CD: The Heaton Collection Vol. 6

THE HEATON COLLECTION - VOLUME 6
Black Dyke Band
Conductor: Professor Nicholas J. Childs
SPS 417 CD
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One could be forgiven for thinking that, for a composer with such a slender output, five existing volumes of Wilfred Heaton’s music would have exhausted his catalogue. Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Paul Hindmarsh, many gems continue to be unearthed and, in many cases, completed or reconstructed from Heaton’s manuscripts. Never has there been a greater labour of love in the field of brass band music than that exhibited here. Volume 6 will, however, form the final instalment in the cycle encapsulating, as it were, the last remnants of Paul’s forensic efforts.

The repertoire is diverse indeed. The opening Scherzo for brass band, originally written for brass quartet, is full of the restless, rhythmic energy and occasional harmonic inflections of William Walton, and compares fascinatingly with the more astringent, sparing textures of the Little Suite, recycled from its original scoring for flute and strings into five quirky little miniatures featuring Richard Marshall as an impressive, silken-toned cornet soloist. The contrast with Heaton’s devotional music is, at times stark, although one gets the feeling that the composer loved to gently push the boundaries of what was expected from a Salvationist composer. This is occasionally evident in pieces such as the Chorale Prelude French and Meditation on Aberystwyth, which are again at apparent creative odds with the comparative austerity of Lento - an extended and often fascinating slow movement drawn from Heaton’s Piano Sonata.

His arrangements of Dance of the Tumblers and Schubert’s Ballet Music No. 2 from Rosamunde (arranged for ‘Dyke’ during Heaton’s brief tenure with the band in the early 1970s) are perhaps less interesting, but Pilgrim’s Song, the John Bunyan- inspired incidental music Heaton produced for stage in the 1950s, narrated here by classical actor, Barrie Rutter, is particularly notable for the beautiful, but fleeting interlude - On the Delectable Mountains.

Black Dyke’s sound is wonderfully suited to this repertoire, and the MD finds the character and innate Englishness of Heaton’s music with insight. The Heaton Collection, comprising six volumes, is arguably the most important recorded cycle of brass band music on disc. To cap that recorded legacy, the Heaton biography that Paul Hindmarsh has been working on is anticipated next spring as a definitive work that will undoubtedly underpin the music of a composer whose true creative value has perhaps, even now, not been fully recognised.

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS


This review appeared in the October 2018 edition of BBW. For more reviews, articles and news subscribe to BBW Digital, available to read online (annual subscription: £30), or subscribe to BBW's printed magazine delivered by post: £40 (UK); £68 (Europe); £81 (Rest of the World). Alternatively, receive both the Digital and printed editions combined: £55 (UK); £83 (Europe); £96 (rest of the world) - saving 50% on the Digital edition! Click here to subscribe!