HOLST. (a) Moorside Suite; (b) Suite No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 28a; Suite No. 2 in F major, Op. 28b; (c) Prelude and Scherzo, Op. 52, "Hammersmith". BMC (Oxford) Band (a), Central Band of the RAF (b and c), conducted by Imogen Hoist (a and b), and Wing Commander J. L. Wallace (c). HMV Q CLP3507: 0 CSD3507 (12 in., 27s. 6-id. plus 4s. 5d. P.T.).

It really was rather a ridiculous situation when to secure a good record of the two Hoist military band suites you had to look to the United States. But perhaps the Americans did more than just come to our record-buying rescue during those dark years; it may be that their convincing illustration of new, revised, orchestral standards of band performance have helped us in turn to recover our own old standards. For here they are indeed recovered; this is arguably the best, and certainly the most enterprising, record of British band music ever produced.

For here now we have at last fluent woodwind and biting brass, all of them in tune, put to the service of proper music played in proper style. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force has always had plenty or good musicians about, but their efforts have seldom been allowed to be exerted to such good effect as they are here under Imogen Hoist and W/Cdr Wallace. Imogen Hoist takes an easy-going view of her father's music (she may well be very right in this), and the band respond by playing easily and well. Once or twice rhythmic accuracy slips momentarily, more especially in accompanying parts. And the clarinets are thinner and reedier than they should ideally be: it is really impossible to get a good band balance for symphonic scoring, allowing the clarinets to tell easily, without at least doubling the normal number of reed players in proportion to the brass. But there are exceptionally happy moments too: the decision to expound a tune on cor anglais where it fitted ideally, a tuba-player with the cleanest of staccatos, and a most euphonious euphonium-player for the trios of marches.

Hammersmith sounds a little less assured than the suites. The piece as a whole is more symphonic than the better-known music, and both more smoothness and more conviction would have been an advantage. Even so the quiet of the river and the bustle of the market are both allowed their say; as one of Holst's more atmospheric, less direct pieces it is remote from the normal band repertory and good to see it here.

As it must be, of course; for the record is a collection of the complete Hoist band music. This means too, that at last a modern recording Of the Moorside Suite is available. (I'm sorry Imogen Holst declares in her sleeve-note, no doubt as a result of some misinformation, this to be a first recording: all these years she could have been enjoying both Harton Colliery's Regal version and Black Dyke Mills' Edison Bell.) Written as a test-piece for the Crystal Palace championship of 1928 the Moorside Suite is of course not for military but for brass band. The BMC Band give of their best with almost every solo department taking honours as well as the blend and style of the whole. The style, though, with one exception, as always in the brass band world: that fast, wide vibrato is used everywhere automatically, in suitable and unsuitable passages alike. It was the same in Hoist's day, of course, and this was the sound he wrote for: within these terms of reference this is a splendid performance.

It completes a splendid disc, one which is also well recorded in stereo, and very well in mono. It happens that the same month sees the Philips reissue, listed on p. 407, of the Eastman Wind Ensemble versions of the military band music which originally set the new standards of performance that we can now more widely enjoy. And those standards are indeed rattling good ones; both the smoothness and the alertness of the playing are still unmatched elsewhere. In the reading of her father's music Imogen Hoist is leisurely, but Frederick Fennell is not: there is no amiable ambling through the suites for his players, but instead an immensely exhilarating drive. The total effect, though, is not quite so impressive as before, for something in recorded quality— originally very good indeed—has been lost, very possibly in the process of compressing so much music on to one disc. For here we have not only both the Ho1st military band suites and Hammersmith, but also the Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite and Toccata Marziale—both of them indispensable pieces.

As a record bargain this is unlikely to be surpassed; and as a model of military band playing the Eastman ensemble's performance is not likely to be surpassed, either. But the new HMV disc is better recorded, has a particular personal interest in its conductorship, offers the only currently available version of the Moorside Suite, and represents currently the very best in British military band music. On many counts indeed it rates the very warmest of welcomes. M.M