Philip Sparke

The south-western US state of Arizona has more than its fair share of stunning landscapes, natural phenomena and National Monuments. Best known is the Grand Canyon, but there are also numerous deserts...

Flamenco is a style of music, usually played on the guitar to accompany dancing and singing, that has its home in Andalusia in southern Spain. It has its roots in the years of Moorish rule of the regi...

Avec Pomp and Circumstance, un cycle de cinq marches militaires, Edward Elgar a donné à la marche une véritable dimension symphonique. La Marche no 1 est incontestablement la plus célèbre des cinq. De...

Music is perhaps unique among the performing arts in its ability to express and convey the subtlest nuances of human emotion This ability is exploited in When the Spirit Soars which attempts to captur...

Christina Rossetti wrote the words to this famous Christmas carol in 1872 in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem. They were set to music by Gustav Holst (18...

Adolphe Adam (1803-56) is perhaps best known for his classical ballet, Giselle, but it is his Cantique de Noël (popularly known in the English-speaking world as 'O Holy Night', the opening line of its...

Dating from the first decades of the 20th century and originating in vaudeville and the music hall, the soft-shoe shuffle was danced by tap dancers, wearing soft-shoes instead of their normal tap shoe...

Dating from the first decades of the 20th century and originating in vaudeville and the music hall, the soft-shoe shuffle was danced by tap dancers, wearing soft-shoes instead of their normal tap shoe...

The four tunes used in this suite have been made universally popular in Sir Henry Wood?s Fantasia on British Sea Songs, which is an ever-present ingredient in The Last Night of the Proms. He introduce...

Whilst making no claims to be stylistically authentic, this little piece aims to capture the infectious spirit of mariachi, a word whose origins are lost in the mists of time, but which describes not...

Whilst making no claims to be stylistically authentic, this little piece aims to capture the infectious spirit of mariachi, a word whose origins are lost in the mists of time, but which describes not...

This piece was inspired by the composer watching his young son, Benny, playing 'soldiers' with his collection of teddy bears - how appropriate! But it made him think of the many character pieces which...

Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918) belongs to a forgotten generation of English composers who are often over-shadowed by Sir Edward Elgar, and the result has been that much of their work is little played or...

Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918) appartient à cette génération de compositeurs anglais quelque peu oubliés dont font partie Charles Villiers Stanford et Sir Granville Bantock. La notoriété de Sir Edward E...

Little is known about the life of Prof. Armin Googleheimer. Despite local success as a musician, postman and wine-lover, his fame did not travel much outside his charming home village of Unterbingen i...

This is a little salute to the wonderful music of Duke Ellington, taking Mood Indigo as its model. Something Borrowed, Something Blue will allow the young band to approach this masterpiece?s laid-back...

This is a little salute to the wonderful music of Duke Ellington, taking Mood Indigo as its model. Something Borrowed, Something Blue will allow the young band to approach this masterpiece?s laid-back...

Cette mélodie intemporelle de Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) est devenue célèbre après avoir été intégrée dans la Passion selon saint Matthieu de Jean-Sébastien Bach, dans des harmonisations particulièr...

Cette mélodie intemporelle de Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) est devenue célèbre après avoir été intégrée dans la Passion selon saint Matthieu de Jean-Sébastien Bach, dans des harmonisations particulièr...

En 1868, Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842 - 1900) publie une série de sept chants polyphoniques (Seven Part Songs) pour Choeur d'Hommes. The Long Day Closes est probablement le chant qui a le mieux résisté a...

En 1868, Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842 - 1900) publie une série de sept chants polyphoniques (Seven Part Songs) pour Choeur d'Hommes. The Long Day Closes est probablement le chant qui a le mieux résisté a...

Cette marche relativement simple, extraite de l'opéra Scipione (1726) de Georg Friedrich Haendel, offre aux Orchestres Juniors la possibilité d'interpréter un célèbre air baroque correspondant à leurs...

I>The Pirates of Penzance (Les Pirates de Penzance) est sans doute la plus célèbre opérette du compositeur Gilbert et du librettiste Sullivan. L'œuvre fut créée simultanément en Angleterre et au...

Snow Valley Sleigh Ride ('Promenade en traîneau à travers la vallée enneigée') dépeint une promenade nocturne en traîneau à cheval. Les lumières défilent sous nos yeux tandis que nous glissons vers le...

Things that go bump in the night ('Toutes ces choses qui bondissent dans le noir') s'inspire d'une vieille prière enfantine écossaise qui décrit une nuit fantomatique dans un château des Hautes-Terres...