Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975)
Works for Brass Band
Black Dyke Band / John Wilson
rec. 2024, Dewsbury Town Hall, Dewsbury, UK
Chandos CHSA5344 SACD [70]
Brass Bands – and, indeed, Silver Bands, too – are inextricably entwined with British social and industrial history. Many of them were formed for recreational purposes by workers at a particular factory or colliery and the Brass Band tradition is a proud one. In recent years, as factories and coal mines have shut, the ties with the original business around which bands were formed have loosened. Black Dyke Band, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005, was linked for decades with John Foster’s Black Dyke mill in the small Yorkshire town of Queensbury, which lies on a hill top between Bradford and Halifax. When I was growing up in that area some decades ago, the band was synonymous with the Brass Band movement; it’s still one of the elite bands, of course.
The title of this disc is not quite what it seems. It will be noted from the list of contents that only two of the pieces here recorded by Black Dyke Band and John Wilson, their President, were conceived by Sir Arthur Bliss for brass band; the other pieces have been arranged for the medium by other hands.
Both of the original works were written as test pieces for the prestigious National Brass Band Competition, Kenilworth for the 1936 contest and the Belmont Variations for the 1963 competition; the Four Dances from Checkmate were arranged by Eric Ball to serve as the test piece for the 1978 contest. Naturally, test pieces are intended to show off the prowess and technical accomplishment of every section of competing bands and Bliss certainly delivered the goods. Kenilworth has three movements. ‘At the Castle Gates’ begins as a festive march but then a slower romantic passage (in which, in this performance, the players’ expert vibrato is a wonderful asset) leads seamlessly into ‘Serenade on the Lake’. Bliss’s marking, reproduced in the booklet, is Fairly slowly, with solos very expressive; here, the various Black Dyke soloists obey that instruction to the letter. This is a dreamily romantic movement. To conclude, Bliss offers ‘March: Kenilworth (Homage to Queen Elizabeth)’ This is a quick, vital march which Wilson and the band deliver with splendid swagger.
Though The Belmont Variations is a highly effective test piece it seems somewhat more sober than one might expect. In his excellent notes Andrew Burn references a thesis by Stephen Arthur Allen as to why this might be so. In brief, the town of Belmont, Massachusetts is the birthplace of Trudy, Lady Bliss. It was there that the Bliss family resided for some months when at the outbreak of the Second World War they were stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Bliss was torn between his strong desire to return to the UK to ‘do his bit’ and his reluctance either to expose his family to the perils of a transatlantic voyage or to leave them behind in the USA. Allen suggests that these memories came flooding back to Bliss when he composed The Belmont Variations more than twenty years later. Somewhat sober the piece may be in places by comparison with Kenilworth, but it still amply fulfils the requirement to put bands on their mettle. Incidentally, Bliss enlisted the help of Frank Wright, an eminent figure in the brass band world, to score the piece. After the theme has been stated, there are six variations and a finale. In this performance, I much admired the smooth, cultivated playing in Variation I. Variation III, marked Slow and expressive, is rather melancholy with what sounds like an occasional tint of the Blues in the harmonies. Variation IV, a waltz, includes ad lb cadenzas for cornet, euphonium and trombone midway through; all are excellently done here. Variation VI lets us hear really sophisticated, gentle playing from the members of Black Dyke and then the Finale is all brilliance and brio. The Belmont Variations gives a thorough work-out to every section of the band. This Black Dyke performance is an absolute winner.
All the remaining music on the disc consists of brass band arrangements of orchestral music by Bliss. The Four Dances from Checkmate, in Eric Ball’s arrangement, ends the programme but I’ll deal with it now because Ball’s arrangement was made for the 1978 National Championship. Ball took four choice movements from the Checkmate suite. I think he did a terrific job in transferring the music to the brass band medium. The brilliant music of ‘Dance of the Four Knights’ is completely convincing in this new guise; the music is no less vivid than the original. Andrew Burn aptly describes ‘The Red Knight’s Mazurka’ as “testosterone-fuelled”; the Black Dyke performance is full of bravado. In the slow music of ‘Ceremony of the Red Bishops’ the rich vibrato of the band’s instruments enhances the solemnity of the music. Finally, ‘Checkmate’ is very exciting and dramatic; here, the full power of the brass band is unleashed to thrilling effect.
Music from another of Bliss’s fine ballets, Adam Zero is heard in a 2023 arrangement by Robert Childs. There are five short movements and it seems to me that all of them work very well in the brass band medium. In particular, ‘Dance of Spring’ seems to me to make very interesting and imaginative use of the variety of textures available in a brass band; furthermore, this Black Dyke performance is full of virtuosity. The following movement, ‘Approach of Autumn’ again exploits band textures inventively but this time in quieter music; here. the bass and tenor registers of the band are particularly significant. As I say, this arrangement strikes me as a complete success. Robert Childs clearly knows brass bands inside out; I may be wrong but I believe he is the brother of Black Dyke Band’s current Conductor, Nicholas Childs.
