The early part of this month has already seen the release of several new recordings; Highlights from the Norwegian Brass Band Championships 2008, National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2007, Trailblazers and Boscombe and Foden’s LIVE and this update brings news of several more.
May 17th saw the launch of Daystar, the 2008 recording from The International Staff Band of The Salvation Army, on the occasion of their sell-out Epic Brass II concert with Black Dyke Band. Last weekend saw the release of The Incredible Polysteel Band from the band of that name and this weekend we have available for the first time new recordings from two of the UK’s foremost Salvation Army bands; Kettering Citadel Band with Endless Praise and Boscombe Band with Sanctuary.

All of the recordings mentioned so far will be available from our music download store World of Brass Tunes in due course.

As well as our own new releases, World of Brass is always on the look-out for other recordings from around the world that we think you might be interested in. Pasadena Tabernacle Band from Los Angeles has recently completed a tour of Southern USA and we have managed to secure a quantity of their tour CD Proclamation. Chris Houlding has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as principal trombone of the Orchestra of Opera North and has recently released his first solo CD. Houlding His Own features standard trombone repertoire in the form of the sonatas of Hindemith and Sulek along with new and lesser-known repertoire for trombone alone and with piano accompaniment.

The Mill Creek Colliery Band will finish its 2007-2008 season on a high note by presenting its annual ‘Proms’ concert. The “Salute To The Proms Celebration” concert will be performed on Friday, May 9^th, 7:30 pm, at Convocation Hall (University of Alberta, Arts Building).

Edmonton’s own 28-piece, British-style brass band will present an exciting brassy salute to that venerable British musical tradition, The Last Night of the Proms. The varied program will include Riverdance (Whelan/Farr), Slaughter on 10^th Avenue (Rodgers/Smith), Russlan and Ludmilla Overture (Glinka/Snell) and Florentine March (Fucik). The band is pleased to feature as its guest soloist the renowned Canadian trumpeter/cornetist, Robert Venables, who will play Jubilance (Himes) and Caprice For Cornet (Himes). Of course, the regular Proms favourites, Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance, will be featured, and the audience can sing along with these well-loved tunes. Audience members are encouraged to bring flags, hats, etc. to help set a party atmosphere reminiscent of the Last Night of the Proms.

The band will be led by resident conductor, Dr. Malcolm Forsyth, and Dr. David Cook will be our compére.

Tickets are $17 (students/seniors $13). Special discounts are available for student groups (for special rates, call 431-2437 or email us at info@millcreekbrass.ca)

Tickets are available at the door, or in advance through TIX ON THE SQUARE [Charge-by-phone 420-1757 or on line at www.tixonthesquare.ca]

The 125th Anniversary concert on May 24th 2008, in the Great Hall at the world renowned Hamilton Place Theatre, will be a kaleidoscope of music through the ages illuminating the development of S.A. music and banding in Canada.  The evening will feature The Meadowlands Corps Band (formerly Hamilton 1, Hamilton Citadel, and Hamilton Temple) and The London Citadel Band.  This will not be your “run of the mill” band concert as we follow the development of Canadian Salvation Army Brass Banding with light hearted drama, visual presentations and music from early compositions to the latest in brass arrangements.

Joining the bands at this special concert will be Mark Ridenour who is the Assistant Principal Trumpet of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Mark is obviously a very fine player as well as a Salvationist.  He and his family are active members of the Des Plains Corps in Illinois where Mark is the bandmaster and involved in the training of young brass players.  A graduate from Asbury College with a Bachelors degree, Mark also holds a Masters degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.  He has appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Roosevelt Orchestra and other orchestras and brass bands across the United States and Canada and very much in demand as a soloist and clinician.

The evening will be more than brass only as Joe Caddy will be with us to provide flow and further insight into our brass banding heritage with his dramatic interludes.  Joe is the director of the Bill Booth Theatre company in Chicago, and was a guest this past year at our own Territorial School of Music held at Jackson’s Point.  For those of you who miss the days of “Gowans & Larson” and “Light Fingered Freddy”, Joe will give you the opportunity to become nostalgic as we celebrate so many era’s of our rich history together.

Col. Glenn Shepherd(ret.) will also join us for our weekend celebration.  The Colonel has though the years had association with both bands and has been an active bandsman throughout his officership and his father was a former Bandmaster of London Citadel Band for many years. We are delighted the Colonel has accepted the invitation to be part of this special weekend’s celebration.

File Attachment: 125_Anniversary_Final.pdf (8105 KB)

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.

Now World of Brass further embraces the digital age with perhaps our most exciting venture so far, the launch of World of Brass Tunes (www.worldofbrasstunes.com), the world’s first music download store dedicated to brass bands!

Starting with recently released titles on the Doyen and SP&S labels, the site will grow to include many recordings on these specialist labels. Recordings previously deleted from our catalogue, and no longer available on CD, will now become available once again. Of course, we will still be producing and selling CDs and DVDs for the foreseeable future and these will continue to be available at www.worldofbrass.com.

The combination of Black Dyke Band and James Morrison has proved irresistible in recent years. Earlier this year, they teamed up once again to give two more sell-out concerts. Fortunately, our cameras were present at the Bridgewater Hall concert so we can now bring you our latest DVD Black Dyke Band LIVE! We feel sure that this product will prove as popular as their previous concert recording, Black Dyke Band 150th Anniversary Concert.

