Great Northern Brass Festival 2002

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Saturday September 7th 2002

Cast your mind back if you will briefly in the world of banding to 1996. YBS took their first European title, Fairey's were champions of the North West and followed this up with victory at the Masters in Cambridge. The National title went back to Scotland with CWS Glasgow taking their second title in eight years. Garry Cutt & members of the Marple Band will certainly not forget Saturday 7th September and the British Open. In the new surroundings of Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, they were drawn last in the order of play, and put a performance of Elgar's Severrn Suite which got the vote of the men in the box and they were crowned British Open Champions for 1996. As it turned out, Marple's interpretation of the piece was the last ever contesting performance for the Open in Manchester. The decision was taken to move down the M6 to Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and so, it brought an end to a major part of the British brass-banding history. This of course, left a gaping hole for many and the decision was taken to do something about it, and in 1998, Philip Biggs and his team, launched the first 'Great Northern Brass Festival' - a day of music making with top-class bands and soloists on show.

The festival has now established itself in the banding calendar, and on Saturday, everyone who attended was treated to a wonderful day of music-making. Proceedings kicked off at with a short march from the bands of Ashton-Under-Lyne, Household Troops and the North Central Divisional S.A. Band, which was followed by a short concert to get us in the mood on the piazza outside. At 12 noon, The RNCM Brass Band took the honour of taking the first concert of the day. Its forty years since the truly-great CWS Manchester Band played Force of Destiny in London and won and with it being what would have been HMs centenary this year, the decision was taken to focus a lot of music on CWS and the Mortimers. No better way of starting a concert then than with CWS's signature tune which was.................County Palatine, superbly played by members of the RNCM Band who were conducted by Nicholas Childs.

A major part of the day is the opportunity for the bands to play with some of the world's finest soloists and it began with Salvationist Carl Saunders. Carl displayed his talents with Stephen Bulla's Joshua Swings the Battle, not the easiest of solo's, but played to a very high standard. A Festival such as the Great Northern, is the perfect opportunity to perform new music, and we were treated to Fantasia on China Song, by Gary Carpenter. This is a piece lasting some ten minutes, which is written for tuba, and the soloist was James Gourlay. Mr Gourlay is of course, Head of Wind and Percussion at the RNCM, and he demonstrated to everyone present, how the tuba should sound.

To finish, RNCM gave us the first offering of the day of local man, Sir William Walton's music. We were treated to Richard III Suite and the performance was of a very high standard. For an encore, we were left with some more Walton and his Spitfire Prelude.

Following an opportunity to go and view the splendid exhibition which had been assembled of CWS Manchester Band, the Household Troops Band, under Major John Mott took to the stage. The whole band is drawn from the various Salvation Army centres across the UK and they get together every year for a Summer tour and it was a delight that they had to come to Manchester. The band opened with a march called Jubilee which at the tempo taken was reminiscent of an American circus march. Carl Saunders made his second solo-spot of the day with Eric Ball's Clear Skies - thank you Carl for some magical playing. Nicholas Hudson, needs no introduction and he chose arguably Ray Steadman-Allen's finest solo - The Eternal Quest. The music depicts a journey through the world to find peace. It is argued that this solo is one of the most difficult for trombonists to play, and Nicholas provided the audience with one of the gems of the day by reminding us why he is one of the greatest trombone players of the modern era. He left everyone spell-bound with his demonstration of how to make the trombone come alive. Following some Vinter, a swing version of Deep River and a piece of music called Ask by Peter Graham, we were treated to one of the gems of the Salvation Army repertoire. The New Zealander, Sir Dean Goffin visited St Paul's Cathedral in London where he viewed a painting, which apparently is still on display. From those thoughts, came The Light of the World, which features the hymn tune 'The Church is our Foundation'. Many brass bands feature the music of the Army now in their concert programmes, but this Goffin offering reminded everyone that the Army bands lead the way in how the music should be played. The Household Troops finished their part of the programme with Metamorphosis, written by Richard Phillips, who was at the head of the famous Enfield Citadel Band which had featured at the Great Northern Brass Festival in the past. At 4BR, we have mentioned what a great recent CD, The Sound of Britain is, and the audience wanted more, so we were treated to some Carmen with Match of the Toreadors.

