Cat No. JM31043
Price £87.95
Composer: Philip Sparke
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)
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.