Program No. 69 - George Lloyd

George Lloyd would not be considered one of the most prolific composer of music for brass bands, nor did he solely concentrate on brass band music. His brass works, though, are considered part of the standard repertoire of brass band contesting works, and have been since his first brass band composition in the mid 1980's.

Born in Cornwall in 1913, Lloyd was brought up in a very musical family with his father an accomplished flautist and his mother able to play violin, viola and piano.  He started composing music when he as 9 years old, with serious study of composition when he was 14.

Over his musical career he penned no less than 12 symphonies, 7 concertos, and a variety of other works for voice, piano, orchestra, and of course brass bands.

Lloyd wasn't just a composer, though. During the second World War Lloyd joined the Royal Marines, as a cornet player in their band. During one voyage in 1942, as a result of tragic accident, the ship he was on (the HMS Trinidad) torpedoed itself, and many lives were lost in that incident. Lloyd himself was hospitalised for a number of years with what would now be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He eventually recovered and was discharged in 1946.

Until 1972 he owned and operated a market garden where he grew mushrooms and carnations. During this time he continued composing, mostly before work started. After he sold his business he spent his remainder years composing a large number of his works, including all his brass band pieces. He passed away in 1998, aged 85.

1. H.M.S. Trinidad March (John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band)
We begin tonight with a march composed by Lloyd in 1941 for the ship he sailed on, H.M.S. Trinidad. This, together with a number of other works on the show, comes from a 1991 album released by the John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band, with David King as conductor, called Lloyd: English Heritage.

2. Symphony No. 10 'November Journeys' (Cory Band)

'When the BBC told me they would like me to write a piece for the Northern Brass Ensemble it so happened that about that time I was taking advantage of some cheap rail fares to visit various cathedrals I had never seen before. As I journeyed around the country I kept on thinking of sounds for the brass and these sounds became mixed up with the magnificent buildings I was seeing ; this led me eventually to write on the score ‘Impressions and reflections whilst travelling to visit some cathedrals’. There is nothing very ecclesiastic about the music except for the second movement, which is rather like a carol. I was able to have any combination of instruments I chose, so in order to achieve flexibility together with soft and bright sounds, I scored the work for 1 Piccolo Trumpet, 3 B Flat Trumpets, 1 Flugelhorn, 3 Horns, 3 Trombones, 1 Euphonium, 1 Tuba.’           George Lloyd (30 March 1981) 

This work was subsequently transcribed for Brass Band by Luc Vertommen. It is being performed here by Cory Band, with Dr. Robert Childs as conductor, from their 2008 album, Actaeon.

3. Royal Parks (John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band)
This was the first of the main works written for brass band by Lloyd (1984), actually written for the 1985 European Band Championships in Copenhagen. This piece is in 3 movements. The following description is from a distinguished brass band conductor here in Melbourne.

•  Dawn Flights - military bandsmen are heading to a band performance in Regents Park. The "dawn flights" are the actual flights to this gig.

• In Memoriam - The IRA bombed the bandstand on 20th July 1982, killing seven soldiers and injuring 24 others during a concert by the band of the Royal Green Jackets. The bandstand is sometimes called the "Memorial Bandstand" in memory of the dead soldiers. Lloyd actually lived nearby and heard the explosion.

• Holidays - After this horrific event, the rest of the band are told to take some time off. This movement depicts the members attempting to take a holiday, but with the events of that day never far from their mind.

This performance is again from the album Lloyd: English Heritage.

4. Diversions on a Bass Theme (Oslofjord Brass)
The story goes that apparently complaints were made to Lloyd because Royal Parks was considered to be too easy for brass bands contests at the highest level. Lloyd thought to himself "I'll show them" and 2 years later Diversions on a Bass Theme was finished. Whether or not this is true is not that important, however it is true that this piece is a huge contrast to Royal Parks. The Bass Theme not only refers to the Bass end of the band, but also to the company that sponsored the work, Bass Brewery.

This performance is by Oslfjord Brass, from the 1997 Norwegian Brass Band Championships.

5. English Heritage (Black Dyke Band)

"The piece was commissioned by Michael Walker for the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England – hence its title ‘English Heritage’ and was first performed jointly by Black Dyke and Grimethorpe Colliery, conducted by Geoffrey Brand at a Kenwood Lakeside Concert on 2nd July 1988 in the presence of the composer. Two years later it was chosen as the set work for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall, where the then CWS (Glasgow) Band conducted by John Hudson took the title." 4barsrest.com

This performance is by Black Dyke Band, from the 2010 Regional Contests.

