky which helps him to have fond memories of the kind of music he would like to dance to when he was a younger man. His favourite dance is a Jig andthis is the music he remembers. Grand March of the Durkle Bandrydgators. We hope that you have enjoyed meeting these characters from Drukle Bandrydge and would invite you to listen to all the villagers now march along in a grand parade -it is a pity that you can not see them what is a wonderful sight. If you listen carefully you will hear the melodies which belong to the characters as they march past. Oh what a grand spectacle!