George Lloyd (1913-1998)
The Works for Brass
Contents listed after review
Equale Brass Quintet (Triptych); John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band/David King
rec. 1984, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK (Triptych); 1991, Dewsbury Town Hall, UK
Lyrita SRCD425 [76]
Those who are familiar with the symphonies of George Lloyd will not need me to point out that his writing for orchestral brass is consistently interesting. However, as Paul Conway notes in his excellent booklet essay, Lloyd only began to write works exclusively for brass quite late in his career. This despite the fact that he grew up with the sound of brass bands in his native Cornwall and played the cornet during his wartime service in the Royal Marines.
The work which seems to have set him on his way in the brass medium is the last one on this disc but I think it makes sense to start chronologically with A Miniature Triptych. This was composed at the request of the artists who play it on this 1984 recording: Equale Brass. This quintet was led by John Wallace, who at that time was principal trumpet of the Philharmonia; his four colleagues also played in the orchestra. Paul Conway tells us that Lloyd got to know quite a number of Philharmonia members when they played and recorded his music under Edward Downes. The three movements of the piece are entitled ‘Lost’, ‘Searching’ and ‘Found’. I like Paul Conway’s description of the first movement as “ruminative and bathed in half-lights”. The second movement contains agile, tense music which requires, and here receives, great precision. Lloyd’s writing is so skilful that I had the distinct, if erroneous, impression that I was listening to rather more than five players. The final movement opens with a trombone solo which is somewhat akin to a recitative; thereafter the music is extrovert. I enjoyed A Miniature Triptych, though I didn’t find it as appealing as some of the other pieces on the disc; I think that’s a question of the comparatively spare textures, though the playing of Equale Brass is superbly incisive.
Lloyd went on to compose his Tenth Symphony ‘November Journeys’, a work written for symphonic brass, in 1981-82 (review). It was only then that he turned to the brass band medium.
Not long ago, I reviewed a spectacular disc of brass band music by Sir Arthur Bliss. That was played by the Black Dyke Band, directed by their current president, John Wilson. Whether coincidentally or not, the recording venue was Dewsbury Town Hall, where most of the contents of this present disc were set down in 1991. 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 Halifax, where I grew up, and Bradford. The mill, which manufactured worsted cloth, was established in the mid-nineteenth century and the band which bore its name was originally a leisure activity for workers there; Foster himself played French horn in the band in its earliest days. I understand that the company behind Black Dyke Mills went into administration in 1989 and the assets, including the famous mill (which still exists), were sold off. Thus, the link between band and factory was broken and at some stage, presumably after these recordings of George Lloyd’s music were made, the name was shortened to Black Dyke Band. It’s a shame that the link with the old industrial heritage is no longer explicit but at least the famous band continues to flourish.
For these recordings the band was conducted by David Evans who, I presume, was their Conductor at the time; I think he may have succeeded Major Peter Parkes. I’ve not been able to discover much about his tenure beyond that he was the Black Dyke conductor when they won the European Brass Band Championship in 1990 and again in 1991.
The earliest of the works that Black Dyke play is Royal Parks (1984). I learned from Paul Conway that this was composed for the European Brass Band Championships in 1985 and it was in fact Black Dyke and Major Peter Parkes who premiered it. The three movements depict various aspects of Regent’s Park in London, an area which Lloyd knew well; he lived nearby. ‘Dawn Flight’ evokes, according to Conway, “the sounds of birds flying over the composer’s flat in the early morning”. The myriad busy figurations on all instruments illustrate the fluttering of wings. The suite closes with ‘Holidays’, a jaunty march-like movement with a ‘cheeky chappie’ air to it. In between comes a movement of much greater substance, ‘Memoriam’. This, Paul Conway tells us, was Lloyd’s musical response to the tragic event in 1982 when an IRA bomb killed seven young soldiers, members of the Royal Green Jackets band, as they played in Regent’s Park. Lloyd had gone to the scene to investigate the commotion and the awful scene brought back to him his experiences when HMS Trinidad, on which he was serving, was torpedoed and sank in 1941. After witnessing the aftermath of the Regent’s Park atrocity, it was some time before he could bring himself to write music again and when he did so he penned this tribute. Originally, ‘Memoriam’ was conceived for orchestra. It has been recorded in that version and when I reviewed the disc in 2014 I commented: “It strikes me as a deeply felt, dignified piece which impresses not least on account of its restraint. There’s an Elgarian quality to the music”. In fact, I find the brass band version even more moving; that’s to do with the timbres of the band which convey so well the sorrowful dignity of this largely subdued piece.
