Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. In his Prelude ? The Truth from Above, outstanding arranger and curator Paul Hindmarsh has distilled the essence of a timeless Christmas classic by Ralph Vaughan Williams into five minutes of ravishingly unforgettable music for brass band. The variants of the Herefordshire tune popular from the Fantasia on Christmas Carols and The Oxford Book of Carols are skilfully and stylishly woven together, from an evocative opening to an ecstatic, multi-layered coda. Unerringly true to the timeless spirit of the original, with the added beauty of the brass-band sound at its most sonorously grave and haunting, Prelude ? The Truth from Above may be performed separately, or as the first of two preludes, preceding Paul?s arrangement of Rhosymedre from the Three Preludes Founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes, also available from Stainer and Bell. / Date parution : 2021-11-03/ Répertoire / Brass Band

(Fulll Score). Par HAWES PATRICK. “It’s very direct, it’s very honest, it’s very melodic and it’s very beautiful.” Peter Jablonski, pianist. A three-movement work for piano and orchestra written for Peter Jablonski the concerto is a journey of excitement and – above all – majesty, through the pain of loss and bereavement, through to victory and the fulfilment of hope. / Date parution : 2022-10-12/ Répertoire / Orchestre et Piano

Par TCHAIKOVSKI PIOTR ILITCH. Tchaikovsky is best known for his purely instrumental compositions. However, we must not underestimate him as a composer of operas. Many of his operas such as ¬Pique Dame and Eugene Onegin are still performed regularly throughout the world. Eugene Onegin (also called Jevgeny Onegin), composed in 1877-1878, was not called an opera by Tchaikovsky himself, but “lyric scenes”. The work is entirely dominated by lyricism. However, there are two moments that contrast sharply with this lyricism: two ball scenes, for which Tchaikovsky wrote a waltz and a polonaise. After opening with a less well-known allegro dansant, this arrangement features the aforementioned waltz, which can beconsidered a beautiful Russian equivalent of the Faust Waltz by Charles Gounod. In the opera, this waltz is actually played by a military band. The arrangement concludes with the pompous polonaise (also mentioned above) which opens the last act: the ideal music to characterize high aristocracy in the salon of a palace in St. Petersburg. / Niveau : 3 / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie et Clarinette

Par ESENVALDS ERIKS. Only in Sleep is a nostalgic vision of childhood re-experienced through dreams. Eriks E?envalds has created a work of subtlety, yet powerful and expressive. The music has an incandescent freshness and the Flugel Horn soloist heard at the opening returns at the close, lost in reverie, whilst florid arabesques float over one last pair of chordal oscillations, winding down to nothing. This brilliant arrangement for brass band has become every bit as popular as the original choral setting. Brings contemporary choral repertoire by a leading international composer to the band world. Arrangement of Eriks E?envalds' highly successful choral piece 'Only in Sleep'. Arranged by brass and brass band specialist Phillip Littlemore. Part of EP Brass Band Series. Meditative, beautiful piece, highly attractive for audiences, and proven success as a choral work. Suitable for intermediate band at 2nd Section and above. / Date parution : 2022-05-17/ Répertoire / Brass Band

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 RICKER RAMON. 'Suspended Animation' is a contemporary straight-eighth feel with sections that can be opened up for any player to solo. The entire composition is built on only two suspended chords, and is written in a manner that makes it easy for young bands to quickly get into the piece. With only two chords to worry about, much of the anxiety of wrong notes is eliminated and the student can immediately concentrate on making music. Professionals will also have fun with the chart when it is opened up for extended solos. The piece was inspired by an improvised solo and chord progression that is found in Volume 1 of the Ramon Ricker Improvisation Series. Beginning improvisers will find the brief Notes on the Improvised Sections helpful. But, a more thorough discussion can be found in Volume 1 of the Ramon Ricker Improvisation Series. Medium Easy Advance Music is proud to present our new Groovin' Easy Series. We've taken 10 tunes from two popular Advance Music publications (Reading Key Jazz Rhythms and The Ramon Ricker Improvisation Series) and asked our writers to give us creative and musically challenging charts that are also playable by young bands. To the normal big band instrumentation of 5 saxes, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and rhythm section we've added optional parts for flute, clarinet, French horn, guitar and auxiliary percussion. In addition, each chart is written to sound full with a reduced instrumentation of only 3 saxes, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone and rhythm section. The brass ranges are reasonable with the lead trumpet never going above a written C and the rhythm section parts are carefully notated and thought out./ Répertoire / Big Band

Par MUSSORGSKY MODEST. The symphonic poem Night on a Bald Mountain took its inspiration from a story by the well known Russian writer Nicola Gogol. Mussorgsky took no steps to promote his masterpiece and it was only after his death when Rimsky-Korsakov was looking through the enormous stack of manuscripts that the work resurfaced. Written above the score, Mussorgsky gives a brief description of the story of Night on a Bald Mountain: Gathering Witches, their gossip and chit-chat; The Procession of Satan; Pagan Worship of Satan and Witches Sabbath. This transcription for concert band by Tohru Takahasi remains true to the orchestral original. / Niveau : 5 / Répertoire / Concert Band ou 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

