World of Brass mailing - February 2008
February is for many brass bands in the UK a month of intensive rehearsal and extra home practice as preparations are made for the eight Regional contests in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Sales of our Regionals 2008 recording have been particularly strong and many of you have taken the opportunity to buy it, or individual tracks from it, from our World of Brass Tunes download store. In fact, it’s our best-selling downloaded album to date.
As world-wide distributors for Prima Vista Musikk we have been delighted to have had the responsibility of delivering the test pieces for the 3rd and 4th sections; The Dark Side of the Moon (Paul Lovatt-Cooper) and Four Cities Symphony (Rodney Newton). The Prima Vista Musikk catalogue contains many other works by these composers and that number has been added to recently with the publication of some new titles.
The Pilgrim’s Progress (Rodney Newton) was written for The International Staff Band who recorded it on their 2007 offering, Supremacy, and are currently featuring it in their Saturday evening concert programme while the composer has now produced a brass band accompaniment version of his popular solo for tenor horn, Tenor Toccata. Also for tenor horn and brass band is a technically demanding new solo by Paul Lovatt-Cooper called The Spellbinding Jewel which provides a welcome addition to the serious repertoire for the instrument.
A new CD from Black Dyke Band always provokes a lot of interest and Music for Battle Creek is already selling well. Featuring the music of Philip Sparke, the recording includes first studio recordings of his two most recent test pieces; Music for Battle Creek and Dances and Alleluias.
Last month, we told you about the latest solo CD from tuba impresario Oystein Baadsvik. It seems solo tuba CDs are like the old joke about London buses (you wait ages for one then three arrive together!) as this month we have recordings featuring Leslie Neish and Steve Sykes. Leslie Neish has been making a big impression recently with live solo performances of the highest order. Last year he teamed up with his old college friend Jonathan Corry to feature as soloist with Fuoco Brass on their second CD, Badinage. Steve Sykes has a huge presence in the brass band scene and his second solo CD, Basso Bravissimo! has been eagerly anticipated. Both Les and Steve demonstrate just what is possible on the tuba but, more than that, display a high level musical artistry in spite of the obstacles of the instrument.
Arguably an even more unsung solo instrument is the baritone. Baritones to the Fore! seeks to do something about that and Brass Band of Columbus enlisted the help of three British stars of the instrument (Katrina Marzella, Helen Tyler and Rob Richardson) plus their own Diana Herak in what must be the first ever solo baritone album. Look out for Katrina’s own solo album, with Leyland Band, later in the year.
World of Brass Radio continues to receive favourable comment from listeners around the world and has built up a dedicated and loyal audience since its launch just over a year ago. A new programme is added every Friday and you can also catch up on the previous three programmes if you happen to miss any of them. To listen to John Maines presenting World of Brass Radio follow the link on the World of Brass home page or save this link to your favourites; www.worldofbrass.com/wobradio.
Written by Ian McKenzie on February 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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