Black Dyke Band principal cornet Richard Marshall leads the band with distinction. Eminence is his first solo CD with the band and is sure to follow the success of his two previous albums that he made with his previous band Grimethorpe Colliery.

Chris Thomas is the principal trombone of Cory Band and has just released his first solo CD. The Noble Trombone is a recording of mostly major works for trombone on which he is accompanied by his band and Harvey Davies on piano.

Enfield Citadel Band are currently on tour in the United States and the band’s latest recording American Anthology celebrates the compositions of four well-known North American composers.

It’s Not Unusual from The Fairey Band celebrates the compositions and arrangements of just one person, Phil Lawrence. Contrary to the title, this release is a bit out of the ordinary and well worth further investigation.
The final recording we want to tell you about is the latest in our series,

Now That’s What I Call Brass. Volume 5 sees a return to the double CD format and contains 22 of our favourite tracks from our previous twelve months releases. We’ve managed to hold the price of this compilation to £13.95 but will send you a FREE copy when you order CDs and DVDs to the value of £50 or more (not including postage).

The New Releases section of our website contains several more new and interesting recordings that we don’t have space to include in this update. They include recordings from current European Brass Band Champions Brass Band Willebroek and the principal trumpet player of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Frits Damrow.

The Mill Creek Colliery Band is pleased to kick off its 2007-08 season by presenting “Brass-A-Mania” , Sunday, November 4th, 3:00 pm, at McDougall United Church (10025 – 101 Street).

Edmonton’s own 28-piece, British-style brass band will present an exciting program, suitable for all ages. Selections will include popular favorites: Dance of the Hours (Ponchielli), March from the Pines of Rome (Respighi), Someone To Watch Over Me (Gershwin), Music (Broadbent) and True North (Norbury). Featured soloists are Ivan Mast (trombone) playing Bolívar (Cook), Chris Diaper playing the sparkling euphonium solo Brillante (Graham), and Cam Martin (soprano cornet) and Doreen Kuschminder (flugelhorn) playing the ever-popular Pie Jesu (Lloyd-Webber).

The band will be led by resident conductor, Dr. Malcolm Forsyth, and Dr. David Cook will be our compére.

This concert will also feature the release of the band’s first CD, Introducing the Mill Creek Colliery Band. Join us for this special occasion.

Tickets are $17 (students/seniors $13). Special discounts are available for student groups (for special rates, call 431-2437 or email us at info@millcreekbrass.ca)

Tickets are available at the door, or in advance through TIX ON THE SQUARE [Charge-by-phone 420-1757 or on line at www.tixonthesquare.ca]

This weekend also sees the launch of our Regionals CD of the five test pieces for next years round of UK Regional contests. The test pieces have already been announced in British Bandsman so we can now reveal the track list for Regionals 2008. The 3rd and 4th section test pieces have been published by Prima Vista Musikk and are available to purchase from World of Brass now.

Earlier this month, the magnificent Cory Band managed to end their sequence of second places at the British Open Brass Band Championship by securing victory and in the process prevented arch rivals Black Dyke Band from achieving the rare and elusive hat-trick. As if on cue, the same day saw the release of a new solo CD from the band’s conductor, Robert Childs. Appropriately called Celebration, this CD of concertos was recorded by Robert to celebrate his 50th birthday year.

Philip Cobb also celebrated a birthday recently and launched his first ever solo CD Life Abundant. Philip is a former Principal Cornet of the National Youth Brass Band and was the first person to win the coveted Harry Mortimer Soloist Prize three years in succession. Philip is now studying trumpet at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and receives tuition from Paul Beniston and Alison Balsom. We’re sure to hear much more from Philip in the years to come.

Philippe Schartz is a young trumpeter who is already firmly established in the music profession, holding the position of Principal Trumpet in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. De Lux Trumpet is his second solo CD on the Doyen label and is made up of premiere recordings of new music for trumpet and wind band.
The latest volume in our series The History of Brass Band Music is now available. This selection demonstrates the great variety of styles which have attracted the attention of arrangers over the years.
After a year’s break, the Doyen microphones were back in Delph in June to record Whit Friday Marches 2007. Included are many old favourites, played by bands like Black Dyke and Fodens, along with some less familiar marches played by Salvo Brass and MG Root Band.

Recently we reached agreement with Band Press VOF to become their only UK-based distributor. Over 50 titles are already available so we’ve added a specific Band Press category to our website. Some of the excellent compositions and arrangements are already in use, most notably by Grimethorpe Colliery Band at Brass in Concert 2006. To request a printed catalogue, send an email with your address details to worldofbrass@sp-s.co.uk

Opus 3 Music features music written and arranged by David Catherwood.

Here you will find music for brass bands, choirs and soloists - from music for young players who have only just started out on their playing career to music that has been written for and recorded by some of the finest players and greatest bands in the world.

You can be assured that any music offered on this website has been well and truly tested in diverse performing situations and will provide effective, quality items whether written for band, beginners band, full choir, children’s voices or soloists.

Opus 3 Music - The Music of David Catherwood