British Classics
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872 – 1958)
English Folk Song Suite (1923) [10:51]
Gustav HOLST (1874 – 1934)
First Suite for Military Band, Op. 28/1 (1909) [11:16]
Second Suite for Military Band, Op. 28/2 (1911) [11:36]
Percy Aldridge GRAINGER (1882 – 1961)
Lincolnshire Posy (1937) [16:09]
Ernest TOMLINSON (b. 1924)
Suite of English Folk Dances (1951, arr. composer 1999) [13:52]
Gordon LANGFORD (b. 1930)
Rhapsody for Trombone and Brass Band (1975) [12:48]
SAC Jonathan Hill (trombone)
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force/Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs
rec. RAF Music Studios, Northolt, London; 2014
CHANDOS CHAN10847 [77:07]
Heraclitus famously averred that you can’t step into the
same river twice but this is not the first time that both the RAF Central
Band and Chandos have stepped into these waters, albeit separately. The Band’s
earlier recordings were directed by Imogen Holst (Holst Collectors’ Edition,
Warner/EMI 4404712, 6 CDs - review)
and by Wing Commander Derek Banks, on budget-price Regis RRC1326 – review.
The previous Chandos album, on CHAN9697, from 1998, contains most of the same
music performed by the Royal Northern College of Music/Timothy Reynish.
My own benchmark for the Holst Suites, plus Hammersmith, and VW Folk
Song Suite, plus Toccata Marziale, comes from the London Wind Orchestra
conducted by Denis Wick on an ASV recording (Resonance CDRSN3006) available
over the years on various budget-price CDs but now download only: try
prestoclassical.co.uk or stream from Qobuz.
I owned that ASV recording on cassette, with a colourful cover, and again
on an ASV Quicksilver CD – a much plainer cover but the colour is in the music
and the performances and the recording have stood the test of time, still
sounding vivid.
By contrast with Wicks, Sir Adrian Boult’s recording of the orchestral version
of the English Folk Song Suite sounds a trifle staid (The Essential
Vaughan Williams, Warner/EMI 2079922, 2CDs – review,
or Warner/EMI 7640222, both at budget price).
Duncan Stubbs' timing for the first movement of the VW Suite is only seconds
slower than Wicks’, but the effect is to make the music sound broader, less
jaunty and with fewer risks taken. The effect is not unpleasing and it does
allow the three themes to be heard more clearly than I had ever noticed, where
they are juxtaposed. Although it’s entitled Seventeen come Sunday,
Dives and Lazarus and Pretty Caroline are in there too. In
the second movement Intermezzo, though the times are identical on paper
to within a second, the new recording again sounds slightly broader and here
I think that is to the advantage of the music. In the finale, as you might
expect for a march movement, the RAF band really come into their own.
I had to replay the first movement of Holst’s first suite to make sure that
the timing of 5:14 in the booklet wasn’t a misprint. Wicks takes just 3:49
and that has always seemed to me to be just right, with the pomp reserved
for the concluding maestoso section. Imogen Holst adopts a similar
tempo to Wicks, at 3:59. The new recording is too slow here although the
older Chandos version is almost as slow. I had no such reservations about
the rest of the suite, however: in the finale of No.2 Stubbs is even a shade
more lively than Imogen Holst and there’s very little to choose between him
and Wicks.
The major omission from the new recording is Hammersmith, but, thankfully,
we aren’t short of good recordings of that, including a Chandos all-Holst
programme conducted by Richard Hickox in 1994 (CHAN9420 – July
2012/1 DL Roundup) and Boult conducts Holst (Lyrita SRCD.222 –
review
and review).
If you are looking for the band version, it’s included on the older Chandos
recording, which I also listened to and enjoyed as downloaded from theclassicalshop.net
in lossless sound. It’s also available on a Mercury Living Presence recording
from the Eastman Wind and Frederick Fennell (4320092 – download only or on
a
Presto CD) (review
review).
Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy is a more than satisfactory substitute
for Hammersmith, though here again there is strong competition, from
the Eastman Wind Ensemble/Frederick Fennell which I reviewed
some time ago (Australian Eloquence 4802089) and Chandos’ own super-budget-price
introduction to their series of Grainger’s music which I made Bargain
of the Month (CHAN2029). Here again Stubbs tends to take a slightly broader
view of the music than Fennell or Richard Hickox, but not unduly so. If you
have either of those other recordings, I wouldn’t favour the new Chandos as
a replacement, but there’s not very much in it.
If you want Ernest Tomlinson’s attractive suite, either in the orchestral
original or the wind-band version, it’s Hobson’s choice: the new Chandos it
has to be. No matter, because the performance is very enjoyable. Nor is
there too much in the way of alternatives for the jaunty Gordon Langford Rhapsody
– here the main competition is from another Chandos album from the Williams
Fairey Band (CHAN4543, super-budget-price). Unless that programme attracts
you, there’s no reason not to go for the new recording.
The new Chandos recording is very good, especially in 24-bit format, as downloaded
from theclassicalshop.net,
but needs to be played at a rather higher volume than usual – a setting of
25 rather than 21 on one of my systems. The ASV recording is not now available
with its booklet but the much fuller new Chandos booklet contains detailed
and informative notes by Giles Easterbrook. Timothy Reynish’s notes for the
older Chandos are also pretty comprehensive.
My first choice for the Holst and VW suites remains with Denis Wicks, but
I appreciate that not everyone is prepared to download or, indeed, to pay
more for the privilege of doing so than when the recording was available on
super-budget CD and when it comes without notes – a subject of major irritation
to several of my colleagues and me. Both of the Chandos recordings make good
alternatives, despite my marginal reservations about both, mainly concerning
tempo. If the older recording were now to appear at a lower price, that would
offset the fact that it’s not available in 24-bit sound, though the CD-quality
16-bit sounds fine.
Brian Wilson
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