Elgar Howarth

Following the resignation of George Thompson the band was successful in obtaining the services of Elgar Howarth as Professional Conductor and Musical Adviser. He was appointed in July 1972. Grimethorpe Colliery Band was a relative newcomer in the world of Brass Bands at this time – both Black Dyke Mills and Besses O’ the Barn Bands had 100 years of history between them. But it may have been Grimethorpe’s very youth that has helped it to break with tradition, and interest some of the world’s leading composers in writing for a medium which has, up until now, been regarded as apart from the mainstream development of music. The main inspiration behind the band’s emergence into the new music field is Elgar Howarth, a musician with unique experience of composing, conducting and brass playing. After graduating from Manchester University, Elgar Howarth studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music, working with composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Hoehr and Peter Maxwell-Davies. When first hearing Grimethorpe he said that there was a unique sound from virtuoso players which had not yet been used by the composers with whom he normally worked. So with the prospect of developing the range of music to which he had always been committed, and with the band’s full agreement, he accepted the job of Professional Conductor. He said at the time, ‘the thing which interests me most about brass bands is not the traditional form of their music making but the potential offered to composers of our time by the virtuoso playing element present in a band such as Grimethorpe. I would hope to be able to stimulate a new repertoire for bands and find the atmosphere and enthusiasm at Grimethorpe stimulating and showing exactly the kind of potential necessary for an exploration of advanced 20^th Century music, all combined of course with the normal musical interests of the traditional brass band’. Within a month he found himself as an ‘unknown’ in the band world, conducting the Grimethorpe to victory in the second annual Granada Television Band of the Year Contest. The first piece in the programme was his own ‘Pel Mel’, written some ten days before the contest and designed to show off every aspect of the players’ talents. It caused a sensation – an unknown composer and conductor sweeping the brass band movement and breathing new life into the competition world.

In 1974, Elgar Howarth brought Grimethorpe to the Harrogate Festival for an even more notable event – the premiere of the band’s first commissioned work. Brass band history was made when Harrison Birtwistle conducted his own ‘Grimethorpe Aria’. Although some of the audience on that occasion were obviously startled by the unfamiliar sounds they were hearing, the success of the work marked the beginning of a partnership between two sections of music that had before been considered totally separate.

In the same year ‘Elgar Howarth’ style concerts were given at Warwick and Lancaster Universities, the Halle Proms in Manchester, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Wythenshawe Forum Music Society. A programme of modern music was also performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The highlight of the year was undoubtedly the band’s appearance at one of Sir Henry Wood’s Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall playing to a capacity audience of 6000 – the first time a brass band has played at these concerts. Another ‘first’ as far as brass bands are concerned was an appearance at the 1974 Leeds Music Festival, as well as there debut in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in June 1974. In 1975 performances were repeated at the Sir Henry Wood’s Promenade Concerts (including the first performance of a new piece for brass band – ‘Ragtimes and Habaneras’ by Hans Werner Henze) and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. 1976 has seen modern type concerts at St Andrews and Stirling Universities in Scotland, both conducted by Elgar Howarth. Earlier in 1976 the band made history for itself by playing the soundtrack for a Walt Disney Film entitled ‘Escape from the Dark’ which had its premier in May. The music was composed and conducted by Ron Goodwin. It was released worldwide under the title of “The Littlest Horse Thieves”. 

In 1976, the band qualified for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall and the National Mineworkers’ Finals at Blackpool. In May, the band became Granada Television Band of the Year for the third time. The conductor on that occasion was Bryden Thompson from Scotland. This particular competition had been very much a ‘Grimethorpe affair’ – winning six times, second four times, third twice and being unplaced twice in a total of 14 contests until the last contest in 1987.

Despite the stubborn refusal of some brass band ‘diehards’ to accept Elgar Howarth and the avant garde music, one cannot escape the fact that it has been those two major contributions which have toppled the prejudices of those who still equate brass bands with Miners’ Galas and renderings of ‘Abide with Me’.