Alpha and Omega
21-Jun-2005
YBS Band
Conductor: Professor David King
Egon Recordings: CD SFZ126
Total Playing Time: 72.33
This is a long overdue and most welcome release for a composer who has up until now never quite captured the imagination of the secular brass band public at large. Hopefully that will now be a thing of the past as YBS and Professor David King display the full range of Ray Steadman - Allen's compositional talents with some superbly crafted performances of some of his major compositions.
Perhaps it is a little severe to suggest that the composer's works haven't entirely found favour within the secular banding movement, but for most contest going players, conductors and listeners his substantial original compositions for the National Finals and All England Masters as well as works used for the Regional Championships have been greeted with a muted enthusiasm over the past fifteen or so years.
It is our loss that we have failed fully to appreciate what Professor David King himself states is ‘a profoundly gifted and musical voice in the world of brass' as his writing reveals a compassionate, yet complex musical language, open, warm and always lyrical with a strong unbreakable umbilical link to his Christian faith.
Why we have failed to appreciate his output, is perhaps a more complex question to answer, but perhaps it lies not with the notes he writes on the manuscript and the technical proficiency in which they have been played by our top bands over time, but what is unwritten and hidden within the core of the music itself. His is music born and bred, developed and enhanced, and finally and gloriously revealed through the Christian faith, its personal meaning to the composer and his ability to transmit the written and unwritten message of God. If you appreciate and understand that as its function, you will find yourself fast becoming a fan of the composer's output, if not perhaps a convert to his faith.
David King and YBS also bring appreciation and understanding to the six performances on this release; so much so that that you feel that they are perhaps the first secular brass band to fully explore the true musical inspiration of the composers works.
‘Hymn at Sunrise' is revealed as a much warmer musical portrait, less austere than many may remember. There is a dark hue to much of the writing, yet there remains an underlying heartbeat of joy that finally breaks free in the final ‘Paean' as the exultant ‘Tallis Cannon' is revealed in all its glory. Technically it holds no terrors to a band such as YBS, but this is not a work of cold technique (something bands at the 1996 Masters, for which it was commissioned failed to realise), but a work of warm intuitive discovery. There is no hidden unwritten message to be found in the work, but a clear and coherent musical statement - and YBS realise it in full.
The performance of ‘The Beacons' gives the listener the opportunity to reappraise a work that has been left rather forgotten for far too long since it was used as the set work for the Championship Section of the Regional Championships way back in 1990.
Dedicated to Eric Ball, it shows the composers skilful ability to write in a totally different musical genre (something that has been a feature of his eclectic output in Salvation Army circles throughout his career). It is a symphonic suite based more on harmonic and contrapuntal styles than just a personal pictorial work that is the feature of ‘Hymn at Sunrise', and although it does have a vibrant feel and at times furious tempos and even harsh sounds, the climax is a dramatic but glowing drawing together of all the initial musical strands. It is given a superbly balanced performance of subtle nuance.
‘Romans 8 – A Brass Celebration' is a companion to a series of bible studies and as such remains the one piece on this release that is robbed of an even greater presence by not being directly linked to its series of song quotations taken from the Scriptures. Although there is explanation in Ronald Holz's excellent sleeve notes, the music seems rather ‘empty' disconnected from the written word that seems to be integral to the understanding of the inspiration.
'In Quiet Pastures' is the oldest work on the release (it hails initially from 1950), but time has added a musical patina of depth and lyricism that is quite beautiful to listen to. The connection between the written verses from the poems of Albert Orsborn and a Swedish melody by Ahnfelt is superbly realised and David King allows a free flow to the music that follows the shapes and contours of the written word with an intuitive touch.
The same can also be said of the final ‘Evening Hymn', which has an almost naďve openness and simplicity that belies its supremely meditative setting. It is given a reading of meditative control, balance, warmth and texture that is uplifting.
Finally, ‘At the Edge of Time' – a Sinfonietta in three distinct but untitled movements that takes its inspiration from the hope of Christ's return in the Book of Revelation. Of great interest to the occasional listener is the composer's treatment of the hymn tune ‘St, Magnus' which appears both in the first and third movements. Unlike Kenneth Downie whose superbly crafted and complex variations on the theme has received popular acclaim, Steadman – Allen's treatment of it is much more traditional but equally uplifting. It's beauty is in its simple construction, yet by the time it comes back to close the piece in triumphant fashion you feel as if it has been explored in almost forensic detail.
Allied to the expressive and moving children's hymn ‘When he Cometh' in the second movement and the contrasting stark ‘Zulu Air' it makes for a fantastic atmospheric work of deep meaning. YBS perform it with enviable detail, an organ like timbre and a broad and compassionate feel for the music and its inspiration.
It rounds off another immensely impressive release from David King and his band, which will deserve the plaudits that will surely come its way from reviewers and listeners alike. The production values are excellent with producer Brian A. Hillson once again showing that he is the mastercraftsman supreme of his trade – the balance of the band is stunningly precise. This may have been a long overdue release, but it has been well, well worth the wait.
Iwan Fox
What's on this CD?
Hymn at Sunrise, 19.34
1. i. Thanksgiving, 2.26
2. ii. De Profundis, 2.54
3. iii. Celebration, 4.46
4. iv. Invocation, 2.59
5. v. Paean, 6.29
6. In Quiet Pastures, 7.10
The Beacons, 13.31
7. i. The Beacons, 2.31
8. ii. For Horizons4.07
9. iii. The Invaders, 3.59
10.iv. Celebration, 2.54
11. Romans 8 — A Brass Celebration, 10.52
At the Edge of Time, 16.43
12. i. Movement I, 4.22
13. ii. Movement II, 3.30
14. iii. Movement III, 8.51
15. Evening Hymn, 4.04
Total CD running time: 72.33