Things to Come is probably Bliss’s most notable film score. Bliss was unwittingly dragged into some difficulties when he was writing the score – though one would not know it from hearing the music; anyone wanting to know more about this fascinating episode in the composer’s life will find it chronicled in Paul Spicer’s excellent biography of Bliss (review). Bliss made a concert suite from the film score and in 2016 Philip Littlemore took four of the movements and arranged them for brass band. This is another case where I think the arrangement works very well indeed. In the light-footed ‘Ballet for Children’ the members of Black Dyke Band produce fabulously precise playing; I love the variety of timbres on show in Littlemore’s scoring. The third movement is ‘Reconstruction’, the melody of which has a distinctly Elgarian hue to it. The mellow sound of the brass band emphasises this noble aspect. The set ends with the famous March. All I can say is that this march seems to be a natural fit for brass band; the music could have been written for the medium.
The only music in this programme that I did not previously know is Music from The Royal Palaces; indeed, I suspect the music may be unknown even to most Bliss devotees. I learned from Andrew Burn’s notes that this is incidental music for a television programme, The Royal Palaces of Britain, a co-production between the BBC and ITV, which was broadcast on Christmas Day, 1966; the narration was by Kenneth Clark I’m not entirely clear if the music here recorded is a suite from the incidental music or is the complete score. The music was arranged for brass band in 2023 by Michael Halstenson. Unlike the other arrangements of orchestral music on this disc, I’m not in a position to comment as to the efficacy of the arrangement because I’ve never heard the original. However, it seems wholly convincing. The five movements begin with ‘Queen Victoria’s Call to the Throne’. Andrew Burn rightly characterises this as a “regal march” but some may be surprised by the rather gentle nature of the music. I suspect Bliss was seeking to remind us that Victoria was but a young woman when she was called upon to serve her country – and empire – as Queen. ‘The Ballroom in Buckingham Palace’ is a waltz, which illustrates the gaiety of many of the functions which have been held there over the decades. ‘Joust of the Knights in Armour (George IV’s Reign)’ begins in subdued vein, as the knights ready themselves for the jousting, but soon the music is full of brilliance. Holyrood House, the royal palace in Edinburgh, is illustrated by a musical depiction of the murder of David Rizzio, the secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. The biting and dramatic music is played with exciting incisiveness by the Black Dyke musicians. Finally, we hear ‘The Royal Palace Theme’, a majestic march which benefits hugely from the sonorous sound of this band. I wouldn’t describe Music from The Royal Palaces as top-drawer Bliss but it’s worth hearing, especially when arranged so effectively and played as excellently as is here the case/
The piece which opens the disc is another arrangement by Michael Halstenson – I wonder if both of his arrangements were undertaken specifically for this recording. This time, it’s the short march Welcome the Queen which Bliss wrote in 1954 to accompany a Pathe News film about the return to the UK of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip from an extended Commonwealth tour. It was his first assignment after succeeding Bax as Master of the Queen’s Musick (he preferred the arcane spelling). The march is a splendid example of Bliss’s ceremonial music and it works really well as a piece for band.
This is a really exciting disc. The playing of Black Dyke Band displays virtuosity of the highest order; I bet John Wilson thoroughly enjoyed conducting them. My excitement was enhanced by the magnificent recorded sound, engineered by Ralph Couzens. I never ventured into Dewsbury Town Hall in all the years I lived in Yorkshire, but it seems to be an ideal venue for this type of recording project. Interestingly, I notice that back in 1991 when the band recorded a disc of music by George Lloyd, recently reviewed by Jonathan Woolf, the same venue was used. The Chandos sound is superb; it has all the impact and presence the music needs and all elements of the band have been recorded clearly and in excellent balance.
Andrew Burn’s notes are a mine of useful information; I just wish Chandos had printed them in a less miniscule font.
This outstanding disc will be self-recommending to all admirers of Bliss’s music and to brass band devotees. If you’re not in either of those categories, give it a try anyway; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
John Quinn
Previous review: Nick Barnard (September 2024)
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
Contents
Welcome the Queen, F 95 (1954)
arr. for Brass Band (2023) by Michael Halstenson (b. 1956)
Kenilworth, F 13 (1936)
Suite from Adam Zero, F 1 (1946)
arr. for Brass Band (2023) by Dr Robert Childs (b 1957)
Things to Come, F 131 (1934-35)
arr. for Brass Band (2016) by Philip Littlemore (b 1967)
The Belmont Variations, F 10 (1962)
arr. by Frank Wright
Music from The Royal Palaces, F 128 (1966)
arr. for Brass Band (2023) by Michael Halstenson
Four Dances from Checkmate, F 2 (1937)
arr. for Brass Band (1978) by Eric Ball (1903-1989)
