Chris Helme
Black Dyke Band
MDs: Professor Nicholas Childs & Paul Lovatt-Cooper
James Curnow (b:1943) is a music composer for concert bands, brass bands, vocal and instrumental solos and ensembles. Curnow has also written arrangements of music pieces such as Trumpet Voluntary. He has taught at both public schools and on college and university levels.
He was born in Port Huron, Michigan and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he received his initial musical training in the public schools and The Salvation Army Instrumental Programs in these cities. He currently lives in Nicholasville, Kentucky where he is president, composer, and educational consultant for Curnow Music Press, Inc. He also serves as Composer-in-residence (emeritus) on the faculty of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is editor of all music publications for The Salvation Army in Atlanta, Georgia.
A highly respected composer and arranger of brass band music and we feature a number of his compositions on this week's show.
This photograph was taken on a recent trip to Nicosia in Cyprus which gave me time to call in at the MYCY Radio Station. This community station has been playing the show for the last three years which is enjoyed by the many expats that tune in via the radio station.
Enjoy this week's show.....
Black Dyke Band
MD: Professor Nicholas Childs
Doyen DOYCD369
Gordon Langford b:11.05.1930 – d:18.04. 2017, English composer, arranger and performer. Known for his brass band compositions and arrangements. He was also a composer of choral and orchestral music.
Born in Middlesex, as Gordon Maris Colman. He began piano lessons aged 5. At 9, one of his compositions received a public performance. From secondary school, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, studying piano & composition. He change his name to Gordon Colman Langford
During his army service he made his first BBC broadcast as a solo pianist. From the army, he worked with seaside orchestras, a touring opera company, a ship's musician, but it was during the 1960s he came to prominence as a pianist, arranger and composer on BBC programmes. He went to live in East Devon, composing but occasionally appearing in recordings, concerts and broadcasts.
To celebrate his musical life we feature two pieces of his work on this show.
Enjoy
Chris
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29.4.1895 – 3.10.1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. He was associated with many national music ensembles and choirs .
As chief conductor of London's festival the Proms from 1948 to 1967, he was one of the best-known English conductors. Taking over the Proms from Sir Henry Wood, he and two assistants conducted the two-month season between them. By the time he died, he was assisted by a large roster of international guest conductors.
He was encouraged to begin conducting brass bands by Harry Mortimer. He conducted the Men O'Brass on a number of recordings. In 1946 he arranged Mozart's Fantasia in F for brass bands. It was used in the 1948 National Brass Band Championships Area finals. It was also used at the British Open at Belle Vue in 1960
We have one of his brass band arrangements on today's show.
Enjoy
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 until his death.
Thomas's parents were music teachers. By the age of 10, he was already an experienced pianist and violinist. In 1828, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, while at the same time taking advanced piano lessons privately
His 1851 opera “Raymond ou Les secrets de la Reine” has long been forgotten but the overture to this opera lives on.
On this week's show we feature the William Rimmer arrangement of this rarely played overture. Searching through my own resources I can only find three other recordings. I am sure some listeners will remember playing this exciting arrangement.
Enjoy
