The sheet music range of A4 Brass Quartet. Available for download
Here is a modern setting of the well-known Christmas Carol 'Away in a Manger' by A4 Brass' Tenor Horn player Jonathan Bates. A slightly alternative take harmonically whilst staying true to the traditional melody.
J. B. Arban's classic variations on The Carnival of Venice gets the comedy treatment here, with the idea that the lower voices of the group never get any of the limelight! The solo part can be played on any instrument, but this arrangement was originally created for a euphonium soloist. Solo part in C (bass clef), Bb and Eb (treble).
Undoubtedly Monti's most well-known work, Czardas is one of the great technical showcases for any sloist. Here it is arranged as a technical showpiece for the whole ensemble!
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (Repton) is one of the UK's most cherished hymn tunes, with the music composed by Hubert Parry in 1888 as on aria in his oratorio 'Judith' before being set to the words of the hymn by Repton School's director of music George Stocks in 1924.
Strauss finished the score of the “Festive Music for the City of Vienna” on January 14, 1943 at his Viennese home. It was written for the Viennese Corp of Trumpeters and scored for 10 trumpets, 7 trombones (2 alto, 3 tenor, 2 bass), 2 tubas and timpani, divided into two choirs. The score is dedicated to the Vienna Town Council, officially in gratitude for having been awarded its Beethoven Prize the previous year. Strauss himself conducted the work’s premier in the Festive Hall of the Vienna Rathaus on April 9, 1943. Ten days later he made a much shorter version of the work known simply as “Vienna Fanfare.
Undoubtedly one of the most famous finales to any opera, the finale to William Tell has been used worldwide in concert halls and across the stage and screen. The perfect energetic conclusion to any programme!
Faust is a grand opera in five acts composed by Charles Gounod, with French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. This is an arrangement of the Finale, and works well as a virtuosic & technical showcase to finish a concert or recital.
An arrangement of the finale to Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A Minor Op.3 No.6, originally adapted as a Tenor Horn solo with A4 Brass but transcribed for performance on any 'high' pitched instrument in C, Bb, Eb or F.This technical yet refined solo work tests the soloists dexterity across the full range of the instrument whilst handling complex intervals at a high pace.
The 'Flower Duet' was originally composed as a Soprano and Mezzo Soprano duet from the first act of the composer's 1883 opera 'Lakme'. The work is sung by the title character as she and her father collect flowers by the river. More recently the work has been used and adapted on multiple occasions for use in television and film, perhaps notably by British Airways in the 1980's.
Grand Ritournelle is a short and playful work composed for Piano by the French composer Erik Satie. This piece forms part of a larger scale work entitled 'La Belle Excentrique'.
If Ye Love Me' is a 4-part motet by the English composer Thomas Tallis, first published in 1565 and is a setting of text from the gospel of John. The work was most notably performed recently at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.
Rossini's 'Largo Al Factotum' is one of the most popular aria's from his opera 'The Barber of Seville', and was originally arranged for the group as a Euphonium Solo. This shiowpiece solo line also offers plenty of scope for humour and improvisation and can be performed across any of the Part 4 voices.
Loch Lomond is one of most well known and loved traditional Scottish Folk songs, which has been performed in multiple different arrangements and styles. Here is an arrangement based on a tranquil setting by the Kings Singers.
Originally for unaccompanied mixed choir, Locus Iste transcribes very naturally for four brass instruments. The SATB setting makes this 3-minute classical item a real favourite in our concerts and has many possibilities in terms of mixed instrumentation ensembles.
Mists of the Mountains' is a 4-movement work which was the first major work the group performed together. The music is inspired by the traditional folk music and scenery of Eastern Asia and is used to showcase everything brass instruments are capable of through the use of extended techniques such as multiphonics, extremes of the register, singing and even a backing track. It was also featured as the title track of the group's debut CD release.
