To take up where the 46th of these bundles
left off, here are three brass band composers of the present day. DENZIL
STEPHENS is well respected as a conductor and arranger in that field;
his solo Rhapsody for euphonium was recorded and also other titles
like Fiddle-de-de and Papercase, STUART JOHNSON is best
known for his work for young musicians - his more main-stream compositions
for brass, in an attractive eclectic style, include Ceramic City
Festival, A Circus Suite ("Bareback Riders"), A Northumbrian
Suite and Bandstand Boogie. WILLIAM RELTON is well known
as an conductor, arranger and broadcaster; his compositions are mainly
light in character and include Chevalier d'Honneur, Trumpetistics
and The Trouble With the Tuba Is, the latter two featuring solo
instruments.
Moving a little further back in time it is salutary
to recall how much music, mainly light music, was provided by members
of British orchestra during the period of roughly 1895-1950. One thinks,
among many others, of BYRON BROOKE, leader and assistant conductor of
the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra, dealt with in an earlier Garland;
or of Eric Coates, sometime a viola player in Henry Wood's Queen's Hall
Orchestra, whose Miniature Suite, his first major light orchestral
composition received its premiere at a 1911 Prom; or of PAT
RYAN, Hallé Orchestra clarinettist around
mid-century; or REGINALD DUNNING, pianist of the Torquay Municipal Orchestra,
whose "historical panorama "Torre Abbey" I recall hearing premiered
by the TMO in April 1949; or finally of T.H. FREWIN, a first violin
in the Queen's Hall Orchestra, who produced, more or less light orchestral
novelties, for each of the first four seasons of the Henry Wood Proms:
The Battle of the Flowers (1895), a ballad, Mazeppa (1896),
the sketches, The Seven Ages (1897) and an overture, Bellona
(1898). These have not survived but perhaps we would not expect
them to. Wood always encouraged his players to write music that he found
to be "always entertaining and written in a practical manner".
Our ballad composer in this Garland is GODFREY NUTTING,
active around the time of the Great War, whose ballads included Ennisthorne,
In My Little Garden, Through the Sunrise, My Dream, You, Just You, Dear,
And I, Sing!, Sing!, birds on the wing!, recently recorded,
and both dated 1915 - A regret and I have your heart
JACK HELLYER was active as an arranger and composer
through the 1950s and 1960s. His original compositions were for light
orchestra (eg Fiesta Gondoletta and Pyrotechnics), military
band Three of a Kind and Tricky Trombone) and for brass,
Treble Trombones - a trio of course - and a bass solo (for either
E Flat or even B Flat instrument, apparently), Down At the Deep End.
From roughly the same period, 1958 in fact, I have come across mention
of a piece by EILEEN KINSLEY, entitled The Musical Earwig, played
by the Billy Mayerl Rhythm Ensemble, but I have still to discover whether
she was a musical successor of these female Billy Mayerl equivalents
Desiree Macewan, Raie da Costa and Patricia Rossborough.
© Philip L. Scowcroft
Philip's book 'British Light Music Composers' (ISBN 0903413 88 4) is
currently out of print.
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