GLCD 5117 Bandstand in the Park Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC Bandstand in the Park BBC WIRELESS MILITARY BAND - NATIONAL BAND OF NEW ZEALAND - THE BAND OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS - CALLENDER’S SENIOR BAND - THE CAPITOL SYMPHONIC BAND - CENTRAL BAND OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE  - DEUTSCHMEISTER KAPELLE - BAND OF THE WELSH GUARDS - BAND OF THE IRISH GUARDS - ROYAL MILITARY SCHOOL OF MUSIC (KNELLER HALL) - BAND OF THE QUEEN’S ROYAL REGIMENT - THE “ALL STAR” CONCERT BRASS BAND Track 01 Soldiers In The Park Track 09 Frog King’s Parade

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There was a time when every self-respecting town would have its own bandstand as a proud feature of the main public park. Resorts – both inland and on the coast – would especially welcome such structures as evidence of their wish to offer cultural entertainment to the visitors they hoped to attract. Bandstands knew no national boundaries: they could be found just about everywhere and, despite their name, they were not confined to ensembles generally referred to as “bands”, but used for all kinds of musical entertainment. When unoccupied by musicians, they could provide shelter from the rain, or even serve as a skating rink, as more than one Hollywood musical confirmed.

Bandstands can still be found in public places, although sadly some have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Others are rarely used for their original purpose, except on very isolated occasions. Therefore it is all the more pleasing when one comes across such a venue being occupied for music-making, just as it would have been many years ago. Perhaps the ‘golden age’ for bandstands was during the first half of the last century, when professional musicians formed a far greater number of the total workforce.

Military bands are today, in some instances, a shadow of their former selves. Once they would have numbered fifty or sixty regular players, but now they often perform with less than half that number of musicians. Fortunately we can still marvel at the playing of a full military band through the recordings they made, and several tracks on this CD reveal them in all their splendour.

But not all bands were associated with the armed forces. There were (and happily still are) many fine concert bands, and in the early days of British broadcasting the Wireless Military Band soon built a fine reputation for its playing. Municipal orchestras sometimes performed as bands, and it has always been the custom for military band players to double on other instruments (including strings), thus allowing their ensembles to perform a more varied selection of musical works.

The first BBC broadcast of a military band was by the Band of the Irish Guards on 26 June 1923, but it was soon recognised that the amount of work on offer from the new radio service also necessitated the formation of a civilian band. Dan Godfrey (later to be famously linked with Bournemouth’s own orchestra) assembled in Manchester during 1923 the first such band specifically for broadcasting, and as conductor he engaged the first clarinet player of the Hallé Orchestra, a certain Harry Mortimer – but he should not be confused with the ‘other’ Harry Mortimer who was destined to become one of the biggest names in British band circles. Godfrey moved down to London in 1924 and formed the 2LO Military Band, but it became apparent that yet another broadcasting band was needed, and in 1927 the Wireless Military Band was formed and gave its first performance on 23 September 1927. B. Walton O'Donnell, formerly Director of Music of the Royal Marines at Deal, was the conductor, and he joined the Corporation on 7 June 1927. He continued as conductor until 1937, when he took over the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra, but died two years later.

The Wireless Military Band flourished from 1927 until its last performance on 16 March 1943. In 1936 it was renamed The BBC Military Band and record labels, which had hitherto called it “The BBC Wireless Military Band”, reflected this change. It had its own staff arranger, Gerrard Williams, and the repertoire was largely made up of orchestral works scored with great virtuosity. Lionel Monckton’s rousing Soldiers In The Park soon became associated with the band – and many others – thanks to its lyric ‘Oh, listen to the band…’ The four tracks in this collection confirm the band’s versatility, and they also illustrate how well recording engineers at the end of the 1920s were already faithfully capturing bands on wax – barely five years since electrical recording had been introduced.

The National Band of New Zealand deserves a special mention. First formed in 1953, it has been assembled every two to four years, and has undertaken many national and international tours including visits to Great Britain, Canada, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Russia, Greece, Japan and Australia. The band’s repertoire appeals to all ages and very early in its existence it took part in the 1953 celebrations for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – possibly the two HMV titles on this CD were recorded while they were in London. Frog King’s Parade certainly qualifies as light music: an orchestral version appears in the Bosworth Recorded Music Library.

The original Callender’s Senior Band was formed in 1898 as the Belvedere Baptist Temperance Band, and by 1907 all the musicians were working for Callender’s Cables (in Erith, Kent), which agreed to sponsor them, prompting a change of name. In the 1920s and 1930s they achieved success in the National Championships, leading to broadcasts and recordings. In 1945 the band became the BICC Band (when the company merged with another), and it continued to perform and broadcast until it was closed down in January 1961. It is interesting to compare the Band’s version of Dainty Lady with the 78 by Reginald King and his Light Orchestra included on GLCD5101. The composer on King’s disc is given as ‘Leo Peter’, whereas the Callender’s recording credits ‘Wright’. Recent research appears to suggest that ‘Leo Peter’ was a printing mistake on the label: the true composer is Kenneth Anthony Wright (1899-1975). He spent most of his life in various positions within the BBC (most notably, perhaps, as Personal Assistant to Sir Adrian Boult from 1930 to 1937). His prolific list of compositions includes works for many different ensembles, including full orchestras and brass and military bands, and he continued writing until near the end of his life.

