London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble 1963-2007

The London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble had a strange birth - one rooted in tragedy. A young trombonist at the Royal College of Music, David Biddulph, was killed in a motorcycle accident. His father, also David Biddulph, seeking perhaps to forge a spiritual link with his dead son, began trombone lessons himself. A few years on, by now reasonably proficient, he asked three later R.C.M. trombone students whether they might enjoy playing through some arrangements of Gabrieli motets. Both parties liked the musical results so much that a debut concert at Wimbledon Girls' High School was arranged for the autumn of 1963. Probably because of the organisational abilities of the older man, a retired Royal Navy Commander who would have recognised a golden opportunity when it presented itself, they began to offer concerts for children. Children's concerts by live musicians were not a new idea ... but zippy, fast-moving children's' concerts given by young guys looking like the Beatles most certainly were. The following year saw contracts signed for over 300 educational concerts.

In 1965, Pye Records' Chief Engineer, Bob Auger, heard them fooling around whilst on a pop session. What he heard sounded fresh and exciting, a deal followed, and the first ever LP devoted entirely to Renaissance brass music, King James I Royal Brass Music was released later that year. By 1967, founder trombonist Richard Hill had become an A&R Manager for Polydor/Deutsche Grammophon. They allowed him to produce a concept album, Canterbury Pilgrim, based on Chaucer. This evolved into the hit musical Canterbury Tales which had the LGBE in the orchestra pit - thus providing an employment base for Britain's first full-time brass ensemble (now constituted as a brass quintet). In the 1968/69 season it also splintered the first North American tour. After their New York Carnegie Hall recital they were entertained as visiting heroes by the New York Brass Quintet, and the New York Times critic wrote that "The playing has the same precision and smoothness, as did their stage manners. The players' control of tone, dynamics, rhythm and every expressive device was complete." A long odyssey had begun. European visits followed, as did a further North American tour. Richard Hill (www.richardhillmusic.co.uk) produced a string of popular LGBE recordings including the ground-breaking, The Four Elements, on the famous Deutsche Grammophon yellow label.

In 1975, stewardship of the Ensemble passed to Chris Larkin and Crispian Steele-Perkins. Between 1975 and 1984, when Crispian left the group to devote himself entirely to the Baroque trumpet, the Ensemble made tours of Canada, Europe (Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Yugoslavia), South America (Brazil, Mexico & Paraguay), the Far East (Hong Kong, India, Malaysia & The Philippines) and the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the U.A.E.). Two recordings of baroque brass music were made for Enigma Records (now amalgamated as the award-winning CD, The Splendour of Baroque Brass, on the A.S.V. label) And the group's 21st Anniversary was celebrated with a gala concert at the Royal Festival Hall in aid of BBC Television's "Blue Peter" appeal.

William Houghton succeeded Crispian as leader in 1984. Since then most European countries have been re-visited, repeat tours of the Far East and South America (Colombia, Ecuador & Peru) have been made, and, in 1986, the Ensemble became the first British brass group to tour the People's Republic of China. When Philip Jones retired in 1989, the LGBE became the United Kingdom's longest-established British brass ensemble and,  two years later, made its BBC Promenade Concert debut. In 1993 the 30th Anniversary Concert took place in St. John's, Smith Square, with Philip Jones as an honoured guest.

Currently, the Ensemble consists of:
William Houghton (trumpet). William has led the Ensemble since 1984. He has been a member of both the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera House Orchestras, and is currently Principal Trumpet of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Joseph Atkins (trumpet). The Ensemble's second trumpet, Joseph began his career with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 1983.
Christopher Larkin (Horn). Chris joined the Ensemble in 1973 and became co-Director in 1975. He has been a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1979, and Director of the LGBE since 1984.
Roger Harvey (trombone) has been Principal Trombone of the Hallé Orchestra, a member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and then Director of London Brass. He is now Co-Principal Trombone of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a member of the London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble.
Peter Harvey (bass trombone). Peter is a founder member of the London Gabrieli Brass. He has been a member of the both the BBC Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestras and is now freelance.

An important activity has been the commissioning of new music for brass. The fruit of a long connection with Catalunya has been works from Joán Guinjoán and Xavier Montsalvatge. The great French organist, Jean Langlais, composed his Cérémonie pour Cuivres for the Ensemble, and other major works by Alun Hoddinott, Paul Patterson, Naresh Sohal and Hugh Wood have been premiered by the Ensemble at major British music festivals.

The London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble celebrated its fortieth Anniversary with a new idea, a new project - Antique Brasses. Chris Larkin, the director, has spent most of his professional life researching and unearthing art music for brass composed during the last two centuries. Now that present day players have such phenomenally high technical standards on the brass instruments of former times, he has recorded some fascinating repertoire using period instruments: keyed bugles, hand-horns, double-piston Vienna horns, natural and slide trumpets, classical alto, tenor and bass trombones and ophicleides. The intention is to record most of Mr. Larkin's discoveries - and to take our greatest period brass virtuosi to interact with amateur and youth ensembles all over the world. In launching the undertaking Mr. Larkin has been assisted by an Advisory Council with expertise in the fields of education, brass bands, period instrument praxis and music publishing, consisting of Sir Andrew Davis, C.B.E., Sir Roger Norrington, C.B.E., Michael Rose, O.B.E., Anthony Halstead, Crispian Steele-Perkins and James Watson.

A recent first was a recital, given for the Georgian Concert Society of Edinburgh, on the brass instruments of the period 1730-1830. The Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments kindly allowed the Ensemble to use a trompette demilune of circa 1810 and a trompe de chasse by Le Brun of Paris dated 1721. Also employed were a keyed trumpet, three hand-horns (one a Raoux of 1818) and an 1865 Courtois tenor trombone