The death has been announced of the composer and arranger Gordon Langford. He passed away on Tuesday 18th April, aged 86.

Born Gordon Maris Colman, in Edgeware in Middlesex in 1930, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was persuaded by his piano teacher Moran Demuth to write under a pseudonym — subsequently changing his name to Gordon Colman Langford.

Test Card

Although best known for his melodic, cleverly structured brass band works and arrangements, he was also a highly respected composer of light orchestral music, an accomplished film score orchestrator and theatre composer.

His music was heard to accompany the famous BBC television 'Test Card' transmissions, whilst he gained further fame as the arranger of many of the greatest hits of the King Singers.

Ivor Novello Award

He won an Ivor Novello Award in 1971 for his 'March from the Colour Suite', and went on to make a huge impression on the banding movement in the early 1970s with a series of expertly written original works and arrangements of huge scope and versatility.

His 'Trombone Concerto' was written for the great Don Lusher in 1976, whilst the popular 'Sinfonietta for Brass Band' (1975) was subsequently used as the theme tune to the BBC television series 'Best of Brass'.

His output of influential concert works from 'All through the Night' to 'West Country Fantasy' was immense — each crafted with care, detail and an appreciation of the timbre and colour palette of the brass band medium.

Major works

Due to his prolific concert repertoire output, his major original compositions and arrangement commissions were somewhat underrated — such as his youth band work 'Metropolis' written in 1978, to the later 'Facets of Glass', 'Harmonius Variations', 'Three Haworth Impressions' and above all his 'Sinfonietta', with its beautiful, softly pulsating middle movement.

went on to make a huge impression on the banding movement in the early 1970s with a series of expertly written original works and arrangements of huge scope and versatility4BR

Adjudicator

Gordon Langford also adjudicated at a number of major brass band events — including Pontins and Spring Festival Grand Shield as well as the 1985 British Open Championship.

In 2011 he was nominated for a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) by the Governing Body of the Academy.