Paul Conway tells us that Diversions on a Bass Theme (1986) was composed because a number of bands had commented that they felt Royal Parks was insufficiently challenging. The piece was commissioned by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation, perhaps reflecting how deeply intertwined were the coal industry and the brass band movement. I confess I’d not heard of this charity but it still operates, even despite the demise of the British coal industry, supporting retired miners and mining communities. Challenged by the brass bands, Lloyd set out to write a work which would really test those who played it; it sounds as if he succeeded. The piece gives every section of the band a proper work out yet the music remains attractive; it’s certainly an inventive composition. It’s meat and drink to a virtuoso band like Black Dyke
English Heritage (1987) was commissioned by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. Though not designed as a competition test piece it was used for that purpose at the 1990 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. It has three sections played without a break. The longest section, ‘Fanfare’ contains, as you might expect, a good deal of virtuoso brilliance. The ‘Largo’ is a short and rather beautiful meditation, mostly in subdued vein. ‘Finale’ is predominantly lively and witty.
The other two pieces date from 1991 and both, if you will, roll back the years. H.M.S. Trinidad March was written in 1941 when Lloyd was serving as a Royal Marines bandsman on the eponymous ship. He was invited to do so by the bandmaster. Originally, it was composed for military band but when, after the War, his wife, Nancy took him to live and recuperate in Switzerland Lloyd arranged the march for orchestra. It has been recorded in that version and I see from the notes accompanying that CD that the orchestral version was broadcast in 1946 by Ernest Ansermet and the Suisse Romande Orchestra. I liked the march when I reviewed the recording of the orchestral score. However, I prefer the brass band scoring, which Lloyd produced in 1991. The march sounds well in orchestral dress – though it’s noticeable how prominent the brass parts are – but the music seems to suit a brass band even more. Also, comparing the two recordings, the Black Dyke performance is fractionally quicker, to the music’s benefit. This is just the sort of thing to put a spring into the marchers’ steps.
Evening Song (1991) represents even more of a rolling back of the years Paul Conway relates that when Lloyd was composing his opera John Socman in 1951, his father dug out a little carol that George had written at the age of ten and forgotten about. He duly incorporated it into the opera at one or two points. Then, in 1989 he incorporated the melody into a two-piano piece to which he gave the title Eventide. What we hear on this disc, under the title Evening Song, is a brass band arrangement, by the composer, of that piano piece. I’m not familiar with the piano piece but I think the brass band version is jolly effective. Rather like ‘Memoriam’, the piece is slow and mainly subdued. The colours of the brass band suit the music to a tee; the brass band medium conveys perfectly the nostalgia and innocence of the piece. I really like it.
This is a super disc. The music is consistently engaging and it’s expertly conceived for brass. The playing of both Equale Brass and of Black Dyke is superb; the virtuosity is amazing, as is the quality of the musicianship. The recordings are excellent; the 1984 recording of the brass quintet is ideally clear while the 1991 band recordings offer full, impactful sound which allows all sections of the band to come though clearly.
This is a most attractive and welcome addition to Lyrita’s George Lloyd ‘Signature’ series.
Previous review: Jonathan Woolf (July 2024)
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Contents
Royal Parks (1984)
Diversions on a Bass Theme (1986)
Evening Song (1991)
H.M.S. Trinidad March (1941, arr. 1991)
English Heritage (1987)
A Miniature Triptych (1981)
