These free Friday lunchtime concerts have been running at Regent Hall for over twenty years.  

Organised by Stephen Maw, the Royal Greenwich Brass Band (started when Stephen was at Trinity College) has appeared on many occasions.  

Now separate from the College, concerts are put together with very little rehearsal time, and often including players who are unfamiliar with brass band repertoire.  

For Friday’s concert, they featured three French horns alongside one tenor horn, whilst the euphonium and baritone parts were covered by players whose first instrument is trombone. There was also a very impressive rotary valve tuba on display.

Little known march

Kevin Norbury’s march ‘The Ransomed Army’, written when the composer was a member of the Chalk Farm Band, is not as well-known as it should be:  There is some stirring writing, with more than a touch of Hollywood about it.  

One was struck from the start by the power of the bass section, which did at times dominate the texture a little too much, whilst the horns were rather lost.  The attractive minor mode section featured the euphoniums and baritones, and the piece came to a rousing finish.

Atmospheric writing 

More descriptive music followed with Philip Sparke’s ‘The Vikings’ - another piece that it not heard as often as it should be.  The atmospheric opening featured muted cornets and percussion, with the basses emerging as a longboat looming up out of the mist. 

There was some neat work by Peter Athans on solo cornet before the horn summons was heard.  

The impression was of an irrepressible force on the move, with the band producing some magnificent sounds, topped off by Andrew Pitt’s Eb trumpet.

Stunning soloist

Jacob Phillips, the band’s flugel player, won a solo competition organised by Charlotte House, one of the band’s regular concert venues, and was featured on trumpet in Kenny Baker’s ‘Satchmo’.  He gave a commanding rendition that was very well received by the audience.

Gaspar Sanz wrote ‘Los Canarios’ as a guitar solo back in the 17th century, and one wonders what he would have made of the Superbrass 21st century reworking: With tambourine, castanets and drum underlying its Spanish origins, it was an enjoyable romp built on a bass ostinato figure.

Classic variations

The band ended with Dean Goffin’s ‘Rhapsodic Variations: My Strength, My Tower’: a challenge for any ensemble. There were moments of uncertainty in ensemble, but all in all it was a fine effort, with excellent work from Peter Athans and Nicholas Armstrong on cornet and euphonium respectively.   

The five trombones were most effective at the end of the first section, as were the divided basses, and the performance received favourable comments from former ISB stalwarts George Whittingham and Maurice Cooper.

As an encore, the band sent everyone home with a smile with Richard Rodney Bennett’s theme from ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, complete with guard and whistle.

Peter Bale