Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gioacchino Rossini Composer / arranger: G. Hawkins
There is no full score available for this work - conductors traditionally work with a cued solo cornet part. Duration 7.07
You can listen to a short extract of this work by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" on the right of your screen.
You can buy the full recording of this work in the CD section of our site. The recording is SPECTACULAR CLASSICS with the Black Dyke Mills Band, conducted by James Watson CD845
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: B. Smetana Arranger: Derek Broadbent
Duration 6.13
The opera was written by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, and tells the story of an arranged marriage in a Bohemian village, with all the trials and tribulations and comic interludes that the plot reveals.
The work is a real tour de force for band.
A short mp3 audio extract is provided here to give you a sample of the work.
Access it by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button.
You can buy the full recording of this work on the CD section of our site.
The recording is FAIREY BAND IN CONCERT on Doyen DOY CD224
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Andy Scott
Scored for Brass Band and Narrator in one continuous movement. The piece tells the story of the famous Battle of Barossa in March 1811 with musical sections depicting events as they unravel.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Ray Steadman-Allan Difficulty level: Championship
Duration 12.30
Previously set as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to view the Solo Cornet part.
"For centuries hilltop beacon fires blazed across the land signals of important happenings or warnings of invasion. This music tells no specific story but the titles of the four thematically related sections are a guide to the idea: The Beacons; Far Horizons; The Invaders; Celebration.
The first movement has something of the character of the march and the fanfare; spirited and tightly driving, it promises most of the thematic material of the work. The second is largelt tranquil and is thinly scores with solo passages. The third has the most dramatic potential; its energy and conflict subsides to a lament and a tolling bell before a vigorous rounding off. Appropriately, the fourth movement is in a merry-making mood, and the jubilant music concludes with fragment statements of the main themes.
The Beacons was first performed by IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band (James Scott) at the ‘Concert of the Century’, celebrating the Centenary of the British Bandsman, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 5 September 1987."
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Ray Steadman-Allan Difficulty level: Championship
Previously set as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to view the Solo Cornet part.
"For centuries hilltop beacon fires blazed across the land signals of important happenings or warnings of invasion. This music tells no specific story but the titles of the four thematically related sections are a guide to the idea: The Beacons; Far Horizons; The Invaders; Celebration.
The first movement has something of the character of the march and the fanfare; spirited and tightly driving, it promises most of the thematic material of the work. The second is largelt tranquil and is thinly scores with solo passages. The third has the most dramatic potential; its energy and conflict subsides to a lament and a tolling bell before a vigorous rounding off. Appropriately, the fourth movement is in a merry-making mood, and the jubilant music concludes with fragment statements of the main themes.
The Beacons was first performed by IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band (James Scott) at the ‘Concert of the Century’, celebrating the Centenary of the British Bandsman, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 5 September 1987."
Categories: SUMMER 2020 SALE TITLES, TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Ray Stedman- Allen
Grab a bargain - normal selling price £50.00 - SALE PRICE £20.00
Previously set as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Click on "MORE DETAILS" to view the Solo Cornet part.
"For centuries hilltop beacon fires blazed across the land signals of important happenings or warnings of invasion. This music tells no specific story but the titles of the four thematically related sections are a guide to the idea: The Beacons; Far Horizons; The Invaders; Celebration.
The first movement has something of the character of the march and the fanfare; spirited and tightly driving, it promises most of the thematic material of the work. The second is largelt tranquil and is thinly scores with solo passages. The third has the most dramatic potential; its energy and conflict subsides to a lament and a tolling bell before a vigorous rounding off. Appropriately, the fourth movement is in a merry-making mood, and the jubilant music concludes with fragment statements of the main themes.
The Beacons was first performed by IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band (James Scott) at the ‘Concert of the Century’, celebrating the Centenary of the British Bandsman, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 5 September 1987."
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Stephen Bulla
Set as the Fourth Section Test Piece for the 2019 National Finals of the British Brass Band Championships.
Grade: 3.0
Duration: 11:10
In this beautiful composition, melodic fragments of the hymn tune Beecher are morphed into a series of variations, showing the melody in various moods from expressive, then quiet and soft, to bright and triumphant in the end. Written as a test piece in the 4th division for the Dutch Brass Band Championships in 2015, the music features challenging solo parts for cornet, soprano cornet, flugelhorn and euphonium. A great work for the concert stage!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Stephen Bulla
Set as the Fourth Section Test Piece for the 2019 National Finals of the British Brass Band Championships.
Grade: 3.0
Duration: 11:10
In this beautiful composition, melodic fragments of the hymn tune Beecher are morphed into a series of variations, showing the melody in various moods from expressive, then quiet and soft, to bright and triumphant in the end. Written as a test piece in the 4th division for the Dutch Brass Band Championships in 2015, the music features challenging solo parts for cornet, soprano cornet, flugelhorn and euphonium. A great work for the concert stage!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Rieks van der Velde
Duration: 8:20
Difficulty: A/B
(Latin translation for THE DUTCH REVOLT)
'The Dutch Revolt' (1566-1588) is in the modern historiography the name for what is called 'The Eighty Year's War' in The Netherlands. The name 'The Dutch Revolt ' is mainly referring to the early years of 'The Eighty Year's War'. In this time is the novel 'Hotse Hiddes' by Sibe of Aangium situated. This story was the source of inspiration for composer Rieks van der Velde for this composition.
'Hotse Hiddes'
Friesland, 1567: Hotse Hiddes, a rebellious farmer's boy from Anjum, loves Wietske, a young woman who works as a maid on the stately farm The Prinsenhof. Although the farmer and his wife are strict Roman Catholic, Wietske chooses to become a follower of what was called the 'the heretical doctrine'. One of the servants finds a bible in her room and betrays her to the chaplain. Wietske is captured and is looking forward to a sad fate, although Hotse is doing everything possible to liberate her. Hotse is filled with desire for revenge. He is the leader of a gang of rebels who fights the enemy -Spaniards, monks and priests- to fire and sword. That he also makes innocent victims, doesn't bother the indifferent Hotse. He is notorious in Friesland and surroundings. After he is seriously injured in combat, Hotse is nursed in the house of an old miller and his wife. This is where he discovered the terrible consequences of the cruel robberies and looting of his gang. It is a quite different Hotse who leaves the miller's cottage, to log on to the army of William of Orange.
This composition is written in command of the Dutch 'National Youth Fanfare Orchestra', on the occasion of the 50-year anniversary (1959-2009) of this Orchestra. In this composition is made use of the 'Piebe Bakker motif'. The motif is a musical translation of the words 'Piebe, Piebe, Bakker' and comes from the work 'In Memoriam Piebe Bakker ' by Rob Goorhuis. The composers who wrote a composition in the 2009 jubilee year for the 'National Youth Fanfare Orchestra' have all used this motive as a connecting link between the various anniversary-compositions.
This publisher grades difficulty as follows:
A = Very Easy B = Easy C = Medium D = Difficult E = Very Difficult
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