Overtures
2-Nov-2002
Fodens Band
Conductor: Russell Gray
Egon Recordings: SFZ 109
Playing Time: 73 mins
Are you one of those people who get annoyed going to the cinema to watch the latest blockbuster, when for close on fifteen minutes before your picture starts you get to see previews of the supposed best bits of all the crappy films you decided not to go and see?
If you were an opera goer of the 18th and 19th century, you would have had to endure much the same thing when the pit orchestra struck up the musical preview to the latest Viennese bonkbuster – for the "Overture" is primarily the musical equivelent of those short "appetisers" you get before the Pearl and Dean adverts at the UCI Cinema nowadays. Composers had to make sure that the audience wasn't going to do a runner, so they packed the "Overture" with all the best bits of what was to come. If the great unwashed loved the hors d'oeuvres then there was a fair possibility they were going to like the main course.
However, on many an occasion they got things wrong, and it therefore comes as no surprise, that many of "Overtures" have in fact far outlived the shelf life of the main feature they were supposed to introduce, as the operas themselves were flops of "Star Wars – The Phantom Menace" proportions. Given the promise of all the best bits crammed into the overture to whet the appetite for the listener, the main event was at times nothing more than a damp squib, and so all we have to remind ourselves of what didn't make the grade is a series of great little tasters.
Brass bands have a tradition of playing overtures that strecthes back to the very mists of our time, and even though some of these have gone to way of their orchestral parentage – what ever happened to "Emani" or "Jessonda" for instance - we still have a great selection of classics that have formed the staple diet of many a brass band contest or concert.
Fodens are on spanking form on this release and give all 9 tracks thoroughly good workouts. Russell Gray has gone for the tried and tested in his choices and all of these pieces have been recorded before by some band or other over the years. That being said, there aren't too many performances that come up to this level of performance though and the playing throughout has a stamp of class about it. Fodens are one of the most technically proficient bands around and the bass end in particular once more show their mettle by producing clear and precise foundations for all the fancy work above them.
The arrangements are good honest stock as well, with the usual suspects providing the ageless transcriptions (although it is a touch sad that Rimmer and Co have been somewhat airbrushed off the credits and there is a very pointless trend to describe arrangements as "realisations" nowadays). Everyone would have played these pieces at some time in their career, although possibly not as well as we get here and Russell Gray has certainly worked the band hard so that the pieces sound very well prepared and have fresh zip to their execution.
The MD also tinkers just enough to make the most of the music and there are a few lovely touches in each of the pieces that make you give a wry smile of satisfied delight. The cornet cadenza in "Light Cavalry" for instance isn't quite what you have come to expect over the years.
The two pieces that stand out for us though top and tail the release, with Howard Snell's brilliant arrangement of Bernstein's "Candide" a real tour de force (how we would like to have heard his arrangement of the Berlioz "Waverley" overture – a real tub thumper if ever there was one) and the ever ageless "Le Roi d'Y's" to finish things off with a flourish. Both are brilliantly played and the solo work of Glyn Williams a real treat and the sop work of the rejuvenated Alan Wycherley a joy to behold.
The rest romp along splendidly with excellent cornet and horn work supplementing the solid core of the middle of the band, whilst the troms enjoy themselves throughout. Recorded just after the band won the All England Masters, it showcases a Fodens band with their dander well and truly up and glowing.
The production values are top rate (not too much awful reverb) but we were a touch disappointed with the sleeve notes, which once more airbrush out any mention of the arrangements as they are in this form for brass band. Let's not forget our own musical heritage, even of most of it is pinched, copied and translated into a different key!
A really fine release though and ample evidence to show that Fodens are back to their very best.
What's on this CD?
1. Candide, Bernstein arr. Snell, 4.41
2. Le Domino Noir, Auber, 6.52
3. Poet and Peasant, Suppe, 9.45
4. The Thievish Magpie, Rossini, 9.57
5. Light Cavalry, Suppe, 6.50
6. The Magic Flute, Mozart, 6.41
7. Egmont, Beethoven, 7.23
8. Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna, Suppe, 8.41
9. Le Roi d’Y’s—Lalo, 11.58
Total Playing Time: 73.00
