Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Edward Gregson
Set as the First Section Test Piece for the 2020 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Duration 10.30
Previously set as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Programme Note Connotations for Brass Band is really a series of linked and inter.related variations on an original theme. Certain motifs re-occur throughout the composition.
The scheme of the work is as follows Introduction (Variation 1) Theme Variation 2 lively, repeated note semiquavers passed around the band. Variation 3 The semiquavers of the previous variation are extended into an accompanying figure, with muted comets above, later answered by horns. Variation 4 — slow and lyrical in style; the longest variation. Variation 5 — in time; highly rhythmic with frequent time changes and synco patterns. Variation 6 — Cadenzas for cornet, horn and euphonium. Variation 7 — a lively scherzando leading into — Variation 8 — a fugato, announced by horns, based on the first phrase of the theme. Variation 9 a majestic re-statement of the theme. Coda — based on the material of the introduction which is itself a variation of the theme. Edward Gregson.
2 Percussionists are essential in this work. The instruments required are as follows :— Percussion i
Categories: TEST PIECES (Major Works), 2022 REGIONAL TEST PIECES Composer: Wilfred Heaton Difficulty level: Championship Set as the Championship Section test piece for the 2022 Regional Championships of the British Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Set as one of three Championship Section Test Pieces for the 2018 Butlins Mineworkers Brass Band Contest.
Previously set as a Championship Section Testpiece.
Categories: TEST PIECES (Major Works), SUMMER 2020 SALE TITLES Composer / arranger: Jan De Haan
Normally £63.00 - now only £56.95 in our Spring Sale
Set as a 3rd. Section testpiece in 1986
In two movements : 1. Ostinato 2. Fantasia
The source of inspiration for the composer was the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in Russia. The first movement Ostinato expresses desperation, helplessness, fear and anger. The themes from the first movement are further exposed in the second movement Fantasia which has a spectacular finale. In 1989 this composition was the test-piece for the finals in the fourth section of the National Brassband Championships of Great Britain.
Categories: NEW & RECENT Publications, TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Christopher Bond
Premiered by Cory Band at the 2018 Festival of Brass, Manchester. Selected as the set-work for the Championship Section at the 2019 National Youth Championships of Great Britain.
Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall. The first of the legendary rulers of Cornwall, he is described as a character of strength and power. It is on the medieval ruler that this new work, Corineus, is based, presented in three contrasting sections.
The work opens with heraldic fanfares and a sense of jubilance before presenting musical material which changes and develops organically, portraying the journey taken by Corineus, Brutus, and the Trojans from modern-day mainland Europe to Britain. The central section of the work is slower, creating a feeling of longing. Brutus’ son, Locrinus, had agreed to marry Corineus’ daughter, Gwendolen, but instead fell in love with a German princess.
In writing this part of the work, the composer portrays the longing of Gwendolen for her husband, knowing he is in love with somebody else. After Corineus died, Locrinus divorced Gwendolen, who responded by raising an army in Cornwall and making war against her ex-husband. Locrinus was killed in battle, and legend suggests that Gwendolen threw Locrinus’ lover into the River Severn. This dramatic battle provides the inspiration for the final part of the work. In writing this work, the composer hopes to flare the imagination of young brass players around the country, in an engaging new take on a firm fixture in British folklore.
Categories: NEW & RECENT Publications, TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Christopher Bond
Premiered by Cory Band at the 2018 Festival of Brass, Manchester. Selected as the set-work for the Championship Section at the 2019 National Youth Championships of Great Britain.
Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall. The first of the legendary rulers of Cornwall, he is described as a character of strength and power. It is on the medieval ruler that this new work, Corineus, is based, presented in three contrasting sections.
The work opens with heraldic fanfares and a sense of jubilance before presenting musical material which changes and develops organically, portraying the journey taken by Corineus, Brutus, and the Trojans from modern-day mainland Europe to Britain. The central section of the work is slower, creating a feeling of longing. Brutus’ son, Locrinus, had agreed to marry Corineus’ daughter, Gwendolen, but instead fell in love with a German princess.
In writing this part of the work, the composer portrays the longing of Gwendolen for her husband, knowing he is in love with somebody else. After Corineus died, Locrinus divorced Gwendolen, who responded by raising an army in Cornwall and making war against her ex-husband. Locrinus was killed in battle, and legend suggests that Gwendolen threw Locrinus’ lover into the River Severn. This dramatic battle provides the inspiration for the final part of the work. In writing this work, the composer hopes to flare the imagination of young brass players around the country, in an engaging new take on a firm fixture in British folklore.
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