2005 RNCM Festival of Brass - Part 1 of 7

Introduction and Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band
Friday 21st January

Conductor: Elgar Howarth
Soloist: Sandy Smith
RNCM

Introduction:

It is possible that only after the Radio 3 Broadcast of highlights of this year's event on Wednesday February 9th that the enormity of the calibre of playing on offer over the weekend will actually sink in. Listening to things again can tell you whether your thoughts and theories were more than justified or as the case can sometimes be, what you thought you heard wasn't always the reality as the mind plays tricks.

After last year's event, I stated that it is very easy to get carried away with the superlatives and compliments on the standard of playing.  Very true, and the same could be said about 2005, except that at times during the weekend, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to use superlatives; in fact, it would be almost insulting not to.
The truth of the situation was, that those in attendance knew they would be hearing some fine playing over the weekend, but on a couple of occasions, they just had no idea how good it was going to be. Was 2005's Festival better than 2004?  Yes it was, and in 2006, they will do well to match it.

Artistic Director, Paul Hindmarsh described the playing as the best ‘he has heard in years' and prior to the Black Dyke concert, Elgar Howarth was quoted as saying ‘it might be another fifty years before you hear playing like that from Fodens last night'.  So were they knee-jerk reactions or well qualified assessments of what had been listened too? The latter is the answer, although it does cross one's mind that what Mr. Howarth thought that with the continual development of repertoire and playing abilities and techniques, it might not be fifty years before playing is heard to match it again.

As in previous years, the bands here were able to play repertoire that isn't mainstream content for your typical band concert.  All of the music was of a serious nature, and the programmes were devised to challenge the performers and most definitely, the audience. This festival is the brass band version of the ‘BBC Proms'.

The festival's theme was ‘Celebration' – a celebration of birthdays of Professor Edward Gregson, Elgar Howarth, John McCabe, and a posthumous one for Sir Michael Tippet, who would have been a hundred years of age earlier in January had he lived.  The music then was centred on these four great composers, with some Ball, Birtwistle, Delius, Goffin, Meechan and Strauss added for good measure.  Within the full programme, the audience got test pieces, some fine solo displays and a handful of World Premieres.

The bands of the weekend were without doubt Black Dyke and Fodens.  The individual soloist of the weekend was David Childs and the individual performance within a concert goes to Fodens for ‘In Memoriam RK'.

Some acknowledgement should be given to the soprano players on show as well.  Messrs, Crockford, Corry, Barnsley, Wycherley (and I don't think I have heard Alan play better than this) Hobbins, Sharman and Roberts deserve enormously praise for their performances within their respective bands.

Away from the concerts, there was plenty to keep everybody occupied as well.  During Friday the RNCM had held what was dubbed a ‘Low Brass Day', with master classes by Katrina Marzella, Steven Mead and David Thornton to name just three, whilst Saturday and Sunday saw more master classes from Lesley Howie, Steven Mead, James Gourlay and Roger Webster.  Not content with that, a forum sponsored by The Brass Herald on ‘Promoting, Encouraging and Facilitating Brass Playing to a Wider Audience' with a distinguished panel was also held and at the conclusion, the intention to continue the debate in the future. On the Sunday, ‘A Composers Forum' with an interesting discussion between Gregson, Howarth and McCabe was held,  with Mr. Howarth revealing that it is ‘highly unlikely that he would compose music to be used for a test piece in the UK ever again'. Both of these are reviewed in a separate article.

The weekend wouldn't have been possible without the help of the college (who thrive on an event such as this), Professor Gregson, administrator Philip Biggs and Artistic Director, Paul Hindmarsh.

Paul deserves acknowledgement also for persuading Roger Wright and the powers that be, to broadcast highlights of the weekend (as mentioned at the beginning) on Radio 3 in 9th February.  Two and a half hours (19.00-21.30 GMT) will be given over to the Festival on ‘Performance on 3', that begs the question; ‘When was the last time Brass Bands got that length of airtime continuously in one slot on Network Radio?' 

The audience was asked as well to write to Roger Wright, controller of Radio 3 afterwards (BBC Broadcasting House, London, W1A 1AA) to tell him how much the broadcast was appreciated.  The reality of the situation is that all of the concerts should be aired separately, but since the demise of ‘Bandstand' and the ‘BBC Festival of Brass', banding has hardly existed on Radio 3 in recent years, so we have to do what we can.

Attendances were pretty good with the hall being about three quarters full for BAYV, Fodens and the ISB.  Grimethorpe was surprisingly less than that, and only the lunchtime concerts (RNCM & Brighouse) were disappointing.  Black Dyke was the only full house all weekend, which was a real pity.

The inclusion of Brighouse and the ISB along with the additional educational sessions were welcomed.  The choice of selecting seven ensembles isn't that difficult as promoters and administrators know who fill bums on seats, but it is important to bring different ensembles into this festival in the future. The Festival is already pencilled in for 27-29 January 2006, with details and themes announced at a later date, and if this year is anything to go by, put the dates in that diary now.

Grimethorpe and Elgar Howarth got the Festival underway on the Friday night and in all honesty, didn't shine, as they know they can.  At times(to use a recent cricketing phrase) Grimey seemed a bit ‘under-cooked'.  Two examples of this came in the first half with Tippett's ‘Praedlium for Brass, Bells and Percussion' and ‘Festal Brass with Bells'.  The band just didn't seem completely at home with the music and it just didn't gel together. 

The same could be said for the first soloist and World Premiere of the weekend:  Sandy Smith is one bandings outstanding horn players but throughout the twenty five minutes of Howarth's ‘Concerto for Tenor Horn and Brass Band', the Scot wasn't in top form and seemed relieved to have got to the end when it came.

The second half was much better in fact; the Beethoven ‘Sonata in D Major' was the highlight of the concert with some fine playing, particularly from Kevin Crockford and Richard Marshall. One of the most notable things about Elgar Howarth is how he gives the music plenty of time to breathe and this was particularly evident in ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring' by Delius.

Anyone looking for inspiration for the Senior Trophy in May won't have learnt too much from Grimey's interpretation of Gregson's ‘Connotations' though.  The opening was good, but after that you sensed some uncertainty in and around the stand, and it wasn't really convincing playing, which was a real shame as many of the audience were looking forward to that piece in particular.  Before departing, the band performed Sandy Smith's arrangement of Bach's ‘Little Fugue in G Minor' used in their Brass in Concert winning programme last November. Grimethorpe are fine ambassadors of contemporary music-making but for once, had a bit of an off-night.

Malcolm Wood

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