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George Lloyd: The Works for Brass
£10.99
In stock
Catalogue Number
SRCD425
- available to download and stream from all Digital Platforms
George Lloyd was very familiar with music for brass from an early age. One of his first musical recollections was listening with rapt attention to a Salvation Army Band with his mother in St Ives. As a student, he attended regularly brass band concerts at London’s Crystal Palace, where he heard the premiere of John Ireland’s A Downland Suite at the National Band Festival Competition on 1 October 1932. Lloyd played the cornet when serving as a Bandsman in the Royal Marines, giving him invaluable practical experience as an executant within a group of players. His scoring for the brass section in his large-scale works is invariably idiomatic, impressively wrought and indicates a keen understanding of all the instruments’ range, character and versatility. Yet, despite all these indications that he was a natural composer of brass band music, he turned to writing music for brass instruments only in the last two decades of his creative life.
Though music for brass band was the last major genre Lloyd added to his catalogue of works, his enthusiasm for the medium, once he had embraced it, was unstinting. The wide popularity of his music within the brass band movement was an enduring source of considerable pride and satisfaction for George Lloyd, as he once confessed: ‘To realise that the people who are actually doing it, the players themselves … seem to like it, that is what pleases me the most’. © Paul Conway
Manufacturer: Wyastone Estate Limited, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, NP25 3SR
Email: sales@wyastone.co.uk
Reviews:
"George Lloyd’s brass works fit snugly onto one CD, not least because they contain a previously unreleased 1984 recording of A Miniature Triptych. They’re issued here in the ‘Signature Edition’ and derive from Albany recordings with the exception of that recording making its first appearance on disc." Jonathan Woolf, musicweb-international.com [read complete review]
"The playing throughout is brilliant with all concerned sounding as though they are enjoying themselves thoroughly, and so they should!" Paul RW Jackson, British Music Society
" It does. As Paul Conway surmises in his informative notes, any reticence on Lloyd’s part in writing for brass band likely derives from his wartime traumas – which does not make those works he eventually wrote any less idiomatic or distinctive. Not least as David King gets so laudable a response from the then John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band; also, Equale Brass in a recording seemingly left ‘in the can’ the past four decades. As with composers such as John McCabe, Edward Gregson or John Pickard, one overlooks Lloyd’s band music at one’s peril." Richard Whitehouse, Arcana
" George Lloyd’s brass works fit snugly onto one CD, not least because they contain a previously unreleased 1984 recording of A Miniature Triptych. They’re issued here in the ‘Signature Edition’ and derive from Albany recordings with the exception of that recording making its first appearance on disc... Once again, Paul Conway’s notes tell you everything you need to know and this uniform Lloyd edition continues happily on its way." Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
"The wonderful Lyrita edition of Lloyd’s recorded works continues with this well filled disc of his music for brass. It is not quite all as the Symphony No. 10 is for brass and appears in the second box set of the symphonies. Brass bands are tricky to write for. In the wrong hands they can sound thick and stodgy, but when written with real understanding they can rival a symphony orchestra in expressive power. Lloyd heard many brass band concerts in his youth, and played cornet while a bandsman in the Royal Marines. All the works here are written with real understanding and love for this unique sound world. The composer celebrates the heritage with respect... It is a perfect piece of writing for the ensemble with brilliant, idiomatic writing for all the instruments, and richly arranged chords. There are a number of moments, particularly in Lost when there seems to be more than five instruments playing.
The playing throughout is brilliant with all concerned sounding as though they are enjoying themselves thoroughly, and so they should!" Paul RW Jackson, British Music Society
"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." John Quinn, MusicWeb International
Click here for the full review
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| Sample Tracks |
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Royal Parks: II. In Memoriam
English Heritage: I. Fanfare
A Miniature Triptych: I. Lost
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0.135 kg