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Chan 4544 CHANDOS

Spanish The Williams Fairey Band James Gourlay Impressions Bryan Hurdley CHAN 4544 BOOK.qxd 10/1/08 1:14 pm Page 2

Spanish Impressions Martin Ellerby (b. 1957) Evocations* 15:55 9 Jaime Texidor (1885 –1957) arr. Aubrey Winter I Harlequin’s Carnival 3:16 10 1 Amparito Roca* 2:28 II The Death of Don Quixote 5:53 11 III Sueño (Dream) 1:55 12 Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) arr. Derek Bourgeois IV The Royal Hunt of the Sun 4:39 2 Alborada del gracioso† 7:31

Léo Delibes (1836–1891) arr. Gordon Langford Rodney Newton (b. 1945) * 3 Maids of Cadiz† 3:42 Four Spanish Impressions 14:08 13 Brian Taylor solo I Seville 2:38 14 II Xativa 3:59 15 (1876–1946) arr. Allan Street III Tarragona 2:07 16 4 Ritual Fire Dance† 3:36 IV Sant Iago di Compostella 5:12 TT 67:39 Georges Bizet (1838–1875) arr. Gordon Langford 5 A Carmen Fantasy* 6:17 The Williams Fairey Band James Gourlay* † Enrique Granados (1867–1916) arr. Howard Snell Bryan Hurdley 6 Andalucia† 4:47 Simon Stonehouse solo flugel horn

Jerónimo Giménez (1854 –1923) arr. James Gourlay 7 La boda de Luis Alonso* 5:45

Jaime Texidor arr. Aubrey Winter 8 Bonds of Friendship – Spanish March* 2:36

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melody suggests the dancer’s movements and, and became Director of the Teatro Apolo in Spanish Impressions after a moment’s stillness, the dance gathers Madrid where he mounted the first momentum and ends in a wild frenzy. performance in Spain of Bizet’s Carmen. His chief interest however was the zarzuela – a The music of Spain with its lively rhythms, and a Basque mother, and the sounds and A Carmen Fantasy type of operetta very popular throughout distinctive melodies and exotic harmonies has colours of Spain permeate his music. This Despite its surprisingly unsuccessful premiere Spain. Here James Gourlay has arranged music influenced composers of many nationalities. curiously titled piece (which may be translated in 1875, Bizet’s Carmen has become one of from the operetta The Wedding of Luis Alonso, Spain’s folk music is mostly centred around as The Jester’s Morning Song) originally the best-loved and most-performed operas in one of Giménez’s most popular zarzuelas. vocal traditions and the dance, with formed part of his suite Miroirs. An the repertoire. The story of the alluring, instruments (largely wind, percussion and the orchestration followed and the work has flirtatious gypsy girl and her obsessive lover is Bonds of Friendship familiar guitar) serving as an accompaniment become a popular orchestral show-piece. The brought to life by Bizet’s richly colourful music In this bright march Texidor brings together a to both. There is even a band tradition to be music evokes the sound of the Spanish guitar which creates the sights and sounds of Seville number of themes, one of them in the found in Catalonia where the cobla bands as well as the court jester’s caperings and his in its use of Spanish-style melodies and distinctive minor key which is a feature of so (comprising pipe and drum, shawms, soulful song. dance-rhythms. Gordon Langford has selected much Spanish music, and combines them , flugelhorns and ) some of the best-known melodies from the skillfully to form a short piece full of life and accompany a popular circle-dance known as Maids of Cadiz opera and arranged them to form a pot pourri. colour. the sardana. The French composer Léo Delibes is best This disc contains musical impressions of known for his ballets Coppélia and Sylvia and Andalucia Evocations Spain seen through the eyes (and heard the opera Lakmé but also wrote a number of Enrique Granados was one of the most This work was written in 1996 for the through the ears) of French and English songs, the best known being ‘Maids of Cadiz’. important figures in Spanish music of the late- National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain composers as well as the Spanish themselves. This attractive piece, which seems to borrow nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. A during Martin Ellerby’s tenure as composer-in- its opening phrase from Bizet’s Carmen, brilliant pianist, he founded his own academy residence. There are four movements whose Amparito Roca becomes an effective cornet solo at the hands and wrote much music based on Spanish titles are derived from Spanish art and Jaime Texidor, bandmaster of the Catalonian of arranger Gordon Langford. subjects. His compositional style is elegant and literature. The composer points out that he town of Baracaldo, was born in Barcelona in distinctive as may be discerned in this delightful has not included any folk elements in his 1885 and died in Baracaldo in 1957. In this Ritual Fire Dance arrangement for flugelhorn by Howard Snell of music, but rather has suggested the latter by brief, lively piece Texidor uses the minor key Manuel de Falla’s ballet (Love the one of his most popular melodies. melody, harmony and rhythm filtered through and melodic inflexions which give a hint of the Magician) tells the tale of a gypsy girl haunted his own listening experience – the result being Moorish origins of much Spanish music. by the ghost of her dead lover. The only way La boda de Luis Alonso more that of ‘an affectionate observer than a the spectre can be laid to rest is for a ritual to Jerónimo Giménez y Bellido was born in native correspondent’. Alborada del gracioso be performed. The music begins with eerie trills 1854, was a child prodigy on the , The first movement is entitled Harlequin’s Maurice Ravel was the son of a French father and an ostinato figure in the bass. A twisting studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire Carnival and takes its inspiration from a