A fine vocal chart of a wonderful standard treated as a moderate swing. Arranged in two keys for flexibility, the low female key is C, and the vocal range is G below middle C to third line B. The high male key is F, and the range is middle C to top space E treble clef. Lead trumpet range is to written B above the staff. Includes a written-out tenor solo. / Ensemble De Jazz

Par BLANKEN JOHN. COME ONE AND ALL! Come see the great Circus Bamboni! This four movement work, with flexible four part instrumentation (+ Drum Kit), will amaze and charm you like no other. The first movement features the band as it tunes up and prepares for the show. Then the talented trapeze artists make an appearance as they fly through the sky high above the audience. The elephants parade around the ring with their very own Elephant Samba and the clowns follow leaving you in stitches! A thunderous chord and lots of applause bring the show to a breathtaking finale. / Niveau : 1.5 / Musique légère originale / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie ou Fanfare

Par FELDMANN WALTER. Commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain In 1989 I first discovered the writings of Anne-Marie Albiach. H II linéaires especially impressed me, on the one hand through the sensual presence of the words, and on the other hand, above all, through the spatial disposition of the typography. This is a form of writing which has nothing to do with all that has existed before it. This impression was the starting point for a creative work which has since become a kind of a project to which I will dedicate myself throughout my life. Since that time of my first discovery (in which hundreds of pages of sketches and a published excerpt of a score of a syntagma have been composed, namely « monstrueuse vécut dans le cadre » la mémoire) I have attempted to develop a new musical system that encompasses all the parameters of composition. All of these works which I have composed are independent from this enormous project, but at the same time they form the experimental laboratory for the all-encompassing musical system towards which I am working and developing: a new system of determining pitches, metre, dynamics, musical diction, manner of performance, etc. With « monstrueuse vécut dans le cadre » la mémoire it appears that the research for this project has been concluded. After the two large cycles « Les Géorgiques » on texts from Claude Simon and « Tristram Shandy » from Laurence Sterne, both employing techniques from my work with Albiach’s texts, I could finally compose this work, which was originally conceived for voice and 6 instrumental groups – the system was mastered, so to speak. Anne-Marie Albiach’s establishes the genetic code for the piece, without the words having to be spoken. . Her text is, in the true sense of the word, measured from one syntagma (syntactical element), from one void (space) to another, and this results in temporal structures of ensemble texture. This is opposed to another texture, which is the temporal measurement of a recitation of the text by the author: her voice, using the range of her/ Répertoire / Alto Solo, Grand Ensemble en 6 groupes: 1) Contreb

Par ESENVALDS ERIKS. O Salutaris Hostia is one of Eriks E?envalds? most popular pieces. Originally written for female voices, the composer later created a version for full choir on which this arrangement is based. It has a gentle meditation with the two soloists drifting across the soft band accompaniment, alternately echoing and imitating each other or joining together in thirds. The effect is quietly ecstatic, a brief moment of adoration and wonderment. This arrangement can be played with either two cornets or two euphoniums as soloists as the accompaniment works just as effectively with either. Brings contemporary choral repertoire by a leading international composer to the band world. Arrangement of Eriks E?envalds' highly successful choral piece 'O Salutaris Hostia'. Arranged by brass band specialist Phillip Littlemore. Part of EP Brass Band SeriesMeditative, beautiful piece, highly attractive for audiences, and proven success as a choral work. Suitable for intermediate band at 2nd Section and above. / Date parution : 2022-05-17/ Répertoire / Brass Band

Believe me if all those endearing young charms. Henk Hogestein has created a calm, yet uplifting arrangement of the famous Irish song Believe Me, if all these Endearing Young Charms. The melody displays the very best of Irish tradition with the words coming from a poem by Thomas Moore about love that goes above and beyond physical beauty. Irish Charms will make a wonderful inspirational interlude at any concert. / Niveau : 2.5 / Musique pour célébration / Date parution : 1905-07-01/ Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie

Open any concert with this swingin' chart that will make your audience sit up! At a tempo of 208 BPM or faster, written solo space for tenor and trumpet 2, lead trumpet range to written B above the staff, and an optional vibes part, this chart is complete. (3:10) / Ensemble De Jazz

With the chicken-flavored title, this Kris Berg chart is just plain funky. The laid-back tempo is around 100 BPM, there is a suggested written tenor solo, and some slap bass licks on the hip bass part. The lead trumpet range for 'Chicks Dig It' is to written B above the staff. Optional flute and vibes too! (6:05) / Ensemble De Jazz