Benjamin Britten composed his Occasional Overture Op.38 for the opening of the BBC Third Programme on 29th September 1946 when it was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult. It was not heard again until 1982 when the composer’s Executors decided that it should be revived. Given the dominance of brass and woodwind in this concise but exciting work versions for brass band and wind band have been prepared for Britten’s centenary year. Brass Band Grade 6: Championship. Duration: 8 Minutes.

Haexdonck a été composé à la demande de la commune de Kapelle-op-den-Bos à l?occasiondu 150e anniversaire de Kanunnik Jaak Muyldermans. Il s?agit de l?ancienne orthographede l?actuel quartier ?Oxdonk? dans lequel il a vécu. Dans cette oeuvre tripartite le compositeur décrit les différentes facettes humaines de l?opulente vie de Muyldermans. La première partie lente et r?veuse décrit l?écrivain/le poète. La deuxième partie dissonante riche en percussions raconte son époque d?aumônier militaire pendant la première guerre mondiale. La troisième partie hymnique décrit son époque de pr?tre.Cette oeuvre du nouvel arrivant Guido De Ranter se pr?te bien à un concours ou unconcert.

Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen?s (1964) way of composing can be described as: uncompromising wilful and contemporary. It is not surprising therefore that this occasionally causes a stir. In the middle of the Seventies a trend arose in youth culture which was characterized by provocation distrust of the great ideologies and the autonomy of the individual. Punk is playful aggressive often humorous and anti-everything which inevitably leads to self-irony. The first part of Aagaard-Nielsen?s composition (Introduction) is a texture based mainly on one short theme. This pompous theme breathes a spirit of cold empty plains where icy winds sigh around yourhead. In the vehement Punk (Presto barbaro!) there is no longer any question of a theme. The basis for this part is formed by a repetitive motif (a descending minor third). This motif is alternated with very powerful percussion beats and later on shrill harmonies. De wijze van componeren van Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen (1964) laat zich omschrijven als: compromisloos eigenzinnig en eigentijds. Niet verwonderlijk dat dit af en toe wat stof doet opwaaien. Midden zeventiger jaren ontstaat er een stroming binnen de jongerencultuur die provocatie wantrouwen tegen de grote ideologieën en de autonomie van het individu centraal stelt. Punk is speels agressief veelal humoristisch en anti-alles wat onvermijdelijk leidt tot zelfspot. Het eerste deel (Introduction) is een weefsel gebaseerd op voornamelijk één kort thema. Het pompeuze thema ademt de sfeer van kille lege vlakten waar de ijzige wind je om de oren suist. Tijdens de ?heftige? Punk (Presto barbaro!) is van een thema geen sprake meer. De basis voor dit deel is een steeds herhalend motief (dalende kleine terts). Dit motief wordt afgewisseld met zeer krachtige percussie slagen en later schrille samenklanken. Dit alles zorgt voor een bombastisch geheel. Aan het slot van de Punk horen we het intoductie-thema tussen het punkgeweld door terugkomen.

Tarik O’Regan's The Night's Untruth for SATB chorus Brass ensemble and Organ is a co-commission celebrating the 10th anniversary of JAM (The John Armitage Memorial Trust) and the 40th anniversary of VocalEssence. 'The Night’s Untruth explores the use of sleep as metaphor by dint of excerpts from poems written in the 17th to 20th centuries. Death love fear ecstasy isolation dreaming and rest are all textual “variations” on the “theme” of sleep and can be found in the chosen texts. The work’s title is taken from a line in a poem by Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) and speaks tothe composition’s focus on sleep as a parallel possibly dystopian existence to the one experienced in our waking hours.' - Tarik O’Regan March 2010 Scored for brass quintet organ and SATB choir with (minor) divisi and occasional moderately demanding solos for tenor and soprano this evocative 16-minute work probes the mystery of sleep with texts from poems by Keats Samuel Daniel Shakespeare and Hart Crane: 'death love fear ecstasy isolation dreaming and rest' are the themes O'Regan explores through these texts in a work as episodic as a disturbed night with the title creating a 'focus in sleep as a parallel possibly dystopian existence'. - Organists' Review

Written for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of-John Williams has written ceremonial music for many major events and ceremonies but of all these occasional pieces Summon the Heroes is the most elaborate and musically complex. It was composed for the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and performed at the opening ceremony. As with all of John Williams’s ceremonial compositions this work makes an ideal brass band work that will bring the house down as a concert opener.

There are people who are capable of planning well. They live their lives in a well-structured manner and know exactly what they have to do. On the other hand there are also people who are the exact opposite: they want to do too many things at once and are often somewhat absent-minded which occasionally results in frantic situations. The outcome of one such situation is ‘They are coming’. John Emerson Blackstone had been working on a new composition for some time when he received a telephone call from his editor who told him that the deadline was approaching rapidly even worse that it would expire at the end of that same day and that he would drop by in person to fetch thecomposition! Blackstone set to work in a frenzy and completed the last details. When his editor arrived the piece was finished ..... and got its definitive title: ‘They are coming’.

Written for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of-John Williams has written ceremonial music for many major events and ceremonies but of all these occasional pieces Summon the Heroes is the most elaborate and musically complex. It was composed for the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and performed at the opening ceremony. As with all of John Williams’ ceremonial compositions this work makes an ideal Brass Band work that will bring the house down as a concert opener.

Carl Wittrock composed La Viuda Negra (The Black Widow) for the Dutch Brass Band Championships (2010). A Spanish tinged composition filled with drama and emotion. La Viuda Negra is a Spanish widow dressed in black clothes. Her face is marked by traces of sorrow but her speaking eyes and sanguineous appearance attracts the attention of everyone. Many man's heart should beat faster! What is the story of this mysterious woman? The black widow (Latrodectus Mactan) is also the nickname of a spider. This spider is well known for the distinctive black and red coloring of the female of the species and for the fact that she will occasionally eat her mateafter reproduction.