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Re: Instrumental straightjackets (was alternative instrument for cornet players

Comments are inserted.

Richard Cookson wrote:

> I think that Britten wrote 'Music for a Russian Funeral' for band.

Actually, it was written for a brass ensemble, Ray Farr arranged it for
brass band.

> I really don't think that this argument holds any weight, if composers
> wanted different instrumentation I'm quite sure that they would call for
> it. The forthcoming UK competition at the Cambridge All England Masters
> illustrates this in a small way with Edward Gregson's Dances and Arias
> which is scored with two flugel horns.

And it probably took Mr. Gregson an age to obtain the approval for such
a radical move :)

> The fact is, the whole point writing for brass bands is being able to make
> effective music with the limited tone colours available. 

Oh, so you mean something like the Krypton Factor?? Good game, good
game.....

> These same arguments which have been flying around the lists could be used
> with a number of musical ensembles, why don't choirs use electric guitars?,
> why don't wind bands use strings? 

The instruments that I advocate are all part of the brass family, and
wind bands are open to any instrumentation that falls into the "wind"
category.

> Take for example a couple of the pieces which I am aware
> of, Elgar's Severn Suite, how often do you hear it played? not very often
> because quite honestly it is not very good! I'm not knocking the musical
> content, but it just doesn't work very well for Brass Band. 
>The same can be
> said for Britten's Music for a Russian Funeral, I recall playing this piece
> at a concert some years ago to be met with bemused indifference by the
> audience, it's simply not effective and if the composer were not a famous
> orchestral composer it would probably have never been heard of.

Maybe the bemused audience were expecting to clap along to "My Old Man's
a Dustman" or "The Best of the Seekers", it is quite understandable,
given that most of the time bands are guilty of "dumbing down" their
product to suit the audience.

> What I am trying to say is that the limited tone colour of a brass band is
> the same as for any other musical group except for the full symphony
> orchestra, there are many many superb brass band composers, some of whom
> also write good orchestral music, and some who don't .   In the same way
> not all orchestral composers write effective brass band music, this will
> always be the case, the two tasks are simply different skills. 

The skills are in the orchestration of a piece. If it is good music, it
is good music regardless of the medium for which it was composed.

Cheers, 
Adrian J. Raven


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