Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Thomas Doss
Duration 10.40
A short mp3 audio extract is provided here to give you a sample of this work.
Toccata e Fantasia was inspired by the composers’ love of Anton Bruckner’s fantastic wind instrument scoring in his symphonies. Within Toccata e Fantasia Thomas Doss has used several of Bruckner’s motifs. In addition to these obvious references you will also find hints of Eastern music with the small motifs being repeated again and again in a sort of Indian guru’s mantra, and an improvised blues section with a Big Band feel! A unique concert work that will thrill your audience.
Technically difficult.
If you enjoyed listening to this extract, you can buy the full performance CD on this site. The CD is "TOCCATA e FANTASIA" with Foden's Brass Band conducted by Ian Porthouse.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Jan Van Der Roost
Concert item in three parts - fast, slow, fast.
Duration 13:25
Grade 4
‘Toccata Festiva’ was commissioned in 1994 by the Dutch Brass Band Championships. The wind band version was made a year later by the composer himself. Historically speaking, the toccata is considered to be one of the first independent instrumental forms for keyboard instruments. Originally the toccata was typically more or less improvised, later this musical form was given a more regulated structure. Both elements are used in the ‘Toccata Festiva’: on the one hand the different themes are developed freely, on the other, the piece has an orderly structure. It is in a three part form (quick-slow-quick) and includes both strong rhythmical figures and broad melodic lines. Part of the composition is written in a more or less archaic tone idiom, referring to the period from which the toccata form originates (16th century).
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Gareth Wood
Tombstone Arizona, by Gareth Wood, is available on the CD 'Around The World In Eighty Minutes' by The Rigid Containers Group Band, conducted by John Berryman.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Peter Graham
Set as the CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION TEST PIECE for the 2015 Regional British Brass Band Championships.
This new work has been jointly commissioned by the Australian & British Brass Band Associations, and has been set as the Championship Section Testpiece for the 2009 British Brass Band Championships in the Royal Albert Hall in London - October 2009.
The work is dedicated :
"To the memory of Eric Ball who knew how to write tunes, and to Geoffrey Whitham who knew how to play them."
Peter Graham writes : "Some 20 years after his death, in October 1989, Eric Ball is still considered to be one of the most influential figures in the short history of the brass band, as the composer who bridged the gulf between old and new repertoire.
At a time when transcriptions and arrangements formed the backbone of many band programmes, Ball produced a series of original works that went some way to giving brass band composition confidence and integrity. In his early years, as a full-time Salvation Army musician and in SA terms, he was considered something of a revolutionary, his work generally displaying a higher level of sophistication and technical awareness than those of his contemporaries.
The Torchbearer reflects upon these aspects of Ball’s compositional style and, for those well versed with his music, the sound world evoked will be familiar territory. The work is based upon the trio theme from Ball’s SA Torchbearers March, which demonstrates many of the composer’s characteristics – lyrical melody, the rising figure peaking at the interval of the 6th, tonal harmony and so on. As the variations progress, the theme undergoes a series of metamorphoses, which mirror in music a concept very much at the centre of Ball’s broader philosophy - that of transformation.”
