Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Mario Burki
Grade 5
Duration 21:00
This publisher rates grade difficulty as follows:
1 = very easy 2 = easy 3 = easy/medium 4 = medium/difficult 5 = difficult 6 = very difficult
The History of Hannibal : The story behind the music !
Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, was born in 248 BC. His father commanded the Carthaginian land forces during the later stages of the First Punic War. He kept his army intact and led a successful guerrilla war against the Romans in Sicily.
As soon as he was old enough, Hannibal joined his father's army in the invasion of Hispania. Hamilcar Barca died in battle in 228 BC.
Hannibal's brother-in-law Hasdrubal the Fair succeeded to his command of the army with Hannibal serving as an officer under him. Hasdrubal signed a treaty with the Romans where Carthage promised not to expand north of the Ebro River. Hasdrubal also endeavored to consolidate Carthaginian power through diplomatic relationships with native tribes. This included arranging the marriage between Hannibal and an Iberian princess named Imilce. Hasdrubal the Fair was assassinated by a Celtic assassin in 221 BC.
Hannibal was now proclaimed commander-in-chief by the army. In 218 BC Carthage decided to hit back. Defeated at sea, the Carthaginians decided this time to attack Italy by land from their base in Hispania. Hannibal led an army made up of 30,000 Spanish infantrymen, 9,000 African cavalry and a team of elephants. To attack Rome from Hispania meant that Hannibal had to take his soldiers and animals over the snow-covered Alps.The Romans did not believe it was possible and were taken by surprise. However, the journey had taken its toll and by the time Hannibal reached Italy, he only had 26,000 men left alive.
The firstbattle between the two sides took place at Trebia. Although they had many more men, the Romans were heavily defeated by the Carthaginians. One of the reasons for this was that the Romans had trouble coping with Hannibal's elephants. The elephants were used at the front of the Carthaginian forces (similar to the way tanks were used in the First World War). Because of the elephants' size and trumpeting, the Romans had great difficultyin persuading their horses to charge Hannibal's forces.The Romans tried several different tactics against elephants. They were extremely difficultto kill, so the main aim was to make them panic and run amok amongst the Carthaginians. They tried to do this by killing their driver or by stabbing them with javelins in the soft skin under the tail. The Romans also discovered that elephants were frightened of the sound of squealing pigs. Therefore pigs were covered in tar, set alight and let loose amongst the elephants.
The Carthaginians attempted to counteract this tactic by giving wine to the elephants before battle and stabling them with pigs so that they would get used to the squealing. Although Hannibal's elephants survived the Battle of Trebia, most of them died soon afterwards from the cold weather. However, the lack of elephants did not stop Hannibal inflictinga series of defeats on the Romans. The most important of these was at Cannae where over 50,000 Roman soldiers were killed and a further 19,000 were captured. Hannibal, on the other hand, lost less than 6,000 men.Even though they suffered these losses, the Romans refused to surrender. As Hannibal was never strong enough to attack Rome itself, he failed to obtain a total victory over the enemy.
The Roman Senate responded to these military reverses by ordering an attack on Carthaginian held Spain. This was a success, and Scipio Africanus, who organised the campaign, became a national hero. Scipio now started to plan an attack on Carthage, and Hannibal was forced to abandon the territory he controlled in Italy in order to defend his homeland. Scipio and his troops landed in Africa in 204 BC. Instead of attacking Carthage, Scipio visited King Masinissa of Numidia, whose cavalry had played such an important part in Hannibal's victories over the Romans. In exchange for promises of Carthaginian territory, King Masinissa agreed to join forces with Scipio.
The Battle of Zama took place in 202 BC. Hannibal had 40,000 men and 80 elephants while Scipio had 25,000 Romans and 11,000 Numidians. Hannibal started the battle by ordering an elephant charge. However, the Romans had learnt by bitter experience how to deal with elephants. Instead of pigs they now used men blowing trumpets. The noise frightened the elephants and many of them turned and stampeded, trampling to death large numbers of Carthaginians. Hannibal's troops were scattered and they were gradually hunted down by the Numidian cavalry.