Admirers of Service Bands will no doubt already be familiar with the famous names on this CD, so it is not proposed to go into any great detail in these notes. However one of the finest marches in more recent times must surely be the Royal Air Force March Past, composed by Dr. (later Sir) Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941). He was appointed Director of Music to the RAF in 1918, but like most servicemen, left the armed forces following the end of the First World War. However he composed his famous March before returning to civilian life; the ‘trio’ section of the march was added later by his successor, Major George Dyson. Davies was appointed Master of the King’s Musick in 1934.

Eric Coates (1886-1957) was such a successful composer in the early years of the last century, that it is hardly surprising to find that his music was popular with military bands. Although he himself said that his marches were not intended for marching (and his waltzes were not written for waltzing!), his London Bridge March seems to suit the famous Grenadier Guards so well.

The Eastbourne Municipal Orchestra was founded in 1898, to play in Devonshire Park as an orchestra - and on the seafront as a military band. In 1919 the Corporation decided to engage its own separate Military Band, which was formed in December 1920. It appears that an agreement was made with Captain H.G. Amers (1875-1944) to conduct both the Municipal Orchestra and the Band throughout the 1920s and 1930s, until he was forced to retire in 1935 through ill health. As an aside, he was the younger brother of Flight Lieutenant J.H. Amers (1866-1946) conductor of the RAF Band from 1920 to 1931.

The origins of the fabled Deutschmeister Band can be traced back as far as the 1680s, but its  golden age began during the last years of the 18th century, when Emperor Josef II ordered it to be stationed in Vienna, so delighted was he with its quality of music. To this day the Deutschmeister retains a premier status, although its existence was threatened following Austro-Hungary's defeat in the First World War. But such was the esteem in which Austrians had come to regard their Deutschmeister Band that public outcry demanded that it be preserved for posterity. And so the Band was retained in civilian guise to continue the art of playing those wonderful marches, waltzes and polkas which graced the Viennese capital. Many famous works by such noted composers as Johann Strauss, and Franz Lehar were written for the Band, which uses special instrumentation that most German bands employ, including Flugal horns, and flat snare drums. Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) composed a considerable amount of music (including several operettas) which is still highly regarded in his native Austria – his Auersperg March being typical. Czech-born Karl Komzak (1850-1905) was a composer who contributed profusely to the repertoire of the Band. Andreas Hofer March is of special interest since it incorporates a famous Tyrolean folk song written in commemoration of Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolean national patriot who rebelled against French invasion during the Napoleonic wars and was shot by a French war tribunal.

Clare Grundman (1913-1996) was an American composer and arranger remembered in his homeland especially for his compositions for bands, which touched the lives of generations of young musicians, and became standard repertoire.

Harry Mortimer CBE (1902-1992), was a giant in the British Brass Band world, affectionately known as “Mr. Man O’ Brass”. Originally a cornet player, he eventually conducted numerous brass bands plus the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. For many years he was the brass and military music supervisor of the BBC. His famous ‘All Star Brass Band’ made a number of recordings of light music for the Paxton records catalogue during the 1950s. Some were band arrangements of orchestral works, although the three chosen for this CD were probably intended purely as showcases for bands. Jack Beaver (1900-1963), composer of The Gay Cavalier was a ‘backroom boy’ who provided many scores for the Louis Levy organisation – in total he was responsible for over 100 films and documentaries. He was also a very prolific contributor to several different production music libraries, achieving success with Cavalcade of Youth and Picture Parade. Londoner Edrich Siebert (1903-1984) (he was born Stanley Smith Master) is a popular composer in the brass band world, with a vast number of works to his credit. He began his musical career in 1917 as a boy musician in the Cheshire Regiment, and returned to service life during the Second World War. From 1946 onwards he devoted himself entirely to arranging and composing, and his Three Jolly Sailormen was chosen by Harry Mortimer for his first recording session under his new contract with W. Paxton & Co. Siebert’s Over The Sticks was the signature tune of BBC Radio’s “Mid-day Music Hall”. Ronald Binge (1910-1979) was a prolific composer and arranger, but his lasting fame will probably be linked with the famous ‘cascading strings’ effect he created during a long association with the world famous conductor Mantovani. The same style was adapted by Binge for his Cornet Carillon, although it is interesting to note that he was starting to experiment with this sound as early as 1940 in a piece called The Choristers which is included on the Guild CD “Mantovani – By Special Request, Volume 2” (GLCD5113).

The final composer/conductor who deserves to be mentioned is Roger Barsotti, born in 1901 in London of Italian extraction. His career began as a flautist with the Hastings Municipal Orchestra, before joining the "Buffs" regiment as a band-boy in 1916 where he was soon promoted to Band Sergeant. Later he attended the Royal Military School of Music and was appointed bandmaster of the Queen's Royal Regiment in 1930, a position he occupied for fifteen years. Following retirement from the British army in 1946 after 30 years service, he took over the London Metropolitan Police Band – a post he held until 1968 when he became Musical Advisor to the Royal Parks. He wrote many works for military band, including at least thirty marches plus another forty or so assorted pieces including galops, xylophone solos, fanfares, piccolo solos, serenades and trombone features. For some years he contributed a series of mood music compositions to London publishers for their background music libraries, one of them (for Chappells) being his Metropolitan March, dedicated to London’s Metropolitan Police, which later achieved fame as the signature tune for the TV programme “Blott On The Landscape”.

The titles in this collection illustrate the wide diversity of music that can be discovered in the worlds of military and brass band music. All of it also comes into the category of ‘light music’, with many composers and arrangers happy to employ their talents in two vibrant sectors of the music scene.                     David Ades

Page revised 03.03.06