Day of the Dragon

Buy As You View Band
Conductor: Dr. Robert Childs
Soloists: Steve Barnsley, Ian Williams, David Cornelius, Chris Thomas, David Childs, Joanne Dean
Doyen Recordings: CD173
Total Playing Time: 70.09

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The name may be different, but the end product has the same familiar feel to it none the less. The famous Cory tag may have disappeared, but the reputation for quality and excellence that had been built up over the 120 year history of the Rhondda based band remains intact. 

Changing names may upset a few die hard traditionalists in the banding world, and for the most part it is sad to see the deletion of the one four letter C word, but even though from now on they will be called the Buy As You View Band, they will forever remain Cory in all but name.

Sponsorship has its price, but it can never eradicate a proud history and the latest change of title (the band has been known by at least five different names in its time) merely reflects the strength of purpose and ambition of the band and its sponsor.    

The band has benefited from a degree of financial input (in the region of around £150,000 a year) from its sponsor which has come about as a direct result of the hard work of the band and a company owner who has a background and love for the brass band movement.  Some may think of them as the equivalent of Chelsea Football Club -  money no object; but unlike the Londoners, the band has proved that competitive success comes not just through pounds, shillings and pence, but by getting extremely talented individuals to perform as a team. Quality comes at a price for sure, but it doesn't always guarantee winning trophies and titles.

That combination of talent, intense work and pride is reflected very much with this release - the first under their new name as the Buy As You View Band. Over the past five years since Dr Robert Childs took over the helm, the band has not only become one of the strongest competitive outfits in the world, it has also become one of the most ground breaking and ambitious concert and recording performers as well.  Although this release is not as cutting edge as others they have done (and are in the process of doing), it is has the stamp of intelligent planning and execution. 

The centrepiece of the release is the live recording of the bands performance of St. Magnus at the 2004 European Championships held in Glasgow. It is a magnificent work, which as we have said before, proved an immensely demanding test for even the best bands there on the day. Kenneth Downie set out his composition in an immensely complex score, yet the key lay in the simplicity of the subject matter - the opening stanza of the hymn tune of the same name. Where others became enveloped in overcoming the technicalities, BAYV managed to reveal the essence of what the composer intended.

Here you can hear the nuance, the subtleties and deft colourings, the nods of appreciation to the likes of Wilfred Heaton and even Rachmaninov that Downie set out in such a wonderful understated way. There is nothing crude or cheap about the writing, and there is nothing crude or cheap about this performance either. Yes, it is blindingly fast in the closing 152 beats per minute sections, but it is also as clear as a bell with the technical detail shining with an intensity that is breathtaking.  Interestingly it is also a performance that is three seconds longer than the winners YBS (the timings on the sleeve include the prolonged applause), so why the judges, Tom Brevik, Nigel Boddice and Johan de Neij place them 6th in the set work section will remain one of the great mysteries of our time. This was one heck of a performance.

The same can also be said of the other major work on the release, Peter Grahams evocative The Day of the Dragon, which despite its rather lazy and tired alliterative title, is a fresh and pulsating suite of five interlinked movements. Each retains the simplicity of the original folk songs - the melancholy of the Ballad (a lovely duet between flugel and euph) and Lullaby allied to the mock bravura of Men of Harlech. It's as Welsh as Michael Caine in the film Zulu of course, but who cares - it certainly stirs the blood.

The soloists, as we have come to expect from the band over the past few years are as good as anyone anywhere. Ian Williams, the bands long serving Principal Cornet is a player of immense class with a technique honed to Olympic medal winning standard. His Cleopatra stands up there with the classic James Shepherd rendition all those years ago, whilst Chris Thomas dusts off Blue Bells of Scotland as if it were as easy as shelling peas. David Cornelius is given the chance to show off his talents (before he stepped down a peg in the bands horn section) with a very impressive and authentic romp through the Finale from the Strauss Horn Concerto and Steve Barnsley shows why he is one of the very top breed of soprano cornet players in Europe - a beautiful sweet and pure soprano tone even when he fairly whacks it out on the old war horse, On with the Motley.

In addition there is evidence a plenty of the bands ability to change style from the upbeat opener, Softly, Softly (no, not the theme tune to the 1970's cop show with Stratford John's before you ask) to Barry Forgie's pastiche and clever Chicago and Jan van der Roosts neat Canterbury Chorale. There is also a model lesson in how to make Rachmaninov's 18th Variation on a Theme by Paganini romantic without ever becoming as slushy as a Mills and Boon novel and a gem of a performance of Evelyn Glennie's Little Prayer which is tenderly shaped and delivered.

All in all, yet another top notch release from a top notch band.  The production values are high class, the sleeve notes give you all you need to know and the playing is worth every penny of the asking price. In fact, this is a CD with something to please everyone on - with the exception of the three judges from the Europeans. 

They may not be Cory in name anymore, but quality comes in many different guises.

Iwan Fox

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