Many people in the brass band idiom, work professionally within music. One of these is Lee Rigg, the cornetist from Williams Fairey band. Working within the education sector in the Rochdale area, Lee gets the chance to encourage young musical talent. A as a result, Healey and Smithy Bridge Foundation Primary Schools Joint Band, are in great hands. The band which has approximately 50 players, performed a short concert which was absolutely superb. The youngest players are only seven and we were treated to offerings ranging from 'When the Saints', 'Deep Harmony' and Bach's 'Toccata' . The emphasis is all about fun and enjoyment and throughout their short programme, the children enjoyed every minute of it. You can be certain that on that stage were some stars of the future, and as people arrived for the evening gala concert, they were treated to the concert programme again on the piazza outside - cracking stuff and keep up the good work Lee!!

With a focus on the life of Harry Mortimer during the day, the Fodens Band featured three original classic works, which are associated with the great man:Life Divine, Resurgum and Epic Symphony. The Masters champions commenced their programme however with a wonderful offering of Fest Music by Strauss. Principal Cornet Mark Wilkinson chose to pay tribute to HM with the rarely-heard Alpine Echoes and Post Horn Galop. Using the very same 'echo-cornet', Mark was in splendid form and first with the cornet and then post-horn, demonstrated why he is one of the best cornet players around today.

In 1921, Life Divine was used for the National Championships. Originally titled 'A Comedy of Errors', Harry Mortimer described it as his favourite piece of music. Eighty-one years on, Fodens demonstrated what great music it is, and that you have to be a top musical ensemble to play it. The band from Sandbach were in great form, and Russell Gray's directing was superb. We were being treated to something which was a wee bit special with all areas of the band on top of their game.

No chance for a breather for the band, as they were joined on stage by trombonist Douglas Yeo. He chose to play the Kenneth Cooke solo, 'The Passing Years' and followed this up with the Bill Geldard arrangement of 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. Mr Yeo was then joined back on stage by his friend, Nicholas Hudson, as the two of them played 'Fire Divine', taken from the musical 'Spirit' and everyone heard some lovely soothing playing.

The music of Eric Ball is legendary, and he described his composition 'Resurgum', as 'the best of him'. The tone poem was Foden's next offering and they were conducted by their Professional Conductor, Bramwell Tovey. Memories of their performance at last years British Open came flooding back, as the symphonic sound of the band was very much in evidence. Ball once confessed to Geoffrey Brand that he couldn't remember writing this piece, and it was inspirational. The performance from Foden's under Mr Tovey was certainly inspirational indeed as right from the first few notes we were hearing something very, special. There was a hushed silence inside the hall as the audience heard an extremely moving and dramatic interpretation of this great work. The opening section which goes under the name of the 'faith' motif appears time and time again, and at the end returns in a very triumphant manner, when all the tumult is over. The final moments where the motif reappears were simply awe-inspiring, and concluded a performance which was simply magnificent.

Philip Sparke describes his Mountain Song as a 'leisurely stroll up a mountain!!' - Next time anyone reading this, goes up a mountain, ask yourself whether its a leisurely stroll or not? If its a stroll, then you should not get out of breath, but Foden's rendition was simply breathtaking.

To conclude their programme, Foden's returned to one of the gems of the banding repertoire, with Percy Fletcher's 'Epic Symphony'. Under Bram Tovey, this was yet another exquisite performance from the Cheshire-based band, and it left you licking your lips in anticipation of their forthcoming Open performance in Birmingham. The great HM would have been justly proud to have been associated with a concert performance that Fodens had just given. It was simply superb!!

After some refreshment and a marching display outside by the Household Troops Band, we settled back for the final leg of the days marathon - the Gala Concert. This was to feature Williams Fairey and Black Dyke, along with soloists Lyndon Baglin & Martin Winter. Its been a year of change at Fairey's with some new personnel and this was the band's first outing with new Professional Conductor, Allan Withington. The band opened the nights entertainment with Crown Imperial, by William Walton. From here, we went with an American to the French capital of Paris for the Howard Snell arrangement of Gershwin's music. This was great stuff and like Foden's before them, Fairey's were on form alright. special mention must be given to young trombone player, Steven Haynes, who is guesting with the band at next week's Open contest. This is a young man who has a very special talent and will no doubt, become an exceptional talent.

