Memories

Mount Charles Band
Conductor: Nigel Weeks, Dr Roy Newsome, Bryan Hurdley
Soloists: Shaun Thomas, Robert Jose
MC Recordings: MISC006
Total Playing Time: 70 minutes approx

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Of all the brass band regions in England, perhaps the proudest is to be found in the West of England, and Cornwall in particular. Perhaps it's the Celtic notion of deprived nationhood, the value it places on community and the readiness to identify itself with its proud history that is the key. Whatever the reason, give the Cornish a chance to strut their stuff against supposed bigger and stronger opposition, and they puff their chest out with pride better than Sophia Loren in a crop top bikini.  

In the past it was bands like Camborne, St Dennis and St Austell who made the trip to the major contests to gain a great deal of respect for their efforts, whilst in more recent times the likes of Bodmin and Mount Charles have flown the flag with encouraging degrees of success.

In banding terms, the 21st century Sophia Loren version (perhaps the model Jordan - but then again that really would be puffing it out some) isn't based on misplaced bravado either. There is now a whole clutch of quality bands in the area pushing each other forward and upwards, with Mount Charles the curent leader of the pack.

In the last four or five years in particular they have secured a fine reputation on the contest and concert platform through a combination of talented players, a work ethic a Cornish tin miner would have been proud of, and a canny ability to persuade some top quality conductors to come down and wag the stick. They have won a place at London by winning the Regional Championships, taken the Pontins and Yeovil titles, been placed at Brass in Concert and just missed out on a place at the British Open. Not bad going by anyone's standards.

This light and enjoyable release is something of a celebration of that fact, although there is also a sad and rather poignant coda to it as well. ‘Memories' can be both splendidly joyous and heartbreakingly sad and both are recalled with a reminder of a fine Regional Championship performance in 2005 on ‘Rienzi' under the baton of Dr Roy Newsome (although they didn't actually win the contest) as well as a super performance by the late Shaun Thomas of ‘Brillante' – with which he won the Best Soloist Prize at the 2002 Brass in Concert contest (not 2001 as stated in the sleeve notes). 

The 14 tracks offer something for everyone to enjoy and is craftily produced to be a good concert money spinner. All the items are played well and show a compact ensemble on good form throughout with two excellent soloists and which displays secure technique allied to a broad, warm and well balanced sound.  It's not ground breaking stuff in any way shape or form, but then again it isn't aimed at that end of the market place. It does what it sets out to do very well indeed.

The one major work, ‘Rienzi' is a pretty good old account too under an MD with a intuitive understanding for the shape and pace of the overture form. It does get a touch scrappy towards the end as lips start to feel the brunt of a hard blow, but it retains character, precision and a sense of forward momentum right to its conclusion – something not too many bands throughout the country did that year on the piece.

The same can also be said of the rest of the repertoire too, with Shaun Thomas's performance of ‘Brillante' an object lesson in control and clarity – a fine player, greatly missed. The two march features polish up nicely, whilst the lovely ‘Morning in Cornwall' and Derek Bourgois ‘Serenade', written for his own nuptials, but which surely would have been ideal for a wedding entrance made in heaven between Long John Silver and Heather Mills McCartney - both little gems.

The band show their ability to lighten their tonal colour and change the style of their playing to fine effect in items such as the old pot boilers of ‘Mack and Mabel' and ‘Sweet Georgia Brown' to ‘Prelude to 49th Parallel' and ‘Vitae Lux', whilst ‘Clogdance' is as cheesy as a bit of old Chedder accompaniment to a well made Cornish pasty – tasty though. 

‘The Little Russian' and ‘Coronation Scene from Boris Gudenov' are also belted out with plenty of bucolic feeling to round off an enjoyable 70 or so minutes of playing from a band that continues to rise towards the upper echelons of the brass band contesting tree.

Iwan Fox

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