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Response to CD review
The producers of the CD "The History of Brass Band Music -
The Golden Era", SP&S, have asked 4BR to print their response
to our review in full.
Having read your review of The History of Brass band
Music – The Golden Era , I feel compelled to
respond, in defence of the project and of the individuals involved
in bringing the project to fruition. I have long been an admirer
and avid follower of your site, and have always enjoyed the
sense of independence brought to such things as reviews. One
thing regular visitors have come to expect from the site is
balance, but I'm afraid that seems to be something that has
been lost on this occasion.
First and foremost, one would expect that the prime objective
in a review of an audio recording, would be to pass on informative
comment on the content of that recording, bringing with it critical
comment on the standard achieved, and perhaps some observation
on what one might call the ‘packaging' – sleeve notes and design.
Instead, on this occasion, you have climbed aboard a rather lofty
soap-box and let rip. In doing so, you seem to have almost completely
forgotten the object of the exercise, dedicating only two sentences
to the content of the disc and the quality of performance. As a
result, if any of your readers wish to read a proper review, they
have no alternative but to seek it in the printed band journals.
Nevertheless, in order to bring some balance to your observations,
I feel compelled to respond.
At the outset, it should be acknowledged that this series – the
vision of Elgar Howarth and a ‘gift' he wishes to leave with the
band world for all time – is an exceptionally ambitious one. Whilst
to my knowledge nobody has ever attempted such a large undertaking
in the past (a series of six CDs), this will leave us with an ‘…inevitably
incomplete perspective' (Mr Howarth's words). The choice of music
is largely subjective and will no doubt lead to cries of dismay
as observers respond to what they may consider intolerable exclusions.
Nevertheless what will be provided will be a comprehensive perspective
of almost 150 years of musical development.
As I have already suggested, the driving influence in the project
is Elgar Howarth, and I really cannot accept the accusation of
muddled thinking. By and large, he has dictated both the overall
content, and the delineation between individual discs. Only on
the The Salvation Army Connection disc
has it been necessary to offer guidance on music choice – advice
readily sought and accepted by Mr Howarth. The suggestion that
the participation of Messrs Gay, Hindmarsh and Childs, together
with the Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band has created muddled
thinking born out of a bureaucratic approach is uninformed and
unfounded. Each of these participants has performed their own role,
with absolute clarity to the function of each. Indeed, if one were
to inspect the ‘credit list' on other recordings, one would find
a similar number of people involved, often including some or all
of those listed.
Allow me to address some of the specific criticisms made:
Why did the series commence with this disc?
The titles of each disc, already outlined in the review, make
it clear that this is not a series that takes a solely chronological
approach. It would therefore be impossible to run the series in
a chronological form. The reason for starting with this title has
correctly been spotted in the review, and there should be no embarrassment
on our part about this. From whichever perspective one views this
project, all of the stakeholders would share one common objective
about the first CD – to ensure it sells well. Whether one views
this from a commercial or artistic stance, all would agree that
they want the CD to be heard by as wide a range of people as possible.
In a series such as this, the role of the first disc – the launch
disc – is vital. It must have broad appeal, and must achieve commercial
success. Not to do so would risk the rest of the series. One does
not need too much musical imagination to understand that The
Golden Era will have more appeal than The
Early Years . Your review suggests that the choice
of this disc doesn't make sense. Well frankly, at this stage it
doesn't need to, as it is not until the end of the series that
we will have the full history. At that time we will have ‘the whole',
and only then will it make sense. Incidentally, I will not attempt
to justify the choice of the title The Golden Era as
this was chosen by Mr Howarth and I would not wish to put words
into his mouth. Suffice to say that the term ‘Era' is a time span
of indefinable length, and when one considers the list of classic
brass band repertoire originating from this period of time, it's
hard not to conclude that the era was in fact golden.
Do the sleeve notes do justice to the concept?
I'd have to accept that, with the benefit of hindsight, the answer
to this question is almost certainly ‘no'. This is not a comment
on the performance of Bram Gay, who always writes with flair and
panache, but rather in the way he was briefed. I'd like to think
that we have shown through projects on all of our labels in the
past ( The Heaton Collection is an obvious
one that springs to mind, but also last years Eric Ball releases
of Festival Music and Resurgam ),
that when the subject matter calls for it, in depth notes are provided
and budgetary requirements take second place. On this occasion
we got that judgement wrong, and I stick my hand up and take full
personal accountability for that. We will not make this mistake
again – the next release in the series is The Salvation
Army Collection (due for release at this year's British
Open), and Professor Ronald Holz is already assigned to that task.
The factual error on the date of birth of Cyril Jenkins is also
a matter for regret, and just goes down as one of those that ‘slipped
through the net'.
Is the project fatally undermined?
Your review suggests it may be – and clearly the review will not
have helped one bit – but no, I don't think it is. There has been
considerable demand to date for this recording and the next in
the series (named above) will be another high demand title. All
parties remain committed to seeing the series through, and ultimately
to the full set taking its place in the library of every music
faculty in the land.
In conclusion, as I said at the outset, the 4BR review lacks balance
(unusually so), and gives little by way of comment on the musical
content or performance. It would be interesting to read a review
of the review!! To read a proper review of the disc, I would refer
readers to the printed brass band journals that will hopefully
stick to the usual parameters.
In spite of all this, thanks to you for the invaluable job you
do for the wider brass band movement, the news service you offer,
and the refreshing insight often provided into all aspects of our
wonderful world of brass.
Yours sincerely
Trevor P. Caffull
Managing Director – SP&S/World of Brass
© 4BarsRest
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