Impressive Brass

Provinciale Brassband Groningen
Conductor: Siemen Hoekstra
World Wind Music: WWM 500.083
Total Playing Time: 62.56 mins

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First of all, the geography lesson: Groningen is the seventh largest city in the Netherlands, and is the major city in the north of the country. Founded about 1000 years ago, it now boasts much modern architecture, including an innovative scheme to encourage cycling - 57% of its citizens regularly ride a bicycle. Its football team plays in the Dutch first division, and the area is home to a breed of heavy farm horse, also called the Groningen.

Provinciale Brassband Groningen was founded as recently as 1980, but by 1986 was already competing at the highest level. They became Dutch champions in 2000, playing Derek Bourgeois' "Lac Leman", and in 2002 they gained 4th place at the Eurobrass Festival, held at Drachten. Their conductor, Siemen Hoekstra has a background in brass bands, but has made a career as a professional trumpeter, taking part in many stage and television productions. The band are currently placed 53rd in the 4barsrest rankings, and their new recording, Impressive Brass, gives them plenty of opportunities to display their wares.

They open with two pieces from the Salvation Army repertoire: Andrew Blyth is the Songster Leader at Margate, and also leads the International Staff Songsters, as well as working on the music department at their London headquarters. "Shine Down" makes for a lively opener, calling for a good grasp of the rhythm if the impetus is to be maintained, with some impressive playing on the xylophone. Hymn tune playing is always a good exercise for any band, and Keith Griffin's "Prelude St Peter" brings some controlled
playing, with the entries slipping in unobtrusively and instruments blending well one with another.

Adrian Grover's arrangement of "Aye Waukin' O!" seems very popular at the moment, and Anja Rooda plays it with a pleasant, round sound, with sympathetic use of vibrato, which is not so apparent when the whole band is playing - maybe symptomatic of a more orchestral approach to the sound. This is followed by the contest march "Lenzburg", written by Derek Broadbent. Here much is made of dynamic contrasts, in particular getting down well after the louder passages, with some tasteful highlighting of the bass line in the trio. More sustained, quiet playing is to be found in Klaus van der Woude's setting of John Williams' "Hymn to the Fallen", from the film Saving Private Ryan, which has a suitably elegiac feel to it. The producers have also allowed a decent gap following the end of the track, which isn't always the case after a quiet item such as this.

The second soloist to be featured is tuba player Onno Zuidema. Kevin Norbury wrote "Badinage" for American tuba virtuoso Patrick Sheridan and the New York Staff Band of The Salvation Army, who recorded it on the cd "Blazing Brass". It is a somewhat whimsical piece, incorporating references
to Leslie Condon's "Celestial Morn", and calls for considerable dexterity from the soloist. If it is taken a little more slowly in places on this occasion it simply serves to give the music more room to breathe and the soloist handles it very well, with an especially pleasant tone in the upper register, moving very smoothly between the notes. In the final section, which is somewhat reminiscent of Elgar Howarth's "Hogarth's Hoe Down", the rhythms are well pointed by both band and soloist .

Peter Graham wrote "Prelude On Tallis" at the same time as he was composing "Harrison's Dream" for the National Finals in 2000, using the same theme in both pieces. Featuring a fanfare leading into the theme (in canon, naturally), a toccata-like passage for the cornets is set against a sustained counter-melody from the bottom half of the band, before the main tune is interrupted by fanfares once more. Peter also contributes "Gaelforce", one of the most-played and most-recorded pieces at present. To be truly successful as an item this calls for very tight control and there are times when it feels slightly rushed, with some phrases being clipped, and the last ounce of excitement seems lacking.

In Robin Dewhurst's "Panache" Frans Aert Burghgraef on euphonium is allowed to float his solo line above a very sympathetic and warm-sounding accompaniment, with well-placed accents helping to maintain the shape in the trickier rhythmic sections. The final soloist featured is flugel player Sandra Beijert. Jerome Kern wrote numerous fine melodies, and Goff Richards has provided an excellent vehicle for her in the form of "The Folks Who Live On The Hill". It is quite a wide-ranging solo but she seems quite comfortable both with the higher reaches of the instrument and also with the relaxed style of the writing.

The one item that does not seem to work so well is Bill Geldard's version of "Skyliner". The band as a whole do not seem at home with the idiom, making heavy weather of the sometimes-intricate rhythms, as if they are trying too hard. There are always difficulties when replacing a single bass (string or electric) with four tubas, and the bass part does not seem fluid enough, although there are some nice sounds, with the vibraphone being used effectively.

"Tristan Encounters", by Martin Ellerby, has become a favourite with both bands and audiences. Written for the All England Masters at Cambridge in 1999 it consists of a series of tableaux based around Wagner's Prelude to the opera "Tristan And Isolde", and the performance here was that which won the band fourth place in the Eurobrass Festival. It is music full of contrasts, with cadenzas for several soloists, as well as soaring phrases that allow the middle of the band particularly the chance to shine. The performance is not perfect, as one would expect with a live recording, but the excitement is there and the enthusiastic response from the audience at the end shows it had gone down well with them as well as the adjudicators.

As a whole, the recording has a great deal to offer, despite a couple of minor disappointments. The band has a pleasant, fairly straight sound most of the time, maybe not as bright in the cornets as some. The programme is varied and shows the band off well, with the soloists acquitting themselves
admirably. Well worth investigation, although you will not gain much from the sleeve notes - a few paragraphs about the band and their conductor - unless you can read Dutch.

Peter Bale

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