Master Brass (Volume Sixteen)

Highlights of the 2005 All England Masters International Championship and Gala Concert
Scottish Co-op, Buy As You View, Fodens Richardson
Conductors: Dr. Nicholas Childs, Dr. Robert Childs, Garry Cutt
Soloists: David Childs, Helen Fox, Chris Thomas

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The 2005 All England Masters International Brass Band Championships, was, as the name implied something of a new event, and as such could be seen as opening the door to an exciting future on one hand, or a possible slow decline on the other. Thankfully on the evidence of the contest, and of the Gala Concert held at The Corn Exchange, Cambridge in May this year it looks like it will be the former and not the latter.

That is not to say the event has rid itself of all its problems – it hasn't. The venue, especially on a hot and humid day as it was this year can be a stifling place to play with rather poor acoustics, whilst the bandsmen and women seem to be rather more keen to sample the delights of the local hostelries rather than take the opportunity to buy a ticket and listen to the many good bands that now make up the line up here.   

However, what is good about Cambridge is that it is well run and well organised by Philip Biggs and Richard Franklin and their enthusiasm linked to their professional approach should see ‘The Masters' prosper. It is an event that continues to strive for excellence and is not afraid to accept that it needed to change – and that is something to its eternal credit.
 
The 2005 contest was won by the Scottish Co-op Band conducted by Dr. Nicholas Childs and this recording gives you the opportunity to listen to how they did it. The choice of John McCabe's ‘Cloudcatcher Fells' as the set work gave all the 19 bands in a high class field, from afar afield as Wales, Northern Ireland, Belgium and Scotland the chance to showcase their abilities on a piece that they all felt was well within their grasp. They were all wrong.

Not one performance really captured the piece in its glory, although Scottish Co-op did produce perhaps the most lyrically musical performance of the day. It was not without error though – and a couple of nasty blips can be heard here. It was though a most compelling reading and benefited from the MDs crafty decision at the opening to get his trio of horns to play the opening statement, marked slow, p - possible by positioning them at the back of the large Corn Exchange stage. It worked and in the end they deserved their win.

With the main contest over, two of the competing bands, BAYV and Fodens Richardson had the extra task of performing at the Gala Concert (they eventually came 2nd and 3rd at the contest itself) and it is a great credit to them both that they performed so professionally at the end of a long and tiring day. Where other bandsmen and women had the chance to quench their thirst, these pair set about having an extra rehearsal and getting ready for what proved to be a well balanced and very well performed concert.
 
The recording gives us some of the highlights of that night, with some excellent solo work from David Childs giving the world premiere of ‘Harlequin' by Philip Sparke and Chris Thomas producing a lovely reading of ‘Immortal Theme' by Ray Steadman – Allen. Meanwhile Fodens' Helen Fox was on equally fine form with ‘Closest Thing to Crazy'.

The two bands also enjoyed themselves with their chosen programmes and BAYV put in two leviathan like performances of ‘Procession to the Covenant' and ‘Firebird' which certainly disturbed the cobwebs in the beams in the hall. Not to be outdone, Fodens pick up the mantel with a cracking ‘Spitfire Prelude and Fugue' followed by the cornet team rattling through ‘Hora Staccato', before producing two very neat and balanced accounts of ‘I'll Walk with God' and ‘For the Love of a Princess'. Although the auditorium was not packed to the gunnels, it was a healthy and knowledgeable audience who appreciated the care and attention both bands brought to the stage.

It all adds up to a fine 70 minutes plus of entertainment from what was an entertaining day out in the sun in the university city.

As 4BR said in its advert in the programme for the day: Cambridge may have produced 80 Nobel prize winners, 70 Boat Race wins, 50 Olympic Champions, 21 England Cricket Captains and 14 Prime Ministers – but there was only one International Masters Champion, and that in 2005 was Scottish Co-op.   

Iwan Fox.

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