AUDIO TRACK to accompany the 3rd movement of 'Mists of the Mountains'
The Barber of Seville Overture is one of the most instantly recognisable classical overtures. Rossini always wrote fantastic melodies and this is one that is always well received in a concert or recital due to it's worldwide popularity.
A virtuosic showpiece as much as it is an overture, Smetena's 'Bartered Bride' Overture is a frantic and energetic tour-de-force for any ensemble, with a flowing quaver passage driving the music throughout interwoven with complex melodic lines and vast dynamic contrasts.
Pavane is one of Faure'smost well known works throughout the classical word, and has appeared in several film scores and television adverts. The original work was composed for Piano but ultimately it was the version for Orchestra and optional chorus which gave Pavane it's standing amongst the great romantic works of it's time.
Prayer to Ascension' joins the original 'Toccata' in an exclusively small list of works composed before the formation of the group. Originally composed as a reflective work with moments of recitative for the Teres Trombone Quartet, this was one of the earliest works which was rescored by the composer especially for A4 Brass and featured regularly in the group's early concert programmes.
Bartok was renowned for his approach towards eastern European folk music, most notably perhaps in his Romanian Folk Dances (also published in this series). This is a much lesser-known work to the set of folk dances but follows similar principals, using Christmas carols from Romania and turning them into a suite for solo piano with Bartok's unique touch.
Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony has a distinctively Italian character and the finale is no exception. This slightly truncated version of the fourth movement "Saltarello" gives the ensemble ample opportunity to show off technical flair and high energy to finish a concert performance.
'Salut d'Amour' was originally a work for solo Violin and Piano by Edward Elgar, going by the initial title of 'Love's Greeting' of Liebesgruss, owing to the German-speaking fluency of the work's dedicatee Caroline Alice Roberts, with who Elgar was in a relationship with at the time of composition.
Romanian Folk Dances' is a suite of six short pieces written for piano in 1915. It is based on seven Romanian tunes from Transylvania, and each movement uses a different mode and tone colour. The three "middle" movements (2, 3 & 4) are solo opportunities for the upper three parts to show the different characteristics of brass instruments within these harmonies.
This is a new setting of the well-loved Christmas Carol 'Stille Nacht', or 'Silent Night' in it's English Translation. The arrangement aims to portray a cold and still picture through it's icy use of harmony and often lofty solo passages.
The 'Tebe Poem' is a hymn which concludes a consecration in which bread and wine are used to represent the blood and body of Christ. This particular setting comes from a Russian Orthodox background and was originally composed for choir.
Another operatic overture, this time from the Neapolitan School and Italian composer Domenico Cimarosa. The short intro to the opera acts as a great concert item and works well for most mixed quartets and abilities.
'Toccata' was originally composed as a Trombone quartet before being reworked especially for the group's first ever rehearsal in flat A4 of the Royal Northern College of Music's Halls of Residence. The virtuosic showpiece was the first piece of music the group ever played together and still features regularly on their concert programmes
'Toccata 2' was composed especially for the group as a follow-up to the composer's original work 'Toccata' which became a near-permanent fixture in the quartet's concert repertoire.
Toccata 3 was composed for A4 Brass Quartet as part of a series of 4 virtuosic concert openers. In a similar vein to the previous 2 toccatas, this work relies heavily on complex polyrhtyhms, technical dexterity and versatily throughout the range.
Toccata 4 is the final work in aseries of virtuosic 'openers' composed for A4 by the group's Tenor Horn player Jonathan Bates. In keeping with the preceding 3 works, Toccata 4 is full of energy, vituosity and complexity.
This short arrangement of 3 popular waltzes was put together specifically for the quartet's work in SEN schools through Live Music Now. The piece gradually increases in speed and intensity as the music travels through Strauss' 'Blue Danube', Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' and finally Chopin's whirlwind 'Minute Waltz'.
Ye Banks and Braes is a much loved Scottish Traditional folk song, setting text by thegreat poet and writer Robbie Burns. The text refers to the the 'banks and braes of bonnie Doon', a river which runs close to the writer's home town of Ayr.