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painting by the surrealist Miró in which evoked by the use of characteristic phrases, Symphony and is currently solo tuba has enjoyed an increasing reputation as one of ‘several disproportionate animal species harmonies and rhythms. in the Zurich Opera House. As a soloist and the finest conductors of his generation and engage in a capricious dance’. The music is The piece was inspired by various visits its player he has performed all over from 1989–1995 he was Musical Director of intended to evoke the ‘riotous playground of composer paid to Spain and the four the world, most notably as a member of the the Sun Life Band before taking up the this extravagantly presented study.’ movements bear the names of Spanish towns. Philip Jones and English Brass Ensembles. Solo position of Resident Conductor with the The second movement is inspired by The first is Seville and the music contains engagements have included first performances Williams Fairey Band. Cervantes and deals with The Death of Don references to flamenco vocal and dance of works written for him by such composers as Quixote. A funeral cortège is envisaged and traditions. Dissonant fanfares suggest the Gregson, Horowitz and Sparke. Since living in Fifteen times British Open Champions, seven the reflective music provides ‘glimpses of what savage spectacle of the bull-fight. Switzerland James Gourlay has devoted much of times winners of the title ‘National Champion was and what might have been’. The second movement, Xativa, takes its title his time to conducting and writing for brass Band of Great Britain’ and currently All The third movement is entitled Sueño from a small town which lies to the North of band and is one of the most successful England Masters and Brass in Concert (Dream) from a gentle poem by Lorca and Valencia. Here it is seen at siesta time, conductors on the Swiss brass-band scene. Champions, The Williams Fairey Band is in serves as a quiet interlude before the finale sleeping in the heat of the midday sun. constant demand for concerts both at home bursts upon us. The third movement describes an evening Bryan Hurdley won a scholarship to the and abroad. In 1993 the Band were holders This last movement, The Royal Hunt of the in the Southern port of Tarragona. A gentle Birmingham School of Music where he gained of both the National and British Open titles Sun, takes its title from Peter Schaffer’s habañera floats to us on the warm air. distinction in teaching, performing and recital and in 1994 they were European Champions. celebrated play about the Spanish conquest of In the final movement, Sant Iago di diplomas and was the winner of many Apart from its regular appearances throughout Peru and the relationship between the Compostella, a procession of medieval prestigious performance prizes. A founder the British Isles the band makes regular trips conquistador Don Pizzaro and the Inca king pilgrims is imagined approaching the great member of the English Tuba Consort he has abroad to countries such as Canada, Hong Atahualpa. Savage rhythms evoke the ritual cathedral of Saint James at dawn. We see the travelled widely in Europe and the USA. In Kong, Switzerland, Germany and Holland. dances of Spain and towards the end the candle-lit interior of the cathedral where 1993 Bryan Hurdley was appointed Director Since its formation the Band has had an players swap their brass instruments for priests are singing their morning office. As the of the Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band illustrious line-up of conductors: James percussion and chant over and over ‘Inti-Inca’ pilgrims assemble in the piazza outside the and is currently tutor in lower brass at the Gourlay is currently Principal Conductor and before the movement is brought to a cathedral, the bells ring out and the piece University of Warwick. Over recent years he Bryan Hurdley is Resident Conductor. resounding conclusion. concludes with a great hymn of praise in the light of the newly risen sun. Four Spanish Impressions This work was specially composed for the © 1997 Rodney Newton Williams Fairey Band and is dedicated to James Gourlay and Léa Havas. As in the case After studying at the Royal College of Music of Martin Ellerby’s Evocations no actual folk James Gourlay was a member of the City of material is used but a Spanish atmosphere is Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the BBC

