Walter Barrow Hargreaves

Tim Mutum looks back on the career of Walter Hargreaves, almost 50 years to the day after winning the first of his two National titles...

"Listen to the Bands" program, Melbourne AUS.

Brighouse and Rastrick Band 1971. Conducted by Walter Hargreaves.

4BR looks back 30 years and Walter Hargreaves leading Fairey to a thrilling Open victory.

The Wee Professor
Cory Composer Walter Hargreaves
Conductor Walter B Hargreaves

The appointment of Walter B. Hargreaves in 1946 proved to be the catalyst to place the Cory name firmly on the National platform of contesting success.

It was under the charismatic leadership of the man known as ‘The Wee Professor’ that Cory enjoyed what was, at that time, its most successful spell of contest success. In 1950, on his first ever appearance with the band at the Open contest held at Belle Vue, Manchester, Hargreaves led the band to another superb second prize-winning performance of Eric Ball’s Resurgam; the highest placing ever achieved by a Welsh band at this historically prestigious contest. The magnitude of this achievement is highlighted by the fact that it would be another 50 years before a non-English band would surpass second prize, when Cory won the title outright in 2000.

In his remaining two years with the Cory Workmen’s Band, Hargreaves won most of the domestic contests he entered, including first prize playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in an open air contest at Duffryn Park, Blaina in 1948. First prize playing Morning Rhapsody by Eric Ball on the tiered stage of the Great Central Hall, Newport in 1949 and first prize playing Resurgam by Eric Ball at the Workmen’s Hall, Ferndale in 1951. Also, in 1951, the band won first prize playing Festival Overture by Henry Geehl at the Great Central Hall Newport, with Walter programming this work for a subsequent BBC ‘Listen To The Band’ programme.

Brighouse and Rastrick Band 1971. Conducted by Walter Hargreaves.

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Brighouse and Rastrick Band 1971. Conducted by Walter Hargreaves.

Stanshaw (Bristol) Band - Walter B. Hargreaves, conductor.

The Stanshawe (Bristol) Band cond. Walter Hargreaves

Stanshawe Band (1976) Prof. Walter Hargreaves (Conductor)

Stanshawe Band (1976) Conducted by: WB Hargreaves

Finale Themes Tchaikovsky Symphony no 5 arranged Eric Ball Stanshawe Band Walter Hargreaves 1976

Overture The Frogs of Aristophanes Grenville Bantock Stanshawe band Walter Hargreaves 1976

Camille Saint-Saëns, arr. Walter Hargreaves

Fairey Engineering Works Band. Professor Walter B. Hargreaves. Repiano Cornet Ian K. Tinsley

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Download this stock image: WALTER HARGREAVES (1907-1998) British brass band conductor

In this volume the author presents a detailed cultural history of the brass band, tracing the fortunes of bands great and small as well as conductors and prominent instrumentalists. The text also assesses the impact of the burgeoning youth band scene and the rapid growth of banding around the world. Walter Hargreaves is listed

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The appointment of Professor Walter B Hargreaves as Musical Director marked a turning point in the band’s history when it won the Scottish Championships in 1984 and 1985 under his guidance.

In the first of a new series of extended interviews, 4BR Editor Iwan Fox meets the legendary euphonium player Lyndon Baglin.

He talks about his background and early years of playing with the likes of CWS Manchester Band, as well as with Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick and Stanshawe.

Lyndon also talks about some of the great conductors he played under such as Alex Mortimer and Walter Hargreaves — and gives us his views and opinions on euphonium playing and modern banding.

He is a player held in the highest respect around the banding globe — and a true legend of the brass band world.

In 1945 the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain began superceding the ‘Great National Band Festival’ which had been held at the Crystal Palace and Alexandra Palace from 1900. These contests were just called the ‘Crystal Palace Contests’ prior to this. The new ‘National’ title was won a year later in 1946 for the first time by B&R, conducted by Eric Ball, one of many famous names to be associated with the band.

The ‘World Championship’ was introduced in 1968 and B&R were the first victors, conducted now by Walter Hargreaves. They successfully retained the title a year later to become the only band to win this short-lived contest more than once.