Chain was composed between June and August 2000 as the test piece for the 2002 European Brass Band Championship. The composer’s idea was to compose a one-movement piece - a work that starts mysteriously and develops in various directions. As his basic material he chose a figure that is the abbreviation of the European Brass Band Championship: EBBC. This figure is developed in a chain of figures which gradually lead to the climax of the piece.

Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker is a fairy-ballet in two acts three tableaux and was composed in 1891/2. It is based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1816). Mark Freeh has arranged this Tchaikovsky classic for big band. Brass Band Grade 4: Advanced Youth and 3rd Section Duration: 12 minutes

This piece was commissioned by Nordhordland Brass Seminar in 1990 and written for a youth band. The title referes to a story from norse mythology. ?The Binding of the Wolf? is not a programmatic piece of music but I felt that there was a kind of coherence between the music and the dramatic story: ?...The wolf Fenrir was one of the demonic offspring of Loki and as he grew up in Asgard among the gods he became so huge and fierce that only Tyr was willing to feed him. It was decided that he must be bound and Odin in his wisdom caused the cunning dwarfs to forge a chain which could not be broken. It was made from the invisible and yet potent powers ofthe world such as the roots of a mountain the noise of a moving cat the breath of a fish. When completed this chain seemed to be no more than a silken cord but the wolf refused to let it be laid upon him unless one of the gods would put a hand between his jaws as a pledge that it was harmless. Only Tyr was prepared to do this and when the wolf found that the chain was unbreakable the gods rejoiced but Tyr lost his hand. The binding of the wolf may be seen as a means of protecting the world of men as well as that of the gods from destruction. The story of the god losing his hand appears to be one of the fundamental myths of nothern Europe...?

Score and Parts-Samuel Scheidt's Canzone Bergamasca for Brass Quintet. Score and parts.Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) was one of the influential trio of S's (with Heinrich Schutz and Johann Hermann Schein)who played an important part in both the development of German music of the early Baroque and in the survival of a high level of musical life during the devastation of the Thirty Years War.The son of a musical family of Halle in central Germany Scheidt spent most of his life in the city which saw both his birth and his death. From 1605 to 1608 however he went ot Amsterdam to study with the famous Ducth composer and organist Jan PietersSweelinck.Renowned in his day for his Vocal works - especially for his 'Concerti Sacri' - Scheidt achieved lasting fame for his revolutionary contributions to Organ literature. He introduced elements of tonal harmonyin his music and his masterwork 'Tabulatura Nova' marked the end of the German tablature system of notation for Organ.The Canzone Bergamasca marked by lively rhythms and contrapuntal inventiveness comesfrom an early collection of canzonas and dances published in Hamburg in 1621. The work is a 'chain' canzona (similar in form to the canzonas of Gabrieli) in which the material for one section develops out of the material of theprevious section uniquely linking all of the sections together. For additional contrast there is a tripla section in the middle and the work ends with a recapitulation of the first theme.The 'Bergamasca' of the title atthis period refers to the use of melodic material based on a harmonic ground derived from an Italian folk dance of the Bergamo region.

This collection puts Mr. Aaron's magic to work in the Brass Quintet idiom! Perfect for concert or contest. Includes: Tritch-Tratsch Polka (J. Strauss) · Polka (Shostakovich) · Capriccio (Haydn) · Humoresque (Tchaikowsky) · Diary of a Fly (Bartók) · Golliwogg's Cak Walk (Debussy) · Marche la Guarde Imperial Russe · Bagatelles No. 1 Op. 5 (Tcherepnine) · Marche Militaire (Schubert) · Peter and the Wolf (Prokofieff) · Prelude and Fugue in G minor (J.S. Bach) · Marche de Dardanus (J.P. Rameau) · Moment Musicale (Schubert) · La Frescobalda (Fresobaldi).

Mention King Kong to anyone and they will imagine the famous Empire State Building scene with the massive ape. In this work Klaas and Titus van der Woude have taken the theme from James Newton Howard’s movie soundtrack and arranged it into a fantastic concert piece that will have your audience hiding under their chairs and screaming in fear.

The work set as the test-piece for the 2005 European Brass Band Championships was inspired by a theme from the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No.1 (Andante Cantabile). It consists of a number of musical metamorphoses on the theme and includes several excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Sixth Symphonies and Romeo and Juliet. The most unconventional element of the work is instrumentation for ten tuned bottles to be played by members of the Cornet section. This gives the piece an Indonesian Gamelan effect. Why not give your players something to get their teeth into with this impressive major new work.

According to his teachers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was not particularly gifted. His special talents were acknowledged only in 1865 when he had been working for the Ministry of Finances for some years. In 1866 he was appointed teacher at the Conservatory and applied himself to composing. His oeuvre is fairly extensive and many of his compositions receive a high ranking on the international list of classical music including his six symphonies solo concertos (violin concerto and piano concertos) ballets (The Nut Cracker Swan Lake) and his overtures (1812 and Romeo and Juliette). In 1893 Tchaikovsky died of Cholera after drinking a glass of infectedwater. His Slavonic March is a popular concert piece for symphonic orchestra that is still frequently performed in concert halls. David Well arranged the theme and created a contemporary march in rock style. Tchaikovsky once said to an unsatisfied teacher: ‘I will be a great composer within 10 years time.’