BRASS BANDS
Sir-In Radio Review (October 11) R.D.McE. lists as one of his pet aversions "Brass bands with ideas above their station." If his stated dislike had been for brass band music as such, I should not take issue with him-we are all entitled to our dislikes. But the musical snobbery evinced by the words "ideas above their station" rouses me to anger. Just what is "their station’’? The playing of a few "corny" overtures, waltzes and Sousa marches at garden parties? Apparently Vaughan, Williams, Holst, Elgar, Bliss, John Ireland, Herbert Howells and Percy Fletcher thought otherwise, for they have written some fine works for this
medium. One, of course, must accept certain limitations-the variety of tone colour cannot approach. that of a large (and expensive) symphony orchestra, and technical difficulties deprive it of the top octave, Nevertheless, the playing of selected transcriptions and serious "original" works can be a stimulating musical experience. At least three orchestral conductors-the late Sir Henry Wood, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Adrian Boult-have found it so, when invited to conduct brass band concerts in the Albert Hall.
JOHN
SCOTT
(Auckland).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 950, 25 October 1957, Page 11
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186BRASS BANDS New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 950, 25 October 1957, Page 11
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