Par ABBA / ULVAEUS BJORN (Arr.). This song by ABBA is the core of the European disco-sound in the eighties. It was released in 1980 when ABBA was in its superstardom. A good tune with almost a sing-along guarantee from the audience. This arrangement in the Young Band series is suitable for many bands as the instrumentation is limited in its demand to number of instruments. In the same series several ABBA items are available, and this piece can be programmed alongside other ABBA songs from the same series. This arrangement is similar to the original in form. The semiquavers in the tuba part may be omitted as they also are covered in the baritone part. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Ballad from Fantasy Pieces for Piano Op. 36. Par BACKER-GRONDAHL AGATHE. Agathe Backer Grøndahl’s ‘Ballade’ can best be described as a Romantic character piece. Such one-movement piano pieces with titles that loosely indicate a mood/idea made out a central genre in the 19th century. In Backer Grøndahl’s production, several of these are grouped under the term ‘fantasy pieces’. There are six collections with a total of 48 fantasy pieces on her opus list and ‘Ballade’ is from the first of these (Op. 36), published in 1895. ‘Ballade’ is a broader work than the other fantasy pieces. It is built around a dramatic theme that keeps returning after episodes with strongly contrasting thematic material. The arrangement is close to Backer Grøndahl’s original composition. It is transposed a semitone down: from E flat minor to D minor. The arrangement contains some challenging passages and is well-suited for amateur bands of a certain level. The instrumentation makes no special demands beyond normal concert band instrumentation and will sound just as good in small as in large bands. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par ZIEGELBACK ANDREAS. Bleak Forest is a piece for smaller concert bands and offers the musicians above all space to improve their sound and their effect playing. The technical requirements are therefore deliberately kept low. With this piece, the composer won the VLAMO International Composition Contest 2022. Thematically, the work is influenced by the composer's childhood memories. In his hometown there was a dark and mysterious forest, that seemed to the children in the small village to be magical. Without a reasonable explanation, every trip into the woods was exciting and somewhat terrifying. There were tales of dangerous animals, which can be heard at the beginning of the piece, as well as magical beasts. The magic of the forest is depicted musically from bar 70 in the andante section. The snapping of the fingers represents single raindrops. From bar 99 onwards, we hear the trek home, with the occasional moments of trepidation as the children spook each other with their fanciful tales. In the end, though, we arrive safely at home because after all, magical beasts only exist in fairy tales… don’t they? Andreas Ziegelbäck studied music education at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and history at the Paris Lodron Universität, Salzburg. In addition to his studies, he trained in ensemble conducting for wind orchestra with conductor and composer Thomas Doss. It was Doss who sparked Ziegelbäck’s interest in composing. In 2021, Andreas Ziegelbäck completed his composition studies with Johannes Maria Staud. In 2020, he took part in a brass band composition masterclass in Bern with Oliver Waespi, followed by a premiere by the Swiss Army Brass Band. / Date parution : 2023-10-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band / Harmonie

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). Par BRUCKNER ANTON. Anton Bruckner (b. 4.9.1824, Ansfelden, d. 11.10.1896, Vienna) didn’t have it easy. Throughout his life, the Austrian composer was plagued by self-doubt. Anton Bruckner came from a simple, rural background. After the death of his father, he was accepted as a choirboy at the monastery of Sankt Florian in 1837. After several years as a school assistant and his own organ and piano studies, he first worked as organist in St. Florian, then from 1855 as cathedral organist in Linz. Introduced to music theory and instrumentation by Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, he discovered Richard Wagner as an artistic role model, whom he admired throughout his life and also visited several times in Bayreuth. In 1868 Anton Bruckner became professor of basso continuo, counterpoint and organ at the Vienna Conservatory; ten years later court organist; and in 1891 finally honorary doctor of the University of Vienna. He was considered an important organ virtuoso of his era, but had to wait a long time for recognition as a composer. It was not until Symphony No.7 in E major, composed between 1881 and 1883, with the famous Adagio written under the effects of Wagner's death, that he achieved the recognition he had hoped for, even if he was reluctant to accept it given his inclination towards scepticism and self-criticism. Anton Bruckner was a loner who did not want to follow a particular school or doctrine. He composed numerous sacred vocal works, such as his three masses, the Missa Solemnis in B flat minor (1854), the Te Deum (1881-84) and numerous motets. As a symphonic composer, he wrote a total of nine symphonies and many symphonic studies from 1863 onwards, tending to revise completed versions several times over. Bruckner's orchestral works were long considered unplayable, but in fact were merely exceptionally bold for the tonal language of their time, uniting traditions from Beethoven through Wagner to folk music, on the threshold between late Romanticism and Modernism. Anton Bruckner composed about 40 motets during his lifetime, the earliest a setting of Pange lingua around 1835, and the last, Vexilla regis, in 1892. Thomas Doss has compiled some of these motets in this volume for symphonic wind orchestra. These motets show many characteristics of personal expression, especially Bruckner's colourful harmony in the earlier works, which is in places aligned with Franz Schubert (changes between major and minor; and movements in thirds). Later works are characterised by many components which, in addition to the expanded stature of the movements, include above all a sense of the instrumentation as an outward phenomenon and the harmony as a compositional feature that works more internally. Some aspects of Bruckner's work are the result of his long period of study, which familiarised him not only with the tradition of his craft, but also gave him insights into the 'modernity' of his time in such composers as Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz. From this developed his personal standpoint, which always pursues the connection between the old and the new. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par TORSKANGERPOLL IDAR. This piece for beginning band was written as a commission for Norsk Noteservice to the “Music for Beginners” serie. The piece is a feelgood item with limited range for all instruments, suitable for young players. The rhythmic structure is repetitive and polyphony is often in the “call and response” form. Hence it is an easy piece to read and play. The refrain is rhythmically unison making it easy for all to play syncopated rhythms. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie