The History of Brass Band Music

The Modern Era: 1970 - 2000
Grimethorpe Colliery UK Coal Band
Conductor: Elgar Howarth
Soloist: Michael Dodd
Doyen Recordings: DOY CD163
Total Playing Time: 69.46

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It may be questionable to suggest that the modern era in the history of brass band music started precisely in 1970, but there is little doubt that by this time the existing repertoire of the movement was exhausted.

A reliance on second rate orchestral arrangements and prosaic original compositions had led us into a cul de sac of mediocrity. The organisers of our major contests were reluctant to explore new avenues, blind to the exciting possibilities that lay ahead and completely ignorant of the compositional world outside the confines of the 12 minute test piece. Even the delights of Gilbert Vinter, fresh, popular and challenging in the early to mid years of the 1960's had been replaced by scorn and derision by the time he dared to explore new territory with ‘Spectrum' by the decades end. His untimely death left the banding movement almost bereft of ideas.

Thankfully others dared to step into the breach – not that they were particularly welcomed. Heaton's masterful Opus, ‘Contest Music' was rejected as the test piece for the 1973 National Championships, and in the past thirty years, substantial works from the likes of Howarth, Simpson, McCabe and Bingham have been treated with a Luddite conservatism that has been nothing short of a disgrace. How many of the voices who now declare their undying admiration for many of these composers were the rabble rousers and instigators of myopic insults just a few years ago when their works were first used at major contest events?

Therefore, this fourth release in this ambitious series is perhaps the most interesting, if contentious so far – making it questionably the most enjoyable.

Elgar Howarth has chosen five commissioned works to illustrate what he believes are cornerstone compositions of the 30 year period the release covers. His choices will illicit varying responses, but to be fair, he accepts that it would have been impossible to select five works that would have please everyone. There may be some critics who may suggest that some of the works have been over recorded, and that another performance of say ‘Contest Music' or ‘Connotations' is unnecessary given the chance to explore other works of substantial importance such as those from Bourgeois, McCabe or even Howarth himself.

That though is one of the joys of a the six part series that will see two further releases in the coming year or so that will examine what Howarth terms ‘Classical Arrangements' and ‘New Adventures'. Howarth has never been afraid to court controversy or to initiate debate – and we should be indebted to him for that.

This release starts with an undeniable cornerstone composition: 'Energy' by Robert Simpson, a work that even today glows with originality. The concept of a continuous single musical thought, explored to its logical conclusion may seem simplistic, but until he did it, no other brass band composer had even entertained the idea. Until that point (and still to this day) the basis of many test pieces was a series of ideas, thoughts and motifs strung together to incorporate traditional challenges (such as cadenzas) with little development of the original thematic material. Energy was something else indeed – a continuous unravelling at ever increasing speed and complexity of an original musical germ of thought with such clarity of purpose that it stunned those who first listened to it.

Howarth delivers an immensely satisfying account, with an intuitive appreciation of the composers intentions. The pace of the music is judged almost to perfection, and although there is some scrappyiness (and an odd entry) in some of the later passages towards the conclusion, it is a quite thrilling account – fresh and deeply impressive with some fine individual contributions, especially from Kevin Crockford (on his only contribution on the release) on soprano who gives the work a superbly vibrant cutting edge. 

The one performance that will certainly get the critics chattering though is ‘Contest Music'. Here Howarth delivers a very ‘neutral' account of a work that has been subject to some liberal licence to roam in the past. Howarth's interpretation takes 15.25 minutes in comparison to other who have shaved more than a few seconds off it in the past, such as Balck Dyke's 14.14 effort on the recent Jewels in the Crown release and Eikanger's 14.56 account of a few years ago on a recording of Heaton's output.

It is however much more faithful to the markings of the composer on the score, and as such the first movement has a much more deliberate authoritative feel to it. The second is perceptively slower in pulse and the austere economy of the writing becomes much more self evident. The final movement, so often taken above tempo therefore feels appropriately tied to what has gone before and reaches a purposeful climax. Howarth expertly allows the deft expression to his performers; Richard Marshall in particular bringing a lovely understated sense of musicianship to the demanding solo in the second movement – to the point that you hear the delicate control of dynamic on the famous top C sharp – a rarity indeed.

The one non contesting work to be featured is the Horovitz 'Euphonium Concerto' – definitely a landmark composition for the instrument, but arguably one for the movement as a whole. 

It has undergone some tweaking since it was first performed by Trevor Groom in 1972, and perhaps now sounds more contemporary, even though it is composed in classical form. Michael Dodd is a sympathetic soloist, elegant and restrained (a welcome feature in these days of  pyrotechnics) and brings out the lyrical almost elegiac qualities of the work in full.

Whether or not the work is as ground breaking as the Ernest Tomlinson ‘Cornet Concerto' though, is a debatable point.

'Connotations' was certainly a ground breaker, even though percussion had been part of the mainstream banding repertoire for half a decade before Gregson used it to such startling effect at the 1977 National Championships.

Essentially a theme and variations, Gregson rewrote the brass band book on how to approach such a staid form of the medium. The rhythmic patterns, colours and timbres of the extensive percussion writing, the technical demands on hitherto forgotten instrumentation and the neat trick of using the first variation before the theme was introduced marked it out as never before.

Today it sounds amazingly mainstream and somewhat dated, but its importance remains as relevant as ever. Again, Howarth allows a neutral reading of the score the time and space for the musicianship of his players to shine through. 

Finally ‘Jazz' and the one work, which this reviewer feels, is misplaced. Although the intentions of the composer are admirable, the end result is a mish mash of ideas and styles that don't really work. Added to this the fact that as good a band as Grimethorpe are, and as good an interpretator of modern genres Howarth is, neither get close to mimicking the authentic feel of the differing jazz idioms that the composer tries to capture.   This is pastiche: classy and clever, but pastiche nevertheless.

'Jazz' remains something of a musical folly: A great personal idea that serves little or no function other than it looks and feels like something it isn't. Against the other works here its inclusion lacks authority.

That said, this is still a fine recording. Howarth, as always on material such as this brings clarity of thought that marks him out from the crowd, whilst Grimethorpe are classy and controlled and very respectful of the direction they are being given from the podium.

Our only production gripe comes from the uncharacteristically unrevealing programme notes from Dr. Robert Childs and from Howarth himself in the introduction. For a release of such ambition, this recording deserved something more.

We await the next instalment of the series with interest though.

Iwan Fox.   

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