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The 4BR Spotify Playlist No.2
Harry Mortimer

A playlist of the great Man of Brass both conducting and playing in an era when style came with substance.

Spotify

4BR has launched an exciting new addition to our regular features with our very own ‘Spotify Playlist’ of bands and artists in performance for you to enjoy.

We will be featuring selections of our own, as well as from guests, and explaining why the tracks have been chosen.

To kick things off we had classic Black Dyke Mills Band, and it is now followed by music conducted or performed by  the great Harry Mortimer.

Note: You will need a Spotify account to listen to the full tracks. Not a Spotify user? Sign up for a FREE account.

Playlist link: Harry Mortimer

Harry Mortimer (1902 -1992) was arguably the most famous brass band musician of all time.  He was the complete musical polymath – player, conductor, composer, arranger, adjudicator, teacher, broadcaster and contest organiser. His influence on the banding world was immense.

These selections are not meant to be definitive in any way shape or form, but they do offer a glimpse of the musical style of the man. 

Much of the music comes from either his All Star Brass Band or Men of Brass, whilst the solo items see him performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Brass Players.

The standard of playing varies greatly it must be said - even with him as a soloist, but above all else it is the sense of style that he brings to the music that stands out: Everything flows without recourse to artifice. 

It is music making from a different era in more ways than one - the witty marches especially.  ‘The Corner Flag’ recalls the football of a generation of Matthews and Finney, the maximum wage and winger’s shorts that bellowed in the breeze like sails on a tea clipper.   ‘Thunderbirds’ hasn’t got a single CGI special effect in it either.

There is a delicacy of touch with ‘Elizabethan Serenade’ by Ronald Binge that has almost been denuded to extinction in modern brass band playing, and a craftsmanship to the approach to the final movement of ‘Kenilworth’ and of the test-piece ‘Blackfriars’ that has a sense of elegance as well as drama. 

It is the same with the brilliant overture 'Ruy Blas' - a classic in anyone's book, ‘The Holy City’ (even if the singing isn’t too brilliant) and Rachmaninov’s ‘Prelude in C Sharp Minor’ which yearns with melancholic pathos.



Petworth Town Band - Dorset House School Fete

Saturday 26 July • Dorset House School RH20 1PB


Dobcross Silver Band - Marsden Silver Prize Band

Sunday 27 July • c/o Dobcross Band Club. Platt Lane. Dobcross Saddleworth OL3 5AD


Haverhill Silver Band - A Nightingale Sang... (an evening concert)

Saturday 2 August • Foakes Hall, Dunmow CM6 1DG


Haverhill Silver Band - East Anglian Beer & Cider Festival

Sunday 24 August • St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1QX


Haverhill Silver Band - Concert in Saffron Hall

Wednesday 27 August • Saffron Hall, Audley End Road, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4UH


Dodworth Colliery MW Brass Band

July 25 • Ready for a NEW Music Challenge?. . Dodworth Brass Band, is looking for a new principal cornet as our current player prepares for retirement. Just 5mins from J37 M1. . friendly welcoming band with a packed calendar of exciting concerts & events. . . S75 3RF


Enderby Band

July 24 • Enderby Band (Leicestershire) are a Championship section band looking for: Bb BASS & PERCUSSION (expressions of interest from any perc disciplines are welcome). We are an ambitious, friendly, band with a sensibly full calendar of contests and concerts.


The Marple Band

July 24 • Cornet( back row), Baritone, Horn, Bb Bass and Kit percussionist vacancies to join our fabulous band. We are a friendly ambitious 2nd Section band, starting an exciting new musical journey with our MD Nick Birch.


Lt Col David Barringer MBE

BMus (Hons)
Conductor and adjudicator


               

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