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A Tribute to Elgar, Delius & Holst A Tribute to Elgar, Delius and Holst 18:31 While the serious repertoire of brass bands is with a note saying, ‘Nos 1, 3 and 6 would Elgar, arr. Gordon Langford (from Suites 1 & 2, Op. 1a & 1b) not without its glories, it is not over-endowed make a very useful Suite for orchestra alone, with compositions by great British composers. or for piano – duet or solo’. Novello’s, 1 Overture, Op. 1a 1:32 That the illustrious names of Elgar doubtful that the songs would sell in any 2 Serenade, Op. 1a 2:20 (1857–1934) and Holst (1874–1934) are form, rejected them. 3 Minuet, Op. 1a 2:28 numbered among the few who have written It was the spring of 1896 before the small 4 Fairies and Giants, Op. 1a 3:04 one-off pieces specially for this medium is a publishing house of Joseph Williams issued 5 March, Op. 1b 4:06 matter for pride, and was also a great the songs, the words had undergone 6 The Tame Bear, Op. 1b 2:48 incentive for later luminaries, such as Bliss, extensive revision. This was just in time for 7 Wild Bears, Op. 1b 1:57 Ireland, Howells, Vaughan Williams and a host their first performance at Worcester, 8 March Caprice 3:40 of lesser lights, who have made distinguished conducted by the composer. A year later, the Delius, arr. Gordon Langford contributions to band literature. which Elgar had There is all the more reason, therefore, to recommended for orchestal use had their first 9 5:48 Overture in D minor welcome the faithful transcriptions made performance at Crystal Palace. Novello’s, who (from ‘Chandos’ Anthem No. 2) specially for this recording of compositions by had turned up its nose at the songs, Handel, arr. Elgar/Langford both Elgar and Holst (and of one arrangement published the dances in 1907. The music’s 10 Ballet ‘The Perfect Fool’, Op. 39 10:51 by Elgar), and also by Frederick Delius whose lively outgoing spirit and strong melodic Holst, arr. Peter Parkes music has not hitherto been widely available outline transfers well to the all-brass Three Bavarian Dances 13:42 for bands. instrumentation. Elgar, arr. Peter Parkes Elgar’s idea for Scenes from the Bavarian In June 1907 Elgar faced his fiftieth Highlands, six choral songs with orchestra, birthday. He had weathered a difficult year. 11 The Dance 4:25 arose from some lyrics imitative of Bavarian Illness and financial pressures plagued him, 12 Lullaby 3:46 folksongs. These were written by his wife Alice, depression was a regular companion, and, 13 The Marksman 5:24 who was something of a poet, when the apart from his two symphonies, the Violin TT 52:57 couple spent a carefree seven-week holiday at and Cello Concertos and mature chamber Garmisch, in the Bavarian Highlands, in 1894. music, most of his best work was behind John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band By April 1895 Elgar had completed the him. Searching nostalgically through his Major Peter Parkes music and sent it to his publisher Novello childhood sketch books, he came across