The Romans were extremely harsh on the defeated Carthaginians. All but ten of their ships were destroyed, vast amounts of money had to be handed over and all overseas territories had to be abandoned. Carthage also had to promise that in future it would gain permission from Rome before forming alliances or going to war with other countries.
Hannibal now decided to become a politician and he was elected as suffete, or chief magistrate. He reformed the way Carthage was governed, stipulating that membership of the Hundred and Four be chosen by direct election rather than co-option. He also changed the term of office from life to a year with a term limit of two years.
The Romans became concerned by Hannibal's growing power and in 195 BC they demanded he retired from office. Hannibal moved to Ephesus, where he met Antiochus III of Syria and later became his military adviser. In 190 BC Hannibal was placed in command of a Seleucid fleetbut was defeated in a battle off the Eurymedon River. He fled to Crete, before seeking refuge with King Prusias I of Bithynia, who was engaged in warfare with Rome's ally, King Eumenes II of Pergamon. Hannibal went on to serve the Bithynians in this war. The Romans became concerned about Hannibal's naval victories and demanded that Prusias I hand him over.
Hannibal was determined not to fall into his enemies hands and at Libyssa he took poison.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Jan De Haan
Grade 5.0 Duration 13.03
Harmony Festival is Jan de Haan’s expression of his great respect for the composer of composers, Johann Sebastian Bach. He has used the four note names which form the name of this composer as the basis of this piece. This four note motif provides us with the most beautiful and unexpected chord combinations creating a ‘festival of harmonies’!
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Philip Sparke Difficulty level: Championship
Duration approx. 13.00
This is the Championship Section test Piece for the 2013 Regional Events of the British Brass Band Championships.
The title is both a play on the German "Harmoniemusik" with all its associations with bands in general as well as a reference to the overall tonal harmonic language of the piece.
Commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals Ltd. for the Championship Section finals of the National Brass Band Championships held in the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1987.
14.23
You can both listen to four extracts of this work and view an image of the Solo Cornet part on your computer, by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button on the right - this will reveal the audio extracts and the PDF image for you to sample.
You can buy a full performance CD of this work and the other four Region Test Pieces on this site. The CD is called "REGIONALS 2013" - type this into the CD QUICK SEARCH to find.
mp3 example 1 - A long unison crescendo opens the work which the basses and trombones repeatedly interrupt to introduce a cornet fanfare, leading to a chorale tune which builds from the lower half of the band to a huge climax.
There is a brief hint of faster music to come until a solo euph. takes centre stage with a high and haunting cadenza which leads to the main molto vivace.
mp3 example 2 - This is a fast and furious gallop which reaches a series of crashing chords and gradually subsides into a slower section which is the emotional heart of the work.
mp3 example 3. This central section takes the form of a homage to the French composer Maurice Ravel and includes cadenzas for cornet & horn.
mp3 example 4. The opening of the piece returns and leads back to an abbreviated recapitulation of the Vivace. As the work appears to be hurtling towards a close, the trombones and soprano cornet introduce a brief moment of chaos before the final Presto takes over and brings this superb "test" and piece of music to an end in a flurry of notes.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer / arranger: Philip Sparke Difficulty level: Championship
This is the Championship Section Test Piece for the 2013 Regional Events of the British Brass Band Championships.
HARMONY MUSIC opens quietly with a long unison crescendo, intermpted by upward rushes from the basses and trombones which introduce a fanfare-like passage from the comets. A sonorous chorale follows which builds from the lower half of the band to a tutti climax.
There is a brief hint of faster music to come but this fails to dispel a high, haunting euphonium solo before the main Molto Vivace anives. This is a fast and furious gallop with a certain French flavour. A climax is reached and the music subsides into a slower, central section (in the form of a homage to Maurice Ravel) which incorporates two accompanied cadenzas for comet and horn.
The opening of the piece returns and this leads us back to a shortened recapitulation of the Vivace. Just as the piece seems to be hurtling to a close, the trombones and soprano introduce a brief moment of chaos before a presto Coda asserts itself.
The title is both a play on the German Harmoniesmusik with all its associations with bands in general as well as a reference to the overall tonal harmonic language of the piece.
