The Locke Brass Consort is a
musical ensemble of
brass instruments based in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It was founded by Leslie Lake in 1966, as a quintet, to give concerts in schools and music clubs.
Since 1975, in collaboration with conductor James Stobart,
Our Music Director: James Stobart
", Norfolk Symphony Orchestra website (archive May 2007). the Consort pursued a parallel career as a greatly enlarged symphonic brass and percussion ensemble. With this format it performed regularly at the South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
in London during the 1980s, commissioned several works, broadcast for the BBC and Capital Radio, and made several recordings to critical acclaim, including two for American and Belgian companies.
Its most ambitious project was to record the complete works for brass of Richard Strauss (which included the world premiere recording of the ''Festmusik der Stadt Wien'' of 1943).
In early 2014, following Leslie Lake’s retirement from the orchestra of the English National Opera, the group was reformed, with Leslie as Musical Director and Conductor. The aim of the ensemble to recreate the symphonic brass sound of the original ensemble and others that were predominant in the 1980s.
Discography
* ''Fanfare: British Music for Symphonic Brass Ensemble'' (1977)
* ''Richard Strauss: Music for Symphonic Brass'' (1988)
* ''Contrasts in Brass''
* ''Jubilant Brass'' (1980)
* ''Symphonic Marches for Concert Brass''
References
{{Authority control
British brass bands