6. Evening Song (John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band)
Interestingly, most reviews of Lloyd's brass band works seem to fail to mention this piece. But it is in a definitive list of works by Lloyd found here. It's also on the album Lloyd: English Heritage that we have already heard from. There isn't much else I can add, except for the fact that it was composed in 1991.

7. King's Messenger (Cory Band)
Cory Band were recently in Australia, and performed this piece in the concerts out here. This was Lloyd's final composition for brass band having composed it in 1993, aged 80. This piece is also why this program wasn't heard originally as intended a fortnight ago. The album that this is on, Words and Music, by Cory Band with Philip Harper as conductor, was only released just over a week ago.

I hope you enjoyed tonight's look at brass works by George Lloyd.

We've spent a fair bit of time over the last month or so listening to brass band music. We'll move away from that as next week's show will feature music performed by American trumpeter, Chris Botti.

Program No. 68 - 2013 Victorian State Championships Music

At the end of last week's show I promoted this week's show as being all about the music of compose George Lloyd.

Whilst Lloyd was better known for his orchestral and choral works he did write 4 relatively well known major works for brass bands. I was hoping to play all four pieces for you on this week's show. Unfortunately in my research during the week I was unable to find a recording of King's Messenger. Then I found a recording that is being released next week. I have therefore decided to postpone by program of George Lloyd music until a later date.

Instead I will be representing a show I produced earlier this year looking at the music chosen as test pieces for the 2013 Victorian State Championships to be held in Ballarat next weekend (17th and 18th August).

You can find the full list of test pieces on the VBL website.

Please note I have not found recordings of all the test pieces for brass band on the show. In order to mix things up a bit I have included some non-brass band pieces. I'll explain more, later:

1. Nott'num Town (Allan Street)
This is one of the test pieces chosen for D Grade.

I have only managed to find one recording of this piece, and that is by a Concert Band. Here it is performed by The Band of the 9th & 12th Royal Lancers from their 2011 album, In Concert.

I have then found a brass band recording of one of the movements, Goose Fair. Here it is performed by Black Dyke Mills Band from their 1981 album Concert Sound, with Major Peter Parkes as conductor.

2. A Salford Sinfonietta (Darrol Barry)
I believe that this has been selected as a test pieces previously, for the B Grade section. This year it is one of the choices for C Grade.

Here it is being played by BNFL Band on their 1993 album Partita.

3. First Suite in Eb (Gustav Holst)
This is another selection for C grade, and here is another piece where I was unsuccessful in finding a recording of the brass band arrangement. Here it is, for concert, military band, with The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and Wing Commander Eric Banks as conductor, from their 2010 album British Music for Concert Music.

4. The Flying Dutchman: Overture (Richard Wagner)
The first of the selections for B Grade, and yet another piece where I couldn't find the brass band recording. Here is the original orchestral recording, performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vernon Handley
as conductor, from the 2003 album Wagner: The Ride of the Valkyries, Overtures.

5. Royal Parks (George Lloyd)
The second of the selections for B Grade, this was one of 4 test pieces written by George Lloyd for brass bands. Apparently the story goes that people though this test pieces a bit too easy when it was presented by Lloyd. He made sure his next piece was much harder (more about that in our later show on George Lloyd).
This recording is from Black Dyke Mills Band with Major Peter Parkes as conductor from their 1986 album The Complete Champions.

6. Partita for Band - Postcards from Home (Philip Wilby)
This was also an option for B grade bands. Here it is performed by Grimethorpe Colliery Band from their 1993 album Wilby.

7. Rienzi: Overture (Richard Wagner)
This piece was provided as an option for A Grade Bands, but once again I couldn't find a recording of the brass band arrangement. Once again I have turned to an orchestral recording, from the same CD as before (See The Flying Dutchman, above).

8. The Legend of King Arthur (Peter Meechan)
The last recording chosen for tonight's show is also the newest. This piece was only composed in the last couple of years with this recording, from Foden's Band only released last year, on the album with the same name.

I'll be away at the State Championships next Sunday so there won't be a show next week.

The following week we'll have the results of the State Championships as part of our show featuring the music of George Lloyd.

Program No. 67 - Music by Philip Sparke II

Program No. 62 was the first of our shows featuring the music of Philip Sparke.  This week we present our second program of his works.