This work was commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals Ltd. for the 1987 Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Peter Graham
Set as the Championship Section Testpiece for the National Finals in the Albert Hall, London - October 2000.
Also selected for the 4th. Section of the 2009 Butlins Mineworkers Open Brass Band Festival. Short Score also available. Duration 15.13
You can both listen to three extracts of this work and view an image of the Solo Cornet part on your computer, by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button on the right - this will reveal the audio extracts and the PDF image 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 CD is "NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL BRASS Volume 3 2004 - 2005"
COMPOSER’S NOTE At 8.OOpm on the 22nd of October 1707, the Association, flagship of the Royal Navy, struck rocks off the Scilly Isles with the loss of the entire crew. Throughout the rest of the evening the remaining three ships in the fleet suffered the same fate. Only 26 of the original 1,647 crew members survived. This disaster was a direct result of an inability to calculate longitude, the most pressing scientific problem of the time. It pushed the longitude question to the forefront of the national consciousness and precipitated the Longitude Act. Parliament funded a prize of £20,000 to anyone whose method or device would solve the dilemma.
For carpenter and self-taught clockmaker John Harrison, this was the beginning of a 40 year obsession. To calculate longitude it is necessary to know the time aboard ship and at the home port or place of known longitude, at precisely the same moment. Harrison’s dream was to build a clock so accurate that this calculation could be made, an audacious feat of engineering.
This work reflects on aspects of this epic tale, brilliantly brought to life in Dava Sobel’s book Longitude. Much of the music is mechanistic in tone and is constructed along precise mathematical and metrical lines. The heart of the work however is human - the attraction of the £20,000 prize is often cited as Harrison’s motivation. However, the realisation that countless lives depended on a solution was one which haunted Harrison. The emotional core of the music reflects on this, and in particular the evening of 22nd October 1707.
Commissioned by the US Air Force Band - Washington DC
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works) Composer: Paul Mealor
'I saw the Weaver of Dreams, an immortal shape of star-eyed Silence; and the Weaver of Eath, a lovely Dusk with a heart of hidden flame; and each wove with the shuttles of beauty and Wonder and myster… Come unto me, O Lovely Dusk, though that has the heart of hidden flame.'
Fiona MacLeonad, 'The silence of Amor'.
This work is written for standard brass band instrumentaion plus timpani and two percussionists. Duration: 15:00. Please see PDF score sample for composer notes.
Categories: TEST PIECES (Major Works), LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer / arranger: Andrew Duncan
A colourful and light-hearted musical journey through the evocative Scottish islands, Andrew Duncan’s A Hebridean Suite is in four concise movements: Stornaway, The Old Shepherdess and the Norse Maiden’s Spirit, Mouth Music and Ceilidh-Rondo. It is suitable both as a concert suite for more advanced adult and youth bands and has also been used as a test piece in the First Section at the 2010 Butlins Mineworkers Open Championship.
Brass Band Grade 5: 1st Section
Duration: 11 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: Gareth Wood
Difficulty: Very difficult Duration: 10:30
I first went to Switzerland in the early 1970's and regularly played at the Lucerne Festival with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It is a beautiful city, one of my favourite European cities.
In writing Helvetia (the Roman name for Switzerland) I wanted to encapsulate the moods that remind me of this wonderful place. The work is in four distinct sections and is on the whole, self-explanatory.
It opens with An Alpine Dawn and sunrise, the tubas and euphoniums substituting for the Swiss Alphorns. Next The Clock Shop at Mid-day, a loud ticking, chiming and the sad sound of a cuckoo, builds into the cacophony of the mid-day chimes. The third section is A Walk to Wagner's House. Just along the lake from the centre of town is Tribschen. This walk I have done many times, and it is here that Wagner wrote ‘Tristan'. I have quoted the Dresden Amen (written by J.G. Naumann) which is much used in Parsifal. The final section is The Cesta Run, the most famous bob-sleigh run in the world. As we take each corner, the feeling of speed is demonstrated as only a brass band can do!
The work is dedicated to the Cory Band and also to the memory of James Watson, a great cornet player, trumpeter and conductor. It was he who got me into writing for brass band and I hope this piece is worthy.
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