Light concert music from Bernaerts, Chandos, DeHaske, Faber, Gramercy, Howard Snell, Kirklees, Lake Music, Novello, Obrasso, R Smith, Salvation Army, Studio Music, Windwood Music, Wright & Round and many, many more.
Category: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer: Claude Debussy
Duration: 1:30 minutes
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Lear descends into madness bringing tragic consequences for all. Based on a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors. Its first known performance was in 1607, George Bernard Shaw wrote, "No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear". Originally orchestrated for 2 flutes, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, side drum, 2 harps, and strings, Debussy wrote five minutes of incidental music for a production of King Lear, produced at the Theatre Mogador Paris in 1904. Arranged by Duncan Wilson.
Percussion: 2 Players playing timpani, side drum and suspended cymbal
Category: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer: Rodney Newton
This short concert overture was written for Robert Childs and the Cory Band as part of the composer’s contribution to the Brass Band Aid project. It is based on Sir Henry Rider Haggard’s African adventure story of the hunter Alan Quatermain and his companions, and their search for the fabled lost diamond mines of King Solomon, in which they are aided by a local tribesman and obstructed by an evil witch doctor.
The music is firmly planted in John Williams’ Indiana Jones territory but, before anyone accuses him of plagiarism, the composer would like to point out that, since all the Indiana Jones films owe a huge debt fo the romances of Rider Haggard, the wheel has turned the full circle and he is utterly unrepentant ! Rodney Newton
The premiere recording of King Solomon’s Mines is featured on the Cory Band release Enter the Galaxies! (DOYCD264) and is available on the CD section of this website. Duration c. 5:00”
Category: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Arranger: John Blanken
This lively work includes a’jazzed—up’version of the Dutch national anthem! Many jazz elements help this arrangement fly by like a whirlwind. Let your band simply swing with this fun piece.
Categories: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC, SALVATIONIST MUSIC Composer: Eric Ball
Salvation Army Tone Poem - duration 8.35.
This landmark composition written in 1962 is perhaps the most universally known Eric Ball classic. With its magnificent finale treatment of the hymn tune 'Helmsley,' this is ideal concert repertoire.
If you enjoyed listening to this extract and want to hear the full recording, you can buy the CD on this website in the CD Section. The CD is "PATRONS CHOICE II" Fodens Band conducted by Michael Fowles.
Category: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer: Philip Sparke
Duration 4.45
Klezmer music originated in the ‘shtetl’ (villages) and the ghettos of Eastern Europe, where itinerant Jewish troubadours, known as ‘klezmorim' had performed at celebrations, particularly weddings, since the early Middle Ages.
‘Klezmer’ is a Yiddish term combining the Hebrew words ‘kley’ (instrument) and ‘zemer’ (song) and the roots of the style are found in secular melodies, popular dances, Jewish ‘hazanut’ (cantorial music) and also the ‘nigunim’, the wordless melodies intoned by the ‘Hasidim’ (orthodox Jews).
Since the 16th century, lyrics had been added to klezmer music, due to the ‘badkhn’ (the master of ceremony at weddings), to the ‘Purimshpil’ (the play of Esther at Purim) and to traditions of the Yiddish theatre, but the term gradually became synonymous with instrumental music, particularly featuring the violin and clarinet.
A Klezmer Karnival uses three traditional tunes:
1. Choson kale mazel tov (measure 7) — a wedding dance wishing good luck to the bride and groom
2. Freylekh (measure 40) — a Jewish circle dance, later commercialized as ‘A Night in Paradise’
3. Sherele (measure 74) — literally little scissors dance’, this is a German shepherd’s dance. Like Freylekh, Sherele is again a type of dance rather than a specific title.
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