High Wire

Plenty of High Wire playing from one of the up and coming bands in the North West, but have they bene able to keep their balance and not fall off?

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Bactiguard Wire Brass
Conductor: Paul Andrews
MISC: CD MISC008
Total Playing Time: Approx 70 mins  

It’s easy to forget that Bactiguard Wire Brass has only been existence since 2001; such is the familiarity the band has achieved during its speedy journey from Third Section initiation to Championship Section status within five years. 

Success

These days, as we all too often hear sad tales of bands going to the wall, Bactiguard’s is a success story worth shouting about. The initial dream of Paul Andrews and Andy Dale to create a Warrington based band to emulate the success of Crosfield Soap Works Band a century ago must have seemed to be a long way from fruition when they started their journey with around twenty players. 

Yet it has been the sheer determination and dogged tenacity of the band’s Musical Director and second euphonium player respectively, that has seen the band rapidly rise to the point of vying with the best of ‘em in the North West.

Next year will see the band entering new territory once again when they compete in the Grand Shield for the first time, having gained a very creditable second place at the Senior Cup in May 2008 following promotion from the Senior Trophy just the previous year. 

Third CD

High Wire is Bactiguard’s third CD and its release comes hot on the heels of the band’s Senior Cup success. Paul Andrews has clearly tried (and largely succeeded) to create as diverse a musical programme as possible, ranging from the battle cries of Agincourt, via original music by Joseph Horovitz and Wilfred Heaton, to recent popular favourites such as 'The Circle of Life' and Chuck Mangione’s 'The Children of Sanchez'. A number of soloists get the opportunity to air their talents along the way and with fourteen tracks totalling sixty five minutes of music, it’s a pretty well packed affair for all concerned.

Ballet heart

At the heart of the disc is the Horovitz 'Ballet for Band', celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of its first outing at the Royal Albert Hall in 1983. It’s perhaps a piece that has slipped somewhat undeservedly out of fashion, despite its far greater success than Horovitz’s later contribution to the National Championships, 'Theme and Cooperation' in 1994. The assertion in the liner notes though that Horovitz’s “use of colour, timbre, light and shade are unrivalled in banding today” might just be overstating the point somewhat.

The band turns in a creditable recording of the work, a little laboured to begin maybe, but with a very fine bass feature, sensitive playing in the slow music that lies at the heart of the piece and a lively dash to the end. It’s certainly a timely reminder of a piece that initially remained very popular following its early Albert Hall success.

Soloists

A healthy number of soloists take centre stage with the band although there are two young players that we would single out as being worthy of particular mention. 

Sixteen year old Adam Taylor possesses a great trombone sound and his performance of Duke Ellington’s familiar 'Do Nothing ’Till You Hear From Me' is both terrifically cool and stylish to boot; a name to listen out for we are sure. 

James Hatton occupies the bumper up chair with the band and for the last three years has been a trumpet student at the RNCM. Matching Adam Taylor in the style stakes, his performance of Chuck Mangione’s 'Children of Sanchez' demonstrates a great technique as well as a real feel for the music.

Top form

The band too is on top form in several numbers that display its collective abilities to good effect. Sandy Smith’s arrangement of 'Sparkling Diamonds' gets the disc off to an appropriately sparkling start with some great sounds and a cracking contribution from the band’s bass trombone player. 

'Live and Let Die', in Ray Farr’s sterling arrangement, hits the right 007 notes whilst at the other end of the disc, Wayne Duncan’s excellent arrangement of Richard Meyer’s 'The Ayres of Agincourt' is a fine bit of rousing revelry to bring matters to a lively conclusion.

Marred

On the down side, it was pleasing to see Wilfred Heaton’s moving 'Celestial Prospect ' included but disappointing that it was marred by what appears to sound like a particularly unnecessary use of reverb by the recording engineer; it’s only obvious on one occasion but that’s once too much; Heaton’s is hardly a piece that needs to be tinkered with. 

The same fate befalls John Ireland’s 'Love Unknown', an unfamiliar yet touching piece by the composer of 'A Downland Suite', in a quality arrangement by Steve Robson that is sensitively played by the band. 

The apparent acoustic dabbling does nothing to enhance the music which is perfectly capable of speaking for itself. The band’s singing is somewhat distant in 'Circle of Life' and would perhaps have been better left out of 'Don’t Cry for me Argentina' altogether (the playing just strains a little in the climaxes here at times also) but all in all these are relatively minor quibbles. There is a much to enjoy from a band that is very much in the ascendancy.                              

It’s a shame that the conductor of the band is not acknowledged anywhere on the CD sleeve although we assume that Musical Director Paul Andrews is the man to take the credit, possibly assisted by the band’s Associate Conductor Adrian “Benny” Morris, bass trombonist with the Halle Orchestra and the man who many will remember making a name for himself during his student days when he played “Wandrin’ Star” at the Granada Band of the Year with Richard Evans and Leyland.

With plenty in the contest diary look forward to, Bactiguard Wire Brass is an outfit that continues to display serious aspirations. This latest addition to their CD catalogue will do that quest no harm whatsoever.  

Christopher Thomas 

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