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principal conductor James Gourlay solo euphonium David Welsh resident conductor Bryan Hurdley second euphonium Ian Yates Also available on Chandos principal cornet Brian Taylor solo baritone Keith Muggeridge solo cornet Philip Chalk second baritone Nigel Beasley Alan Hobbins first trombone Brett Baker The Williams Fairey Gary Parker second trombone Andy Gillooly Band soprano cornet Alan Wycherley bass trombone Jim Cant Bone Idyll Iwan Fox E flat bass Shaun Crowther CHAN 4543 repiano cornet Rob Westacott Geoff Harrop second cornet Sean Conway B flat bass Derek Jackson Mark Peacock Gareth Johnson third cornet James Leggat percussion Jason Jones Ray Peacock Paul Lovatt-Cooper flugel horn Simon Stonehouse Stuart Peacock solo horn Sandy Smith Rodney Newton first horn Simon Jones band manager John Cresswell second horn Kevin Teers

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Producer Ralph Couzens Sound engineer & editor Jonathan Cooper Assistant engineer Richard Smoker Recording venue Dewsbury Town Hall; 29–30 June 1996 Front cover Flamenco Dancer. Photo by Nick White (Daily Telegraph Colour Library, London) Back cover Photo of the Williams Fairey Band by Tony Carter Design Guy Lawrence Booklet typeset by Michael White-Robinson James Gourlay Bryan Hurdley Copyright Boosey & Hawkes (Tracks 1 & 8); Derek Bourgeois (Track 2); Chandos Music Ltd (Tracks 3, 5, & 13–16); J. & W. Chester/Edition Wilhelm Hansen London Ltd (Track 4); Rakeway Music (Track 6); Intermusique, Martigny, Switzerland (Track 7); Studio Music (Tracks 9–12) PP 1997 Chandos Records Ltd PC 1997 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex, England Printed in the EU

10 CHANDOS SPANISH IMPRESSIONS: Williams Fairey Band/James Gourlay/Bryan Hurdley CHAN 4544 DDD 5:45 2:36 15:55 14:08 TT 67:39 * Printed in the EU * CHAN 4544 1997 Chandos Records Ltd. c * * † * Bryan Hurdley Jerónimo Giménez (1854 –1923) arr. James Gourlay La boda de Luis Alonso Winter Jaime Texidor arr. Aubrey Bonds of Friendship – Spanish March premier recording Martin Ellerby (b. 1957) Evocations premier recording Rodney Newton (b. 1945) Four Spanish Impressions The Williams Fairey Band James Gourlay DIGITAL 12 16 - - 1997 Chandos Records Ltd. 7 8 9 13 p 4:47 2:28 7:31 3:42 3:36 6:17 CHANDOS † * † solo flugelhorn † * solo cornet † England .

Essex

. Andalucia Simon Stonehouse Spanish Impressions Jaime Texidor (1885 –1957) arr. Aubrey Winter Amparito Roca Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) arr. Derek Bourgeois Alborada del gracioso Léo Delibes (1836–1891) arr. Gordon Langford Maids of Cadiz Brian Taylor Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) arr. Allan Street Ritual Fire Dance Georges Bizet (1838–1875) arr. Gordon Langford A Carmen Fantasy Enrique Granados (1867–1916) arr. Howard Snell bit 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 CHANDOS RECORDS LTD. Colchester

CHANDOS SPANISH IMPRESSIONS: Williams Fairey Band/James Gourlay/Bryan Hurdley

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