Lyndon Baglin is a man who needs no introduction to anyone in brass bands - he is a legend. Lyndon was part of the great CWS Manchester band in its pomp, and then had spells at Brighouse, Black Dyke & Fairey. He was also on the end chair when Sun LIfe won the Open in 1990 on Le Roi DY's. All great soloists have a solo which they made their own. In Lyndon's case, at CWS, he always played 'Introduction and Allegro Spirito' by the Frenchman Senaille. Up until recently of course, Mr Baglin has been playing down at Cory's and he certainly has not lost any of that magical sound - the playing was pure magic and Lyndon just rolled back the years and brought the house down. Dressed in the CWS uniform he gave an encore of 'Sunshine of Your Smile' and once again it was beautifully played with fine accompaniment from Fairey's.

The boys from Heaton Chapel gave us Spring by Grieg and then a chance for the cornets to shine in Harry James' 'Trumpet Blues and Cantabile' - it was pure swagger from the cornet section, and nothing wrong with that. The main feature of Fairey's programme was the Cornet Concerto, by Ernest Tomilinson. Mr Tomlinson was present to hear the eveng's second soloist, Martin Winter, display some virtuoso playing. The concerto last some twenty minutes and you just sat in awe at Martin's playing. It was breathtaking and a privilege to be present to hear some superb playing.

Fairey's closed the first half with Sir Dean Goffin's 'Rhapsody in Brass'. Goffin wrote this piece in the 1940s and it was used at the Open in 1949. when surprise, surprise, The Fairey Aviation band under Harry Mortimer took the famous shield back to Stockport. All through Fairey's performance, it was noticeable, just how much at ease Allan Withington looked in front of the band. At times, the music stand became an intrusion, and he freely moved into the heart of the band, as and when he needed to. One thing is for sure, interesting times await the banding world with this combination of fine players and Mr Withington at the helm. We were not allowed an interval drink before we had heard 'Norwegian Dance' by Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen as the encore. It brought to the end Fairey's contribution to the days events and the stage was cleared for the National Champions, Black Dyke.

Dyke started with 'Introduction to Act III' from Lohengrin, by Wagner, which just happened to be the first piece that Harry Mortimer played in. From here, we were treated to the 'Academic Festival Overture' by Brahms. Written in 1880, it is based on student songs and the link to HM? - 1937 was the year that this piece was used at the Open and it was the first time, Harry had conducted.

Martin Winter returned to the stage for Black Dyke to accompany him in a performance of 'Zelda' - HM would have smiled enormously, as once again, Martin Winter demonstrated his skills with an outstanding rendition of this solo. Martin then put the cornet down and picked up his flugel horn for piece called 'A child is Born' - music in the form of Jazz and played at a leisurely pace.

We were then treated to the 'Cossack Fire Dance' which is part of the highly-acclaimed 'Call of the Cossacks' by Peter Graham. Christopher Turner starred up in the gods of the hall, along with Brett Baker, David Thornton and Roger Webster. Dyke have played this suite quite a bit recently, but nevertheless, it was very fresh and some magnificent playing.

Brett Baker was to demonstrate that whatever Douglas Yeo, and Nicholas Hudson could do on the trombone, so could he. Arthur Pryor was of course the great trombone player from the Sousa band, and Brett chose his 'Thoughts of Love' for his solo spot - marvellous stuff.

The day had commenced with County Palatine which was the great march used by CWS Manchester to open their concerts. As a result, the concert could only finish in a similar way, with Marche Slave - the music which brought the CWS's concerts to a close. As you can imagine, Black Dyke, and Nicholas Childs, provided us with a stirring finish. It would have been quite acceptable to leave at that, but Rossini's 'William Tell overture' was dusted off in double quick time for an encore.

So that was it. Twelve hours of magnificent brass playing. Thank you and congratulations Philip Biggs on a splendid day's music-making. The event would not have been possible without the generous help of Salvationist Publishing & Supplies, Yamaha-Kemble Ltd, Boosey and Hawkes, BBC GMR & Manchester City Council and compere's John Maines and Nick Robbins.. The event is already booked in for 2003 and if it is anything like Saturday, it will be another truly Great Northern Brass Festival!!

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