1. Gala Fanfare - from Five Festive Fanfares (Williams Fairy Band)
We open the show with Gala Fanfare which was originally composed for a festival of bands that was a part of World Expo '88 in Brisbane. For those interested the other four fanfares are titled Champions Fanfare, Birthday Fanfare, Festival Fanfare and Victory Fanfare and were all composed for different events. Tonight's recording is by the Williams Fairy Band, with Phillip McCann as conductor, from the album Images of Brass (2001).

2. A London Overture (Britannia Building Society Band)
This is one of Sparke's earlier major works for Brass Band having been commissioned to compose a piece for the 1984 Dutch National Brass Band Championships and is one of the pieces heard consistently in brass band contests since. This particular performance is by the Britannia Building Society Band recorded at the 1991 European Band Championships.

3. The Vikings (Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag)
First composed in 1989, this piece is performed by Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag from their 1997 album, Philip Sparke.

4. Music for a Festival (Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra)
This piece was commissioned by the Boosey & Hawkes Band Festivals for the 1985 finals of the Youth Section in the National Brass Band Championships of  Great Britain. Sparke has written a lot of music for brass bands that he subsequently arranges concert bands, and vice versa. This, as you will note, is the concert band arrangement of the brass band work. It is performed here by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra with Philip Sparke as conductor, from the 1992 album Orient Express (European Wind Circle).

 5. Tuba Concerto - Allegro (Black Dyke Band)
This was commissioned in 2006 by German instrument manufacturer Miraphone. It is dedicated to, and first performed by, a long time friend of Sparke, Markus Theinart. The Concerto is in two movements (Lento and Allegro) but we will only be hearing the final movement, performed by Black Dyke Band with Nicholas Childs as conductor and Joe Cook as the soloist, from their 2008 album Music for Battle Creek - The Brass Band Music of Philip Sparke. We will be coming back to this CD for some of the rest of the music on the show.

6. Dances and Alleluias (Black Dyke Band)
This piece was commissioned by the British Federation of Brass Bands for their inaugural English National Brass Band Championships held in 2006.

Sparke describes the piece as follows:

My chief concern when writing Dances and Alleluias was that I knew I couldn’t continue the line of thought that had led to Music of the Spheres, a piece which had taken me about as far as I currently could (or wanted to) go in terms of scale and virtuosity. In addition, I wanted to write ‘absolute’ music rather than a programmatic piece but keep the same emotional journey which is for me the most important aspect of Spheres. 

My first idea for the new piece was a final ‘alleluia’ - I didn’t imagine any specific religious connection but wanted the slow music to be vocal in nature and ecstatic in mood, as that word implies. It was then logical to intersperse the slow music with faster dances. 

This piece is also one of the test pieces chosen for the A Grade section in this year's Victorian Brass Band Championships to be held in Ballarat later this month. My spies tell me that there is a chance that more than one of the bands has chosen this as their test piece.

Tonight's performance is again from the album Music for Battle Creek - The Brass Band Music of Philip Sparke, and again performed by Black Dyke Band.

This piece is in 4 movements and goes for about 14 and a half minutes. 

7. Pantomime (Britannia Building Society Band)

This solo work was commissioned by Nicholas Childs back in 1986. It is being performed by Britannia Building Society Band. Unfortunately my information does not indicate who the soloist is. This is again from the 1997 album titled Philip Sparke.

8. A Tale As Yet Untold (Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag) 

I endeavoured to play this piece on the last Philip Sparke program, but technical issues foiled that attempt. Hopefully those technical issues have disappeared and we will be able to play this piece in full. For a description of this piece please read my program notes from that show.

9. Music for Battle Creek (Black Dyke Band)

This piece was commissioned by the Brass Band of Battle Creek, located in Michigan, USA. The music seeks to salute the American 'can-do' attitude, full of excitement, bravado and virtuosity.

This piece is in 3 movements:

1.   Prelude and Toccata
2.   Elegy
3.   Rondo Finale

This is the title track of the CD we have used for a lot of this show, Music for Battle Creek - The Brass Band Music of Philip Sparke, and again is performed by Black Dyke Band.

That's it for this show. There's plenty more music from Philip Sparke that we haven't played yet, though we may leave it for a couple of months before we play the third program of this series.

For next week's show we'll be looking at another composer, Lloyd George, plus talk about the upcoming Victorian Brass Band Championships.