Trinity School of Music

Conductor: Stephen Maw
Regent Hall
London
Friday 15th October 2004

The Salvation Army at Regent Hall in London's Oxford Street holds free lunchtime concerts every Friday throughout the year, building up a regular, if shifting, audience, usually for a chamber music recital of some kind or other.  As part of this year's Brass Arts Festival the Trinity College of  Music Brass Band, under their conductor Stephen Maw, presented a varied programme to launch the day's proceedings.  Formed in 1998, the band operates as one of a range of ensembles at the College, and five rehearsals had been allocated in preparation for the concert.

Adopting a very open seating formation, set out in two wide semicircles with the percussion behind, the band were using French horns rather than tenor horns, and euphoniums covered the baritone parts.  They opened with Ray Steadman-Allen's march "Silver Star", for many years a feature of the commissioning meetings at the Royal Albert Hall, the title relating to a star presented to those mothers whose sons or daughters are commissioned as officers in The Salvation Army.  It made for a good start, with some crisp playing throughout the band and a smooth, sustained melodic line in the middle section.

Staying with Salvation Army repertoire - Stephen Maw, although Professor of Bassoon, is an erstwhile tuba player with links with the Regent Hall Corps - the second item was Dean Goffin's "Symphony of Thanksgiving", written to mark the 75th anniversary of the International Staff Band in 1951, and still
a demanding test for any band.  The somewhat steady tempo at the opening may have contributed to a slight lack of sparkle and excitement, although the Eb trumpet recovered valiantly after a miscue.  The percussion, set behind the rest of the band, seemed a little loose at times, but there was some fine playing elsewhere, particularly from the basses towards the end of the first movement.  At times, the French horn sound made for a very different effect to normal, with the subito piano trio section coming over well.  The trombone has a leading role in the centre section and could have been more commanding, although all the notes were there.  Picking up the tempo towards the end, the band brought the piece to a resounding conclusion.

Wilfred Heaton's "My Treasure", built around three devotional songs, calls for a very sensitive touch, with plenty of exposed work and a particularly awkward opening for solo cornet.  Here the players were rather tentative, and intonation seemed to suffer as a result.  Possibly the idiom was not familiar to most of the players, but the playing was too rigid, without the flexibility often demanded by this composer.  The band sound in the tuttis was fine, but they were less secure in the chamber music sections, and the euphonium melody was sometimes overpowered.  This was perhaps a little too ambitious a selection in the light of the limited rehearsal time, but on the other hand they had been introduced to one of the band movement's finest writers.

Edward Watson, clarinettist and composer, has arranged a number of pieces by William Walton for band, and that chosen for the concert was his selection from the incidental music for Lawrence Olivier's film of "Henry V".  Incorporating a leading role for narrator, taken on this occasion by college student John Savournin, it incorporates many of the memorable moments from the film, both rousing and reflective.  From the opening bars it was apparent that the players were much more comfortable with the style of the music, and it certainly showed them at their best.  The opening cornet fanfares were well balanced, and the music caught the atmosphere of the camp before the conflict, with effective use of tambourine and field drum.  "The Death of Falstaff" brought more sombre sounds, with the horns and euphoniums contributing to the darker tone of the ensemble.  The narration, very clearly enunciated and amplified to just the right extent, could be heard clearly, even over the louder band sections, which is central to the success of this selection.

"Touch her soft lips and part" was presented very tenderly, with muted cornets and basses, and the horn fanfare following the "St Crispins' Day" speech was played very cleanly.  When the charge came, led by drummers placed at either side of the stage, the long accellerando was finely judged, with the music growing more frantic as the climax approached.  The flugel playing the "Agincourt Song" seemed to have to increase his volume more than normal in order to be heard over the accompaniment, but that apart it was a most successful reading, for many the highlight of the concert.

Introducing "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral", given in the William Himes arrangement, Stephen Maw, who had been an excellent compere throughout, commented that it must have been a pretty large church to warrant such a procession.  The full sound of the band was very well controlled, with the French horn tone again very telling, and some fine work on the Eb trumpet (not soprano cornet), as had been seen throughout the programme.  The final climax was all the more effective due to the restraint shown earlier on.

As the audience applauded, no doubt wondering whether an encore was on the cards, Stephen Maw left the stage, and the band launched into what seems to have become their "party piece", Barrie Gott's "Lightwalk".  This toe-tapping number, with an excellent flugel solo, went down well with all present, and there was a sense that the players were more relaxed as their efforts were drawing to an end.  With many players not from a background in banding, several playing on somewhat unfamiliar instruments, and with the limited rehearsal time available, it was an hour well-spent, and a first-class curtain-raiser for the events to follow.

Peter Bale

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