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some little tunes that he had written as a from them a suite which he called The Wand a letter to Adrian Boult he wrote: Black Dyke Mills Band) by producing twelve- or fourteen-year-old (nobody is really of Youth. At the time of a self-confidence I am lonely and do not see music in the old way A Moorside Suite which some experts claim sure) for an unfinished play which he and his crisis this decision marked a crossroads in and cannot believe I shall complete any new to be the greatest compositional achievement brothers and sisters planned to enact for his creative life. work. Sketches I still make but there is no for this medium. Just as ill-informed their parents. As he worked on these, his earliest inducement to finish anything: ambition I have bandsmen in 1928 were puzzled by the In the form of an allegory, ‘occasioned by compositions, lightly amending and adding none… apparent simplicity of this work (not a the imaginary despotic rule of my mother some new material, he somehow released the During the twenties Elgar was more or less semiquaver in sight!), the first-night audience and father’, it described a world inhabited by inspiration for a magnificent tune which was silent. Public taste had veered from the at Covent Garden for his opera The Perfect fairies, giants, moths and butterflies that lay to launch him into the composition of his nobility of his kind of music. He felt alone Fool in 1923 felt ill-at-ease with the strange behind the stream at the foot of their long-awaited First Symphony: a turn of and rejected. plot and the light-hearted parodies of Broadheath garden. Elgar wrote that events which, earlier that year, he would not In 1923, among a few slight pieces, he Wagner and nineteenth-century opera in it was proposed to show that children were not have believed possible. orchestrated Handel’s Overture in D minor general. But the ballet music was well properly understood. The scene was a Henry Wood conducted the premiere of (from the Second ‘Chandos’ Anthem). received, with its brilliantly orchestrated ‘Woodland Glade’, intersected by a brook; the The Wand of Youth at Queen’s Hall, London I had known the overture from the two-stave dances for the spirits of earth, water and fire. hither side of this was our fairyland; beyond, on 14 December 1907. By the middle of organ arrangement since I was a little boy and A wizard summons the earth spirits with a small and distant, was the ordinary life which we 1908 a second symphony was in conception. always wanted it to be heard in a large form – invocation, rising furiously then forgot as soon as possible. The characters on Again it was a trying time for Elgar who, on the weighty structure is (to me) so good – epic. descending with great deliberation: a crossing the stream entered by fairyland. 15 July, wrote to his friend Walford Davies: ‘I Elgar conducted the London Symphony gripping start. From there the music tells its Our orchestral means were meagre: a am covering sheets of paper to no end’. Orchestra in the arrangement’s first own tale. pianoforte, two or three strings, a and Despite this, the Wand of Youth No. 2 performance at the Worcester Festival that Delius, (1862–1934), one of the greatest some improvised percussion were all we could emerged and had its first performance at the year. He surely would have approved the idea of post-impressionist composers, is said to depend upon; the double-bass was of our own Worcester Festival in September of that year. of a transcription for brass band, a medium have been an Englishman by accident of manufacture and 3lbs of nails went into its For this recording Gordon Langford has for which, seven years later, he was to birth alone. Born in Bradford – not all that making… But we had this gorgeous imagination chosen movements from both suites, compose The Severn Suite, commissioned (at far from the ‘Dyke’ bandroom – in 1862 of of youth, and the ubiquitous piano became a including the bustling Overture, the Minuet a cost of £150) for and used as the test- German parents, he was steeped in whole battery of percussion, a whole choir of (in the old style) and the rumbustious ‘Wild piece at the National Brass Band Scandinavian lore, travelled much to Norway brass or an array of celestial harps as demanded Bears’, based on a tune which found its way Championships. and Germany, and, at the age of twenty-two by the occasion. into a quadrille (a kind of square dance) that Holst’s exalted place in the repertoire of left England for Florida to grow oranges and The pleasant memories evoked by these Elgar wrote for the Powick Asylum Band, brass band music is assured. In 1928 he to escape the family’s Bradford-based wool childhood sketches spurred Elgar into action. which he conducted for seven years. responded to a request to write a piece for business. Eventually he made his home at He determined to rework them with the Alice Elgar’s death, in April 1920, the National Brass Band Championships at Grez-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, in maturity of his adult experience, compiling removed the composer’s prime motivation. In the Crystal Palace (won, incidentally, by the France.

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Marche Caprice, written in 1888, is what instantly to the soul of the listener… that is Delius would have called an ‘apprentice a thing of instinct and should never be piece’ and one by which he would have set complicated’. no real store. Nevertheless, it fits well with Delius’s dictum that ‘music should appeal © Peter Wilson

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Recording producer Brian Couzens Sound engineer Ralph Couzens Assistant engineer Philip Couzens Recording venue Dewsbury Town Hall; 30 June & 1 July 1985 Front cover Detail from Midsummer Eve by Edward Robert Hughes (1851–1914) Design Michael White-Robinson Booklet typeset by Michael White-Robinson Copyright Chandos Music Ltd p 1988 Chandos Records Ltd c 2001 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex, England Printed in the EU

Morning Cloud CHAN 4534

6 7 CHAN 4507 Inlay.qxd 16/7/07 11:38 am Page 1 A TRIBUTE TO ELGAR, DELIUS & HOLST – John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band A TRIBUTE TO ELGAR, DELIUS & HOLST – John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band

CHANDOS DIGITAL CHAN 4507

A Tribute To Elgar, Delius & Holst

The Wand of Youth 18:31 Elgar, arr. Gordon Langford (from Suites 1 & 2, Op. 1a & 1b) 1 Overture, Op. 1a 1:32 Three Bavarian Dances 13:42 2 Serenade, Op. 1a 2:20 Elgar, arr. Peter Parkes 3 Minuet, Op. 1a 2:28 11 The Dance 4:25 4 Fairies and Giants, Op. 1a 3:04 12 Lullaby 3:46 5 March, Op. 1b 4:06 13 The Marksman 5:24 6 The Tame Bear, Op. 1b 2:48 TT 52:57 7 Wild Bears, Op. 1b 1:57

8 March Caprice 3:40 John Foster Black Dyke Delius, arr. Gordon Langford Mills Band Major Peter Parkes DDD 9 Overture in D minor 5:48 (from ‘Chandos’ Anthem No. 2) Handel arr. Elgar/Langford

10 Ballet ‘The Perfect Fool’, Op. 39 10:51 Holst, arr. Peter Parkes HN4507 CHAN 4507 CHAN CHANDOS CHANDOS

CHANDOS RECORDS LTD p 1988 Chandos Records Ltd c 2001 Chandos Records Ltd Colchester . Essex . England Printed in the EU