COMPOSER’S NOTE The Torchbearer was commissioned by Kapitol Promotions and the Federation of Australasian Brass Bands as the test piece for the 2009 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and the FABB Open Contest respectively. The commission was initiated by the Federation’s Music Advisor, Professor David King, whose support and encouragement for the idea of a piece commemorating the 20th anniversary of Eric Ball’s death is greatly appreciated. The variations are based upon the first phrase of the trio from Eric Ball’s Salvation Army march, Torchbearers:
After opening statements of the theme, variation 1 (an energetic allegro brillante utilising fragment A) commences at bar 35. Cadenza passages for Eb Bass and Euphonium lead to variation 2 (an andante appassionato based upon fragment B) at 104. Variation 3 (142 - a vivace featuring C as an ostinato) is followed at 205 by variation 4, the central andante e sciolto molto for solo cornet (utilising D1 as a counterpoint and D2 as a 2nd phrase). The work culminates at bar 291 in a reprise of the cornet solo, now fully metamorphosised and mirroring in music a concept at the centre of Ball’s broader philosophy, that of transformation. I have endeavoured to retain the main compositional characteristics and harmonic flavour of Eric Ball’s Salvation Army and contest music. His scoring techniques are a model for any student of the medium and whilst I have aimed for similar colours and clarity of line in texture, concessions have been made in the instrumentation of the 21st century brass band. A slightly more developed percussion section is utilised employing timpani and xylophone in dominant roles. Eric Ball will be remembered as a composer whose classic works for brass shine through with integrity and sincerity. I have been no less sincere in my efforts to pay musical tribute to the 20th century’s most influential composer of brass band music. Peter Graham Cheshire July 2009
PERFORMANCE NOTE Straight mutes preferred in cornet and trombone muted passages.
Percussion require three players : Timpani Percussion 1 - Triangle, Snare drum, Suspended Cymbal & Tam Tam Percussion 2 - Suspended Cymbal, Bass Drum Xylophone & Triangle.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Peter Graham
Set as the CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION TEST PIECE for the 2015 Regional British Brass Band Championships.
This new work has been jointly commissioned by the Australian & British Brass Band Associations, and has been set as the Championship Section Testpiece for the 2009 British Brass Band Championships in the Royal Albert Hall in London - October 2009.
The work is dedicated :
"To the memory of Eric Ball who knew how to write tunes, and to Geoffrey Whitham who knew how to play them."
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Simon Dobson
Commissioned by the Leyland Band for the 2012 RNCM Festival of Brass, Torsion is a major symphonic work in three linked movements that deals with the imagined ‘dis-torsions’ and ‘con-torsions’ of time, light and sound. It includes optional tracks of pre-recorded audio that has been subject to digital distortion. The music fuses elements of pop, funk and jazz into a dynamic and virtuoso work designed to showcase the skills of Championship section brass bands.
Brass Band Grade 6: Championship
Duration: 15 minutes
Grade equivalents for Brass Band test-pieces where there is considerable overlap at the higher levels, depending on the level of competition (local, regional or national):
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Simon Dobson
Commissioned by the Leyland Band for the 2012 RNCM Festival of Brass, Torsion is a major symphonic work in three linked movements that deals with the imagined ‘dis-torsions’ and ‘con-torsions’ of time, light and sound. It includes optional tracks of pre-recorded audio that has been subject to digital distortion. The music fuses elements of pop, funk and jazz into a dynamic and virtuoso work designed to showcase the skills of Championship section brass bands.
Brass Band Grade 6: Championship
Duration: 15 minutes
Grade equivalents for Brass Band test-pieces where there is considerable overlap at the higher levels, depending on the level of competition (local, regional or national):
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arrangers: Brahms, D. Wright Difficulty level: Championship
Click on MORE DETAILS to view a sample part.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Thomas Doss
Grade: 6
Duration: 16:30
n this piece, the composer depicts a mother who hears her unborn baby cry for her. She is thrown into doubt as to whether she will keep the child, and passes this feeling onto the baby. Underlying this successful work is the Bach chorale Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern and has already proven itself as a winning piece in several renowned contests!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Thomas Doss
Grade: 6
Duration: 16:30
n this piece, the composer depicts a mother who hears her unborn baby cry for her. She is thrown into doubt as to whether she will keep the child, and passes this feeling onto the baby. Underlying this successful work is the Bach chorale Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern and has already proven itself as a winning piece in several renowned contests!
Categories: TEST PIECES (Major Works), LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer: Dan Price
This four movement suite takes its inspiration from the evocative names given to various areas on the Moon - Sea of Clouds, Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Serenity and Sea of Dreams.
To view 