Cat No. JM47433
Material: Doyen
Category: BRASS BAND CDs

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Grimethorpe Colliery ( UK Coal ) Band, conducted by Elgar Howarth.

This CD, entitled The Golden Era, is the first to be released in a series of six recordings surveying the history of brass band music from its early beginning to the present day. The repertoire of each disc is already planned.
Of the six discs, this has proved to be the most difficult to finalise. The period in question I have taken to run for convenience sake from 1920 to 2970, and includes pieces by Elgar, Bantock, Vaughan Williams, Bliss and Howells all of which are contenders for a place here, and all of which I have had, sadly, to omit for reasons of space and time.
Instead I have opted for an approach which has a strong sense of historical line.
Lift Divine by Cyril Jenkins is a hinge work which with its new virtuosic demands acted as a spur into the 1920’s and beyond: Two ‘Classics’ are heard in Holst’s Moorside Suite and Ireland’s comedy Overture: Wright’s cornet concerto was the first concerto written for a brass band instrumentalist: Eric Ball’s historic spiritual Resurcrm must be included: And finally there is another hinge work Vinter’s Spectrum preparing the way for the Modern Era.
The series as a whole will exclude light and ‘popular’ music, though it will include outstanding arrangements from the operatic, symphonic, and keyboard repertoire.
My hope is that the completed set will provide both a comprehensive though inevitably incomplete perspective of approximately 150 years of musical development. I hope too that it will be attractive and entertaining listening for band enthusiasts, but informative also for new audiences especially outside the UK.

Composers may find inspiration here, concert promoters a wealth of unknown repertoire to court their interest, and maybe Universities and Music Colleges, eventually, a box-set for their library shelves.
Elgar Howarth, November 2003
Future titles in this series:
The Salvation Army Connection
The Early Years (1850 - 1920)
The Modem Era (1970 - 2000)
Classical Arrangements
New Adventures

Tracks:
01. Life Divine, Cyril Jenkins, 13.56
02. A Moorside Suite, Gustav Holst, 15.29
a) Scherzo, 3.16
b) Nocturne, 7.41
c) March, 4.32

05. Cornet Concerto, Denis Wright, 12.59
Soloist: Richard Marshall
a) Allegro, 6.49
b) Canzonetta, 3.43
c) Rondo, 2.27

08. Comedy Overture, John Ireland, 11.45
09. Resurgam (I Shall Rise Again), Eric Ball, 12.44
10. Spectrum, Gilbert Vinter, 12.31

Total Playing Time: 79.53