During the war years which dominated the 1940s, causing huge numbers of Salvation Army band personnel to be displaced, SA bands continued to function, albeit largely on a restricted basis and with help from locally posted servicemen. Publication of Salvation Army brass band music was maintained with the exception of the Festival Series which was put on hold. Publishing policy of the day was to present balanced journals, and in so doing quite a stock of manuscripts had been built by the late 1930s. Stylistically there was little in the way of fresh approach but new voices began to be heard which promised idiomatic advance. At the same time there were good things coming from the more established writers.
Dr. Stephen Cobb's choice of music for this disc has been no easy task and no doubt others could suggest enough personal favourites to fill more CDs. What is presented here however, is an excellent cross-section of a period on the verge of change which subsequently gathered momentum.
