Charley Brighton Recital

St Mary's Church
Slough
Saturday 5th February 2005

For the latest in his regular Saturday lunchtime recitals, Charley Brighton was joined by Benjamin Tubb, one of his pupils and currently Solo Horn with the Yiewsley and West Drayton Band.

The recital opened with Joe Miserendino's "A Willson Concertante" , written to mark Charley's contract with the Swiss manufacturers to promote their instruments as reported on 4barsrest last year.  Played on his new Willson 2900 euphonium, it is a suite consisting of three contrasting movements: the opening "Con Bravura" , with a serenade/tango feel to it, starts with the euphonium unaccompanied, with much exposed work at the top of the range. As the movement goes on, the whole range is exploited, with some abrupt moves from the pedal register back above the stave.  The "Notturno Adagio" was described by Charley as a "lonely nocturne", and again explores extreme registers, the sustained euphonium line set effectively against a repetitive pattern in the piano.  The third movement, "Vivace con brio" , calls for considerable agility, with the pianist as busy as the soloist at times, and incorporates a testing cadenza.  Charley explained that he thought the work was Joe's best so far and it was certainly well received by an appreciative audience.

Ben had chosen to perform Philip Sparke's "Masquerade" and impressed everyone from the outset by his clear, pure tone, particularly in the upper register.  Despite suffering from the effects of a cold, he demonstrated a smooth approach across the whole range of the instrument, occasionally adjusting his intonation in the lower register, but very fluent in the faster sections.   When faced with water retained in the valves he cleared it efficiently, and managed to negotiate the flurries of notes without losing the rhythmic pulse.  It was a fine debut performance, and as Charley said, "the occasional slip can be pardoned when the overall performance and sound is as good as this" .

In addition to his talent as a player, Ben is also a budding composer, with a number of works in his portfolio.  His "Romance for Euphonium" has some nice touches, both melodically and harmonically: the theme, presented initially by the euphonium, is later developed and ornamented, with a central cadenza, after which the accompaniment has a quasi-Jewish feel to it.  Although apparently an abandoned composition that Ben had returned to later, the end result was not at all disjointed, and was beautifully played by Charley and his accompanist, Malcolm Stowell.

At his previous solo recital, Charley had presented two newly acquired instruments that he had added to his collection, one of which was a 2 valve marching baritone in G, made by F E Olds of the USA.  With its bell pointing forward, and with all the weight falling on the right hand, Charley explained that it had taken some getting used to.  The two valves, one piston and one rotary, function as the normal valves 1 & 2, but this means that certain notes are not obtainable, calling for a little trial and error in selecting suitable pieces and keys for performance.  For its recital premiere performance, Charley had chosen an arrangement by Canadian Doug Houck of the hymn "This is my Father's World", accompanied by Malcolm on the church's fine organ.  The mellow sound of the baritone worked very well with the organ registrations selected, and it made for a very satisfying conclusion to the programme.

Charley's recitals form part of an ongoing series of free concerts on Saturday afternoons: if anyone is in the Slough area they are always well worth attending, usually incorporating new and original compositions and arrangements, presented in an intimate setting and with the chance to share a cup of tea with the performers afterwards.

Peter Bale

^back to top