Skip to content

Music of the Spheres

General Info

Year:: 2004
Duration:: c. 16:00
Difficulty:: Grade 6 (Philip Sparke)
Publisher:: Anglo Music Press (AMP 028; score and parts AMP 028-030)
Cost:: Score and Parts – £168.50 | Score Only – £42.50
Premiere:: Yorkshire Building Society Band, European Brass Band Championships, Glasgow, May 2004

Movements

Single movement. The publisher’s note names its sections: t = 0 (horn solo), The Big Bang, The Lonely Planet, Asteroids and Shooting Stars and The Unknown, plus two sections built on six “planetary” notes, Music of the Spheres and Harmonia. Order and timings of all sections not confirmed.

Instrumentation

Full Score
Soprano Cornet in E-flat
Solo Cornet in B-flat I–IV (score shows "1.2" and "3.4")
2nd Cornet in B-flat
3rd Cornet in B-flat
Flugelhorn in B-flat I–II
Solo Horn in E-flat
1st Horn in E-flat
2nd Horn in E-flat
1st Baritone
2nd Baritone
1st Trombone
2nd Trombone
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I–II
E-flat Bass
B-flat Bass
Timpani (with optional Wind Machine on the timpani stave)
Percussion I–II, including (partial, from the opening pages only):
- Bass Drum
- Mark Tree or Bamboo Chimes ("Mark Chimes or Bamboo Chimes" in the score)
- Suspended Cymbal
- Medium Tom-toms

Programme Notes

Sparke wrote the work on commission from the Yorkshire Building Society Band, which gave the first performance at the European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow in May 2004. The music draws on Pythagoras’ idea of the “music of the spheres” and moves from the Big Bang to an open question about humanity’s future in space.

Publisher’s programme note: philipsparke.com

Media

Audio CD: Austrian Brass Band, European Brass Band Championships 2012, cat. DOYCD295. Track time 17:18
Audio CD: Paris Brass Band (Florent Didier), European Brass Band Championships 2019, cat. DOYCD394

Contest Use

Full contest history, including 154 own-choice uses: Brass Band Results

Works for Brass Band by This Composer

Partial list. Years not researched.

Original Works

Arrangements

Cuban Overture (George Gershwin) (1932 / 2010)
Toccata from Organ Symphony No 5 (Charles-Marie Widor)

Resources

Categories: Compositions | 2004 | Test Pieces

Suggest a correction to this page.

Sources

All read 8 November 2026.

Title, composer, grade, duration, commission and premiere, section names: https://www.philipsparke.com/music-of-the-spheres-brass-band
Year (© 2004 Anglo Music Press on the sample score); instrumentation (pages 1–2 of the sample score): https://sastudiomusic.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/smf/pdf/AMP028030-Philip-Sparke-Brass-Band-Music-of-the-Spheres.pdf
Year (Brass Band Results also gives 2004); Contest Use: https://www.brassbandresults.co.uk/pieces/music-spheres
Contest Use (set work for the 172nd British Open, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 12 September 2026): https://4barsrest.com/news/63253/music-of-the-spheres-chosen-as-british-open-set-work
Publisher, catalogue number, score-and-parts price, retailer difficulty labels, 18:00 duration (read once before the site began returning 503): https://studio-music.co.uk/amp028030
Publisher, catalogue number, score-and-parts price, retailer difficulty labels, 18:00 duration: https://worldofbrass.com/RSHLAMP028030
Score-only price (£42.50): https://brassband.co.uk/sheet-music/music-of-the-spheres-brass-band-score-only-sparke-philip-studiomusic
Score publisher code AMP0283BB: https://www.halleonard.com/product/44004947/music-of-the-spheres
Media (EBBC 2012, DOYCD295): https://www.worldofbrass.com/25203
Media (EBBC 2019, DOYCD394): https://www.worldofbrass.com/100535

Notes

Instrumentation. Checked against the first two pages of the publisher's sample score. This work differs from the standard template - there is no Repiano Cornet line and there are two Flugelhorns. The percussion list is partial, from the opening pages only.
Duration conflicts. Composer's site, "16 Mins". Studio Music and World of Brass, 18:00. The 2012 European recording runs 17:18. A Just Music listing seen only in a search snippet gave 15:40. The composer's figure is used here.
Retailer difficulty labels. Studio Music shows "Difficulty F - Very Difficult" plus "Grade 6". World of Brass shows "Difficulty Advanced" plus "Grade 6". Only the grade is used here.
Media (conductor). The conductor of the Austrian Brass Band recording is not stated. Release years of both CDs are not stated.
Not verified. A Yorkshire Building Society Band (David King) CD, Egon SFZ124, 2004. It appeared only in a search summary of a 4barsrest review, and the review page returned HTTP 500. Also unverified - which band plays the work on the "A Portrait in Brass" CD on the composer's discography page, which lists three bands without saying who plays what.
Premiere. The premiere (YBS Band, European Championships 2004) was a contest performance, so it is left out of Performances. It was also an own-choice use, not a set test piece, so it isn't in Contest Use either. It is shown on the Premiere line; the conductor is not confirmed.
Section order. Section order in the composer's note is partly unclear, so the movement description isn't a numbered list.