Eric Ball – The Undaunted

Grimethorpe Colliery RJB Band
Conducted by Elgar Howarth
Doyen CD108
Total playing time 60.22

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We live in a soulless time. The 21st Century belongs to technical innovation rather than spiritual enlightenment for nearly all of us, and it comes as no surprise that more people now shop in DIY stores than go to Church on a Sunday. One wonders what Eric Ball would have made of it all.

Thankfully his music is a reminder of a gentler, perhaps more naïve time and this CD from Doyen is a welcome reminiscence of a man and his commitment and love of his faith - It is music to warm even the coldest atheist heart.

Grimethorpe on this outing are in the hands of perhaps the modern brass band movement's finest interpreter of classic original banding compositions – Elgar Howarth. Throughout the CD there is a sense of understanding, respect and even love for the music that is performed, and this in turn brings out the best from the band.

It is not to say that all that we hear can be deemed as being great music – some of the pieces seem dated and have not aged well, but the tunes (and his music is full of them) are truly great and are bonded closely to the hymns and songs of his Salvation Army upbringing.

Elgar Howarth has chosen carefully his selection to highlight the varied aspects of Ball's writing and there are two marvellous accounts of "Tournament for Brass" and "The Undaunted" – the first of which has no spiritual context, yet is a delight of musical thought and the second which takes it's inspiration from a poem by Louis Untermeyer and has darker and more severe expressions of spiritual thought. These pieces have been neglected for too long.

The cornet solo "Conchita" played with wonderful understatement by Richard Marshall is a quaintly sketched pastiche whilst both "Morning Rhapsody" and his "Four Preludes" are pieces very much of their time and today seem almost innocent in their optimistic simplicity.

Finally we have the wonderful theme and variations of his "Free Fantasia" which is a miniature portrait of technical writing that any modern brass band composer would do well to try and copy, and the obligatory "Resurgam", which is perhaps his finest work – here given a very committed and deeply sympathetic reading by Elgar Howarth.

A fine CD of music that should perhaps never by forgotten and certainly should be performed (perhaps compulsorily) by every band at least once a year.

Forget the DIY and spend a few quid on a copy – it will make you feel so much better.

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