Band Music News

Buzzing Polka

23. junij 2023

Buzzing Polka, composed in 1993, is one of the earliest compositions by László Dubrovay (*1943) for concert band, which has become a huge success due to use of special timbres and effects which had been unexploited in the genre earlier.

Already the title tells that classical musical values and surprising moments of special brass instrument techniques can be both found in the work. Every second in the striking character piece is made interesting by the excellent balance between the pillar-like harmonies enriched by distant overtones and horizontal melody formation.

Performing Buzzing Polka is a great opportunity for conveying the message and values of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries through the contrast between classical melodies and new ways of instrumentation.

After Mozart

04. maj 2023

László Dubrovay's work, written in 2006, on the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, is a salute of a 21st-century composer to one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music.

The composer builds his original ideas on one of the best-known melodies of The Marriage of Figaro (Figaro's aria: ''Non pi? andrai, farfallone amoroso''). The series of variations on the theme of the aria is created by the involvement of special instruments, and by fully harnessing their technical abilities, while Dubrovay's hallmark of a perfect balance and peculiar compositional tone is realised on an exceptionally large orchestra.

The work is suited to illustrate the potentials of crossovers between different periods in the history of music, but it can also be played at a festive, thematic concert.

Two new titles by Árpád Balázs have been published

14. februar 2023

Kuruc Scenes
for tárogató or soprano saxophone and concert band

The composer uses melodies from the early 18th century, from the age of Rákóczi's war of independence. 

Rhapsody
for cimbalom or marimbaand concert band

Rhapsody follows the one-movement structure created by Franz Liszt. The Rhapsody is a passionately emotional lyric orchestral poem rich in colours and characters, which has a place on the repertoire of every concert band playing quality music. 

Publisherd by Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest

Two new titles for concert band

14. februar 2023

Two new titles by Árpád BALÁZS have been published in the Concert Band series. 

Árpád BALÁZS: Kuruc Scenes
for tárogató or soprano saxophone
and concert band
The composer uses melodies from the early 18th century, from the age of Rákóczi's war of independence. 

Árpád BALÁZS: Rhapsody
for cimbalom or marimba
and concert band
Rhapsody follows the one-movement structure created by Franz Liszt. The Rhapsody is a passionately emotional lyric orchestral poem rich in colours and characters, which has a place on the repertoire of every concert band playing quality music. 

Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest 

One full score as well as individual parts are provided for each work.

Music with Chequered Ears

04. marec 2014
Television viewers of nearly a hundred countries have experienced Árpád Balázs's touching melodies. The series of cartoons have neither dialogue nor text: the music presents the amiable and entertaining adventures of the rabbit with chequered ears and its friends. Balázs has rephrased and developed the well-known melodies and as a result a ''children's story symphony'' of seven movements has been created in which, in contrast with Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, there is no narrator but the instruments themselves represent the story-tellers. The composer has again associated the groups of instruments with one another in a colourful and varied manner, skilfully alternating the modes of solo, chamber orchestra and orchestra. Movements I, II, IV and VII represent a ''short suite'' that can be independently performed, thus due to its duration of four minutes and easier level, ensembles with more modest opportunities can also perform it. The most well-known parts of the cartoon series music - the main title and the ending - are included in both versions.

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