CWS (Glasgow) Band & St Ronan's Silver Band

3rd Borders Festival of Brass

Memorial Hall, Innerleithen, Scottish Borders,
27th September 2002

Innerleithen's Memorial Hall was the venue last Saturday night for some excellent musical entertainment. Sponsored by the Traquair Arms Hotel, the opening event of the Borders Festival of Brass 2002 was a joint concert featuring St. Ronan's Silver Band and CWS (Glasgow) Band.

At 7.30pm St. Ronan's chairman David Lindsay welcomed the near-capacity audience and gave a brief resume of the events and venues of the Festival of Brass. Having thanked the sponsors and all those who helped organise the concert he introduced Conductor Chris Bradley who immediately got down to brass tacks launching St. Ronan's Silver Band into their opening march. 'Cornish Cavalier' by W.E. Moyle. Their playing was simply superb and the musicians were certainly not cavalier in their treatment of the music.

As our friend from the band put it "at first I thought the CWS Band had borrowed the St. Ronan's tunics but no, it was a'the weel kent faces that were causing the hall to reverberate !".

Following a wonderful cornet solo by Warren Lindsay the clapometer went up the scale. A victor at the recent "Brass in the Park" at Newtongrange and a great talent for the future he made his instrument sing sweetly in a heart-warming rendition of Langford's arrangement of the Robert Burns song 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose'. Later in the programme his Dad, David, also featured in a solo spot with his euphonium in another Langford arrangement 'The Blaydon Races'. Chris Bradley explained that the tune was composed in 1862 and describes the train journey from Newcastle to Blaydon. The actual races were discontinued after 1916 when severe rioting resulted in fatalities. David demonstrated that he had the skill and the puff to give a fine performance of this jolly tune that relentlessly gallops along a good lick from start to finish.

The contribution of St. Ronan's to the evening's entertainment not only reflected their growing stature but also made highly enjoyable listening for their audience. For instance, the jaunty, light-hearted and almost whimsical 'Bandology' (Osterling arr. Wright) provided balance for the more serious Goff Richards tune 'Calling Cornwall'.

The band shone as the piece opened with its slow, sonorous and stately beginning and as the tempo gradually increased and the volume rose, in a series of powerful flourishes, the percussion section featured strongly.

Few concerts by this band fail to feature an Alan Fernie arrangement and Saturday was no exception. They played an excellent rendition of 'Singin' In The Rain', conjuring up perfectly the dance sequence made famous by Gene Kelly (and some time later by Morecambe and Wise!)

'Time To Say Goodbye' (Sartori & Quarantotto, arr. Sparke), is a warm, wistful and melodic tune, and again the performance was both polished and expressive.

The applause was mighty after St. Ronan's played their way to the interval, in defiance of the Zulus with a performance of the Langford arrangement of 'Men of Harlech'. Some smart martial drumming by percussionists Claire Bell and Colin Watt was nicely complemented by the military sound of the brass.

The rapport between the band and its appreciative audience was soon manifest and the musicians were rewarded with copious and well-deserved applause at the end.

It's probably fair to say the audience in the Memorial Hall felt privileged and more than pleased to listen to the extensive and varied repertoire of the superb CWS (Glasgow) Band. Under the baton of their Principal Conductor, John Hinckley, the sheer skill and class of the musicians was obvious from the first bars as they opened with a dynamic march featuring the extremes of delicate interludes and crashing crescendos 'Mephistopheles' by Shipley Douglas.

Like Chris Bradley during the first half, between the pieces of music JohnHinckley regaled the audience with background information and the occasional anecdote about band members and he praised the rapport between St. Ronan's Silver Band and the audience.

Sartorially smart in their blue shirts (yellow for the percussion section) and natty tartan waistcoats the band proceeded to work their way through a bewildering array of musical genres with equal dexterity and panache throughout in a programme that contained the symphonic, grand opera, light entertainment, popular and film music.

Alan Fernie's name appeared on the sheet again, this time with his arrangement of 'Suite from Porgy and Bess' by Gershwin whilst Philip Wilby's 'Norwegian Blue' and Massager's 'Hungarian Dance' (arr. Golland) provided a fine contrast in nationality, mood and rhythm.

Film themes were represented by two arrangements by Sykes. A selection from 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' by John Williams had its magical moments enhanced by the tinkling chimes of a glockenspiel and an expansive "orchestral" sound from the band captured beautifully the mood of 'There You'll Be' from "Pearl Harbour" by Warren.

The magnificent musicianship of one of Scotland's premier brass bands, twice Champions of Great Britain (1990 & 1996) was so ably demonstrated during their breathtaking rendition of the brilliant Howard Snell arrangement of Wagner's 'Finale to Act I of Lohengrin'.

The first soloist of the evening was Jane Freeman and her flugelhorn rendition of 'Misty' was quite brilliant and simply evocative of a late night romance with lights down low.

'Street Scene', a classy piece of jazz, was an excellent vehicle for the fine trombonist Paul Kiernan and some superlative musicianship and stamina were demonstrated by Alison Bonner during her wonderful playing of 'Rhapsody for Euphonium' a lengthy piece which imparted both power and grace.

There could be no doubt that the audience hugely enjoyed this feast of top-rate musical cuisine and in consequence the musicians thoroughly enjoyed performing. Needless to say, CWS played out with a lively encore, 'Harmatton' (Andy Shephard, arr. Reid Gilje) with the same vigour and style with which they began the evening.

As a footnote CWS (Glasgow) Band had a guest trombonist who was strangely familiar to the audience being none other than St. Ronan's Silver Band stalwart and Peeblesshire News correspondent, Keith Belleville.
After the concert Keith explained, "The Co-op's second trombone player had to call off at the last minute and Paul Kiernan (CWS Band Manager) asked me to deputise at 7 o'clock on Saturday. It was honestly the first time I had played any of the music and I was just pleased that I managed to follow it - most of the time!
Seriously though", he continued, "it was great to get the chance to play with a Championship section band and playing between two of the country's top trombone players was a memorable experience."

St Ronan's Silver Band next concert will be the Christmas Concert Coffee Evening in the Memorial Hall, Innerleithen on Saturday 14 December.

Ted McKie

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