Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Hermann Pallhuber
Grade 5.0 Duration: 07:50
A Fanfare of Bells is festival music composed for a particular occasion: in 2012 the young 3BA Brass Band from Germany took part in the champion section of the Flemish Open Brass Band Championship in Mechelen, Belgium, for the first time: a festival of premieres. A Fanfare of Bells, accordingly, is music that creates festival atmosphere. Big melodies designed to touch the heart are cut through with brilliant fanfares. The piece contains lyrical and melodic passages that bring the skills and general musicianship of the 3BA Brass Band to the fore, along with various technical passages that spotlight the excellence of the individual musicians. Peels of bells at the start and end of the work ring in a new atmosphere for brass band music in Germany and Austria. A Fanfare of Bells is, however, also a tribute to the wonderful sound of brass instruments, that blend together to create the most subtle sonorities: bells as a symbol of the beauty of the instruments—both sonically and visually: let the bells ring...
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Philip Sparke Difficulty level: Championship
Duration 14.00
This work has been set as the Championship Section Test Piece for the 2020 Regional Brass Band Championships.
Set as the Championship Section Test Piece for the Butlins Mineworkers Contest 2013.
Click on MORE DETAILS to view the Solo Cornet part.
A Tale as yet Untold was specially commissioned by the Cory Band for the European Brass Band Championships in Linz, Austria, 2010, and their winning performance gave them a hat-trick of victories at the competition. The commission brought the composer full circle and completes and long relationship with this remarkable band from Wales, who commissioned one of the composer’s first major works for band, The year of the Dragon, to celebrate their centenary in 1984.
The theme of the work, which is set in three movements, is one that recurs again and again throughout the music of Philip Sparke — specifically a series of works for concert band: the Trombone Concerto, Deserts, When the Spirit Soars and Spirit of the Sequoia — which take as their subject the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity and how the beauty of music can help in this respect.
The ‘tale’ of the title is an autobiographical one which the composer feels need not be divulged to explain the programme of the music, which deals with a much more general human condition. The first movement opens with a nervous repetitive figure in the comets, under which an impassioned theme develops. This is cut short by a closely related faster section which comprises two alternating moods: an aggressive ‘toccata’ interspersed by a yearning 6/8 melody. The second movement is the heart of the work and symbolises the ability of the human soul to overcome the ‘Sturm und Drang’ of the first movement with an indomitable sense of optimism. The third movement tries to negate this feeling of peace but ends triumphantly in a salute to the power of the human spirit.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gareth Wood
Duration: 12:00 Difficulty: Difficult
A Tear in the Fabric of Time is essentially a symphony for brass band and was inspired by the book The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, which attempts to simplify complex ideas in modern physics for the layperson. This piece was dedicated to and written for the Buy As You View Band but was first performed by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, conducted by Robert Childs in Summer 2006. The work is featured by the Cory Band on their recording The Promised Land (DOYCD218).
A brassy, fanfare like introduction provides much of the material for the rest of the work.
This leads into a dramatic 'Allegro' driving forward with brittle motives and stabbing chords. A euphonium melody accompanied by divided basses attempts to mellow the mood, but is unsuccessful as the music drives ruthlessly on! The centre of the work is a choral like Adagio; maybe the blackness of space or the darkness of human nature. A short episode leads into a 'Presto' which is a reworking of the first 'Allegro' relentlessly careering to a violent end! [Gareth Wood, 2006]
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Kevin Houben
Duration 14:15 Grade 5.5
In the New Testament Book of Revelation, an angel called Abaddon is written as the king of an army of locusts. A highly challenging contest work.
Abaddon was commissioned by the NLBB (Noord-Limburgse Brassband – North Limburg Brass Band) from Belgium. Abaddon is the demon reigning over the underworld. In the New Testament – in the Book of Revelation by John (9:11) – he is called the angel of the bottomless pit.
The work Abaddon lives up to its name. Technically and physically, it holds an enormous challenge for every band in the champions division. The composition has a traditional form structure (fast–slow–fast), and it consists of ornamentations around the letters IVAN, after Ivan Meylemans, the conductor who since 2001 has obtained great successes with the NLBB, and who in this case has also been essential in taming the demon in Abaddon.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: T.Aagaard Nilsen Difficulty level: First, Second
Set as the Second Section Test Piece for the 2000 National Finals in the Albert Hall. Three movement suite
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen Difficulty level: First, Second
Set as the first section testpiece for the 2000 National Finals in the Royal Albert Hall.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: T.Aagaard Nilsen Difficulty level: First
Set as the Second Section Test Piece for the 2000 National Finals in the Albert Hall. Three movement suite (i) Aura Borealis (ii) Rocks (iii) Seascape.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Johannes Brahms Arranger: D. Wright
Set as the 2nd. Section Test piece for the National Finals of the 2012 British Brass Band Championships.
Set as one of two Second Section test pieces for the 2019 Butlins Mineworkers Contest.
Duration 9.44
You can listen to an extract of this work on your computer, by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button on the right - this will reveal the audio extract(s) and an image of the Solo Cornet part for you to sample.
If you enjoyed listening to this extract, you can buy the full recording of this work on the CD section of our site. If you want to perform this work with your band, you can of course purchase the score and parts here right now, by clicking on "BUY NOW".
The recording is ESSENTIAL DYKE Vol.4, The Pondashers CD is DOY CD167
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Johannes Brahms Arranger: Denis Wright Difficulty level: Second
Set as the 2nd. Section Test piece for the National Finals of the 2012 British Brass Band Championships
Set as one of two Second Section test pieces for the 2019 Butlins Mineworkers Contest.
Previously set as a test piece in Championship & First Sections.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gareth Wood
Duration: 17:30 Difficulty: Difficult
This major work for brass band is based on the story of the Greek mythological character, Actaeon.
Artemis was bathing in the woods when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Artemis punished Actaeon: she forbade him speech and if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a stag. Upon hearing the call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and was immediately changed into a stag. His own hounds then turned upon him and tore him to pieces as they did not recognise him.
The music begins with Actaeon taunting his hounds. A slower section represents the young hunter (solo horn) leading to an up-tempo section as he rides through the forest. The central scherzo portrays a hunt. A gentle section (euphonium solo) potrays Artemis bathing under a waterfall. The music then depicts Actaeon being transformed into a stag with the final terrifying sounds of his body being torn apart!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gareth Wood
Duration: 17:30 Difficulty: Difficult
This major work for brass band is based on the story of the Greek mythological character, Actaeon.
Artemis was bathing in the woods when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Artemis punished Actaeon: she forbade him speech and if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a stag. Upon hearing the call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and was immediately changed into a stag. His own hounds then turned upon him and tore him to pieces as they did not recognise him.
The music begins with Actaeon taunting his hounds. A slower section represents the young hunter (solo horn) leading to an up-tempo section as he rides through the forest. The central scherzo portrays a hunt. A gentle section (euphonium solo) potrays Artemis bathing under a waterfall. The music then depicts Actaeon being transformed into a stag with the final terrifying sounds of his body being torn apart!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Gareth Churcher Difficulty level: First
Set as the First Section Test Piece for the Butlins Mineworkers Contest.
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