Par DVORAK ANTONIN. This arrangement was written for Norwegian School Band Madlamark Skolekorps to their participation at the Norwegian Championships 2023. The arrangement will work excellent also for a wind ensemble (one player to each part), but the clarinet parts should always be doubled. Euphonium II is optional, but it’s recommended to use also this when there are two players or more on this instrument. Concerning percussion, timpani is the most important part, but it’s recommended to also cover cymbals and mallet percussion. The articulation and dynamics are kept as close as possible to the original version by Dvorak. However, some changes has been made to make it more suitable for a wind instrumentation. The timpani part is identical to the original version except for some places when the trumpet signals are doubled in the timpani part. Staccato notation should not be played short here, but rather separated. At faster passages, the music should be played endurant or legato if possible. This arrangement is a good opportunity to perform music of highest quality where musicality, phrasing, balance and intonation are very important, and, where each musician and part are deeply involved in the music making. / 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 RIHANNA / VINSON JOHNNIE (Arr.). From the blockbuster movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, here is the moving hit song Lift Me Up recorded by Rihanna. Arranged for young players, this arrangement accurately captures the emotion and style of the original. / Date parution : 2023-10-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par JEANBOURQUIN MARC. Le General Sherman est un séquoia géant situé dans le parc national de Sequoia, en Californie. Le naturaliste James Wolverton le baptisa en l’honneur du fameux général américain William Tecumseh Sherman. Le caractère imposant de ce séquoia a inspiré le compositeur, mais l’introduction pourrait aussi faire penser au Général Sherman qui arrive au loin. Marc Jeanbourquin a imaginé ce que pouvait être cet arbre dans toute sa grandeur, cherchant à grimper dans les feuillages pour trouver la lumière au sommet. Mais des passages énergiques indiquent que la présence du général n’est jamais loin. L’œuvre s’achève avec une réminiscence du thème initial, pleine de mystère. / Date parution : 2023-08-12/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

(An Overture), Op. 60. Par CESARINI FRANCO. «Que votre chemin soit sinueux, venteux, solitaire, dangereux et vous emmène vers la vue la plus spectaculaire. Que vos montagnes s'élèvent jusqu'aux nuages ??et les surmontent. » – Edward Abbey Notes from the Road a été composé pour donner suite à une commande de la fédération musicale du Canton de Thurgovie (Suisse), en tant que pièce imposée de la deuxième catégorie du Festival Cantonal 2023. La pièce est écrite sous la forme typique d'une ouverture à l'italienne, avec la succession des tempos veloce-lento-veloce. Les réflexions sur la vie et la rue comme sa métaphore ont été les éléments moteurs de la composition de cette pièce. Le symbole du parcours se caractérise par différentes cultures, au point que le verbe 'marcher' ou le mot 'route' désignent une manière d'être dans la vie et de s'accomplir. « Faire son chemin » signifie s'affirmer ; « Avoir un chemin » indique une approche propre et personnelle. La route est la plus belle métaphore de la vie : il y a un départ, une destination et au milieu un chemin parfois tortueux, des défis à surmonter et des directions à prendre. Une pièce introspective, une invitation pour chacun de nous à réfléchir sur son propre 'chemin'. / 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

Suite in Five Movements. Par HOYVIK DAHL HILDE. “At the Zoo” is a light and playful piece for the beginning musicians. Different animals and their characteristics are the theme of each movement, and the melody alternates between the different sections of the band to emphasize this. Trombones play glissandos and the percussionists are featured on percussion instruments, making the piece a fun to perform at any concert! / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie