March for Concert Band. Par CESARINI FRANCO. Siebnen a été commandée à Franco Cesarini par Blaise Héritier, directeur de l’harmonie de la ville du même nom située dans le canton suisse de Schwyz. La première de la pièce a eu lieu lors du concert d'hiver du “Blasorchester” Siebnen (BSO) en 2021. Siebnen, disponible en format défilé, est une marche à structure traditionnelle, aux mélodies joyeuses et festives qui convient à l'ouverture d'un concert ou d'une cérémonie festive / Date parution : 2023-10-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par MEYERBEER GIACOMO. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) était un compositeur d'opéra allemand, d'origine juive, qui a été décrit comme peut-être le compositeur de musique de scène ayant eu le plus de succès au XIXe siècle. Sa carrière publique, de 1831 jusqu’à sa mort (période pendant laquelle il resta une figure dominante dans le monde de l’opéra) fut résumée par Hector Berlioz, son contemporain qui affirma : « il a non seulement la chance d’être talentueux, mais le talent d’être chanceux ». Ses œuvres ont fait de lui, le compositeur le plus joué dans les plus grandes maisons d'opéra du monde au XIXe siècle. Giacomo Meyerbeer composa son opéra Le Prophète en 1849. Dans cet opéra un couronnement est précédé d'une splendide marche. Bien que l'opéra lui-même soit rarement joué, la Marche du couronnement a une place importante dans le répertoire des concerts. L'arrangement de Franco Cesarini pour orchestre d'harmonie de la Coronation March se distingue par son instrumentation habile qui souligne les sonorités puissantes de cette marche de concert classique. / Date parution : 2023-10-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par BRAKSTAD JOHN. 'Interlude for Band' is an arrangement based on the theme from 'Affinity and Fellowship'. 'Affinity and Fellowship' was commissioned by Nord-Odal Concert Band, and published by Warner/Chappell Music Norway (Noteservice). 'Interlude for Band' is a piece with elements of ensemble, including an important solo part. Independent of the chosen tempo, let the music flow forward, but give time for the triplets to sound. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par WILLIAMS JOHN / HVEEM DAVID (Arr.). «Cantina Band (or «Mad About Me») was written by John Williams in 1977 for the film Star Wars (later Star Wars IV: A New Hope). Even with quite a bit of the Star Wars music being quite well known, Cantina Band is literally in a style of its own. In the Star Wars-universe this style is called «jizz», Williams’ take on the more well-known genre «jazz». Williams was tasked by Star Wars-creator George Lucas to make music that sounded like «several creatures in a future century finding some 1930's Benny Goodman swing band music ... and how they might attempt to interpret it» and ended up with Cantina Band #1 and #2. Both numbers are played in the legendary scene taking place in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina where Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi gets in a fight causing even the band to stop playing. The band, which goes by the name Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, comes from the planet Clak'dor VII and specializes in jizz and the nearby, slightly older style of jatz. Performers of this music often go by the name 'jizz-wailers', and the Bith people from Clak'dor VII are especially well suited for jizz-wailing since they can hold every note as long as they want thanks to a unique respiratory system - something many perhaps would like to be able to do in the performance of this arrangement as well. The arrangement is relatively faithful to Williams' original version, but with a somewhat different ending. Although the woodwind section undoubtedly has the biggest technical challenges, an understanding of the musical style is the very key to making the arrangement sound good - and here all groups must work together. Playing lightly but quite articulated, and very precise, will be an absolute necessity to get the music drifting off all the way to Tatooine. In measure 113 there is a small improvised solo in either trombone or trumpet, but if you want the real authentic Cantina Band-sound this is of course done on a steel drum. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par TORSKANGERPOLL IDAR. This piece was commissioned by Torskangerpoll Musikklag as a massed-band item for their “Storm Festival” in 2016. The “Storm Festival” is a festival for from bands all over Norway with concerts, parades and a lot of fun in the small Western Norway town of Måløy. The music is built around two motifs used throughout the piece. This piece is a good concert-opener or a character piece. Beware of the changing articulations in this piece, the contrast between marcato and legato is a vital part of the character of the piece. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Dances from 'The Cossacs'. Par ELLING CATHARIUS. The Opera “The Cossacs” by Catharinus Elling is based on the Nikolai Gogol novel about Taras Bulba. “The Cossacs” was premiered in 1897 at Eldorado in Kristiania (the old name on Norway’s capitol Oslo). Despite positive response in the papers of that time, the opera was newer performed again in it’s entirely. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation have an abbreviated recording in it’s archives, but no complete performance is known to date. The Norwegian National Opera Orchestra recorded both the overture and the dances in 2021, conducted by Ingar Bergby. Thet are both a part of the CD “Norwegian Opera Overtures”. This arrangement is not commissioned by anyone, but rather written to better the availability of quality Norwegian orchestral music arranged for Concert Band. This edition is a good opportunity to be more familiar with Norwegian heritage of orchestral music. / 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