The extraordinary virtuosity and diversity of colour achieved by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band can still astonish in spite of their well-known reputation. However, the brass-band world has always suffered from having a limited number of conductors with the musicianship and interpretative flair to equal that displayed in the concert-hall. Such a one is Elgar Howarth and Sir Malcolm Arnold has rightly praised his unerringly paced, carefully prepared yet highly spontaneous performances.
The composer was present throughout these recordings and himself conducted the final item, the Padstow Lifeboat march with its insistent off-key foghorn (based on the pitch of the real one at Trevose in Cornwall). The sheer ebullience of the playing is immediately breathtaking in the first of the Scottish Dances, and in the second the 'drunken' solo bass trombone is in the best tradition of the British brass experience. When the Grimethorpe players come to the glorious third Scottish Dance (one of the most magical tunes Arnold ever penned) the subtlety of colour is astonishing. The effect is quite lovely and the cornet choir are melting, with a subtly rich sonority beneath. One really does not miss the strings. A soloist then takes over against a gentle glockenspiel, the close frisson-creating. The gusto of the last dance is irresistible.
The eight English Dances are played with equal sophistication and brilliance, and are very enjoyable. Nevertheless, here I miss the orchestral colours more (these two suites are, in my opinion, the finest orchestral music Arnold ever wrote). Even so, the Mesto (Op. 27 No. 3) is quite haunting and the players get round the colour problem in the first dance in Op. 33 by whistling the air themselves! The heavy brass in the closing Gubiloso is a joy. The more melancholy atmosphere of the Cornish Dances is touchingly caught; the weird ghostly effects of the second and the hymn-like solemnity of the third (with their imagery of ''deserted engine-house of the tin and copper mines'', and echoes of Sankey and Mood hymns) are unforgettable.
The two Little Suites (like the Padstow March) are written for brass band and demonstrate how well the composer—once a trumpeter himself in the LPO—understands the medium. The first has a charming Siciliano second movement, the second a Galop finale worthy of Offenbach in its effervescence, yet still very much of the bandstand. The finest of the original band works is the Fantasy, one of those rare test pieces which is more than just a test for a soloist's nerve, combined sectional bravura and inter-instrumental tuning and sonorities. It is all those things, yet also a highly imaginative series of joined vignettes.
The performances are superlative and the recording made—appropriately—in Dewsbury (Yorkshire) Town Hall is tangible and natural, and beautifully balanced, making the most of the hall's ambience without any loss of detail. A stunning aural experience.'