Lake Wobegon Brass Band and The Tongwynlais Band

Conductors:
Charles B. Olson (LWBB), Michael Halstenson (LWBB), Rob Burnett (Tongwynlais)

Bishop of Llandaff High School, Cardiff
Saturday 21st July 2001

All the way from Minnesota the Lake Wobegon Brass Band arrived in a sunny capital city of the Principality for the second leg of their short tour of England and Wales. Their hosts for the evening concert at the Bishop of Llandaff School were the Tongwynlais Band from just outside Cardiff, a Welsh Championship Section band who competes nationally in the First Section.

It was the hosts who opened the concert with a classic William Rimmer march 'Punchinello' and proceeded to show welcome versatility with a programme that suited the bands strengths. Many outfits at this level of banding try in vain to produce the large rounded sound of the better and bigger bands and fail miserably, but conductor Rob Burnett, an experienced semi retired euphonium player of note in these parts used his head and kept a tight control on the dynamics. It was a welcome approach.

There was some very nice playing by soloist Eve Patterson in Rodrigo's Concerto De Aranjuez, and although the piece has become something of a "lollipop" and is usually musically destroyed by more trills, frills and ornaments than you would find on a Danny La Rue frock, this was nicely understated. The bands Principal Cornet, Duncan Broadley has also built up a reputation for fine playing in Wales and was on good form throughout the night especially. There are a lot of bands in Wales who would like to have him in their ranks.

Overall, Tongwynlais put up a good showing, especially in view that they are a very young band, and although there were many blips and blobs from his young charges, conductor Robe Burnett will have been quietly satisfied of their contribution. On this outing they have good times ahead. The ubiquitous "Sospan Fach" – a bit of a Welsh version of "Rule Britannia" closed the Welsh contribution. We can't have it all.

After a short interval the Lake Wobegon Band took the stage and immediately showed a larger more robust sound, which although was big was more than a little harsh. The bands enthusiasm was evident throughout (the usual American approach to things), but it didn't hide a number of shortcomings in what was an ambitious programme.

The players, we were informed are mainly music educators (a typical American PC term!) and professional musicians, and this was evident in the approach to the content of their programme. However, the urge was to try and produce a much more "symphonic" sound and although at times it worked well, the louder dynamic range was too harsh and brash to be comfortable and detracted somewhat. The trombones were an exception in that they seemed to be in control nearly all the time, but the rest of the band were not always up to their standard. A good opener in "Weiner Philharmoniker Fanfare" (Richard Strauss), was followed by "Henry The Fifth" (R. Vaughan Williams) and this was where the first problems in intonation and tonal quality first surfaced. The band was then conducted by Michael Halstenson who took up the baton for the first U.K. performance of his own work – "The Hill Called Voerbjerg" which echoed the Band's Viking heritage. The use of a very good percussion section impressed and this was the bands best playing of the night by far.

An American flavour surfaced in Curnow's "Appalachian Mountain Folk Song Suite" and "National Emblem" (E.E.Bagley) and they also performed the emotive William Himes arrangement of "Nicaea". This again showed qualities when the lid was firmly kept on the dynamics, but it was somewhat spoilt by a poor account of "The Firebird" (Stravinsky) which was littered a little too liberally with mistakes and a fair bit of "flannel". It was a major let down.

The night however was saved however by a massed band finisher from the old school of "make it big, brash, loud and famous" as both bands came together for "Men of Harlech". It may not have been a concert of the greatest musical content and the playing may not have been the best quality throughout, but it was a brave and rousing evening of friendship and musical sharing. Both bands will have taken heart from the occasion and the audience had a good old night of entertainment.

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