The British Open Champions in Concert
21-Nov-2004Foden's Richardson Band
Conductor: Garry Cutt
Morley Town Hall
Saturday 13th November 2004
When Foden's Richardson Band were crowned British Open Champions in September it ended what was for them a barren run of 40 years regarding the premier brass band contest in the world and this proud and famous band from Sandbach in Cheshire were once again entitled to eel and proclaim themselves at the top of the brass band movement.
Founded in 1902 the bands first musical director was Herbert Scott and in 1908 the band reached championship status which they have retained ever since. Such famous conductors as Fred, Harry, and Rex Mortimer, James Scott, Howard Snell, Bram Tovey and Nicholas Childs to name a few have helped to maintain the excellent standard that the band has today and the audience waited in anticipation to hear the evening's concert promoted by Leeds City Council and which was to be directed by Garry Cutt, the man who brought them back that Open Championship after so mnay years of trying.
Every band likes its concerts to get off to a good opening and in the 'Grand March from Aida' (Verdi arr Wright) the current British Open Champions (it must have sounded so good to the players to have that after their names) certainly achieved that goal with a performance which had class stamped all over it. Good round sounds with plenty of contrast was evident, none more than in the main theme with some delightful flugel horn playing from Helen Fox and some excellent playing from the cornet section. You got the feeling this was concert was going to be something special.
Clive Barraclough's excellent march 'Simmoraine' followed which led us into 'Carnival Overture' (Dvorak arr Brand). It's quite a while since I have heard this Overture but it was well worth the wait with a good brisk tempo to open followed by some superb lyrical playing from flugel, soprano and solo cornet . The bass section gave the performance a solid platform (as they did all night) and the band revelled in this music - it was band playing at its best.
Alan Wycherley, the bands soprano cornet player has been one of the finest exponents of the instrument for many years and in the solo 'Deep Bond' which was written for him by Saatchi Uchida a student at Salford college and arranged by his son David who is part of the bands percussion section, he showed the large audience why. A superb clear and pure sound and excellent phrasing; it was a master class in how to shape a performance.
Music by Dinicu in the exciting 'Hora Staccato' gave the cornet section the chance to let its hair down (although some had less to let down than others) and with some superb playing from the percussion section this kept the concert flowing along brilliantly. Glyn Williams, the bands principal euphonium then gave a stunning show of the solo 'Rule Britannia' (arr Hartman), and what a great player this man his. A terrific technique stood along side his excellent musicianship and it gave us a performance to saviour. We were to hear from him later on in the programme in a different role. Music from the pen.of the late Gilbert Vinter in his 'Elegy from Entertainments' was a nice contrast and Mark Wilkinson on principal cornet excelled in this music
Sullivan's 'Pineapple Poll' is full of great melodies and the band chose the 3rd movement of this most enjoyable music before ending the first half with the 'Toccata' from 'The Organ Concerto' by Widor arranged by Philip Sparke. This music is quite repetitive but is exciting nevertheless and featued some fine work all round the band with the ensemble quality sound shining through. A good ending to what had been a splendid first half.
The bands signature the tune the march 'The Cossack' by Rimmer opened the 2nd half followed by Helen Fox on flugel with Katie Melua's song 'Closest thing to Crazy'. My admiration for this lady's playing has been well documented before and she gave a object lesson in how to manufacture a solo. She has a beautiful sound in which she gets the maximum projection and her phrasing is always well expressed and so musically turned. Her contribution to the bands high standard of performance over the years cannot be overstated.
The moving 'Schindler's List' by John Williams (arr Smith) reminded us all of the horrors of concentration camps and the band handled this music with great sensitivity and feeling. We don't know how lucky we are. Dave Brubeck has given us some great jazz music and in his 'Blue Rondo a La Turk' with its 9/8 time changes and lazy blues style and it still takes a lot to capture the mood of this music. The band gave a good show of this piece with some nice playing from the horns, euphoniums and trombones. More music from John Williams in 'Lois's Theme' from the film Superman played by the bands solo trombone John Barber gave us a reminder of the composer's ability to produce a great melody. The soloist did the music justice with a sublime performance.
I mentioned earlier that we would be hearing from Glyn Williams again but this time as a vocalist in the great dance band number 'Have You Met Miss Jones.' Is there no end to this mans talent? The band seemed to enjoy this as much as the singer himself although some of his actions gave you food for thought! Well done Glyn you certainly sang with style and panache. The audience loved it.
Mark Landon comes from a very musical family. His father Eric is the MD of the Rochdale Youth Band, his mother is a member of the trombone section at Wingates and his sister Rebecca is solo horn with Hepworth Persimmon Homes Band: the long Winter nights without television wouldn't have been boring would they? Mark chose 'Xylomania' as his solo and this excellent percussionist gave a dazzling performance well backed by the band.
Music from Showboat in a up tempo version of 'Old Man River Kern' (arr Freeh) led us to the finale - 'Music' by John Miles (arr Broadbent), a real old blast from the 1970s past. The first lines of this song are Music is my first love and it shall be my last, Music of the future, Music of the past. - cheesy as a cheese roll from the Chedder Gorge, but it is stirring stuff and Garry Cutt extracted every ounce of emotion from the band in a performance which brought the house down. As a encore the band got the audience involved with the 'Radetsky March.'
To sum up, this was the best concert I have reviewed for a long time. The band were on top form with excellent soloists and well directed by the MD. Foden's have a long and proud history - long may it continue.
Dave Tinker
