4BR has been informed of the death of Bram Gay. He died at home in France on Friday 13th December, aged 89.
A remarkable musical polymath, he was born in Treorchy in south Wales in 1930, becoming something of a child prodigy on cornet after being taught by Reginald Little, the then conductor of Cory Band.
Talent
His talent was evident and following his first taste of the British Open at Belle Vue in 1943 he was auditioned by Harry Mortimer for the repiano cornet role at Foden's Motor Works Band.
In 1945 he won the prestigious Alexander Owen Memorial Fund Scholarship and succeeded Mortimer (who became his mentor and musical hero) as Foden's principal cornet, a role he held with distinction before he joined the Band of the Scots Guards as part of his National Service in 1949.
At the age of 23 he became principal trumpet of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and from there, in 1960, held the same position with the Halle, playing under Sir John Barbirolli and many of the great conductors of the era.
In 1969 he moved to London to become the lead trumpet player at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and subsequently its highly influential Orchestra Director from 1974 to 1995.
Love of brass bands
His love of brass banding never left him however, and as General Editor of Brass Band Music at Novello & Co. his insight and gifts of persuasion ensured that the repertoire was enriched enormously by composers such as Joseph Horovitz, John McCabe, Elgar Howarth, Philip Wilby, Michael Ball and Buxton Orr.
He was also confident in his own musical abilities, especially as an arranger and transcriber. His popular output included Joseph Horovitz's 'Music Hall Suite', Verdi's 'Sicillian Vespers', Elgar's 'Nursery Suite' and 'Wand of Youth' as well as Geoffrey Burgon's 'Narnia Suite' amongst others.
His own work, 'Four Fancies' was used at the 1973 Spring Festival, whilst he created a performing edition of 'The Severn Suite' for the 1996 British Open and followed it with a significant new version of Liszt's 'Les Preludes' which was used at the British Open in 2001.
Success
He also enjoyed success as a conductor — notably in his earliest days with John Thompson Works and later with Whitworth Vale & Healey (winning the Senior Cup in 1966) and Cory (from 1976 to 1978) where he claimed top-six finishes at both the British Open and National Finals.
He also led the band on their historic 1976 tour to the USA as part of the bi-centennial celebrations.
A forthright adjudicator, he judged at the European, National, British Open and Granada Band of Year events amongst many appointments both in the UK and abroad. His decisions were sometimes controversial, but were always backed by an iron-clad sense of musical appreciation, honesty and resolve.
Granada Band of the Year
In 1971 alongside Arthur Taylor he was responsible for the creation of the pioneering Granada Band of the Year contest — an event that gave brass bands invaluable television coverage and helped to revolutionise the scope of 'entertainment' repertoire through the likes of Elgar Howarth, Howard Snell and Ray Farr.
In the 1970s he produced several LP recordings for Grosvenor Records. Through his regular visits to Sweden he was able to record Solna Brass and also perform on an LP with them the Denis Wright 'Cornet Concerto'. Other bands he recorded were Brighouse & Rastrick, Cory and Carlton Main Frickley Colliery.
He was also the joint editor of the quarterly magazine 'Sounding Brass' and promoted the Palace Brass Band Festival in Manchester in 1988 — a forerunner to the later RNCM Brass Band Festival.
In 1971 alongside Arthur Taylor he was responsible for the creation of the pioneering Granada Band of the Year contest — an event that gave brass bands invaluable television coverage4BR
Influential
Bram Gay was an influential advisory voice behind the British Open Championships (helping enable the event to commission many new works for the event) and of the British Open Gala Concert which he promoted from the year 2000.
Diminutive in stature, but hugely influential, dedicated and committed to the brass cause, his opinions were always sought and respected, even if they did not always follow the current trends of popularity.
Happy retirement
Following his retirement he moved to France with his wife Margaret where they lived happily.
He continued to make occasional trips to the UK for the British Open in particular, and maintained a strong literary connection (a novel entitled 'Maestro' was published followed by his autobiography in 1995) through correspondence to the main brass band media outlets where he was a valued and eloquent writer of strongly held viewpoints.
