An expectant audience packed into the RNCM for the appearance of Grimethorpe under Phillip McCann.  The partnership may well be in its embryonic stages but by the close nobody was left in any doubt about the permanency of their concert class.

2017 marks the band’s centenary, with some of the repertoire acknowledging historic landmarks - from a brace of pieces on which they won the British Open title to major compositions for the medium first performed by them.

Joyful

They opened with ‘Comedy Overture’ - a joyful work that later became an orchestral portrait of pre-War London - complete with the famous ‘Piccadilly’ motif and the languorous nocturnal section as the great capital sleeps at night. It remains a work of substance even if it now reflects on a cityscape long since disappeared.  

Music of a very different time and style followed - although just as beautifully shaped and phrased. Howarth’s ‘In Memoriam RK’ was sombre and reflective in its dark lyricism - the ciphers and oblique motifs of homage to Rudolph Kempe’s mastery of Strauss, Wagner and Mahler seeping through the score. The final, elongated repose touched the heart.

Peerless

So too the peerless playing of Roger Webster, in the world premiere of a new version by Howard Goodall of ‘Shackleton's Cross for Cornet and Band’. Inspired by a painting of the memorial to the great British explorer on the island of South Georgia, it was an evocative realisation of personal character as well as of geographical place, played with composed elegance. 

A brace of contrasting works followed: Broughton’s ‘The Good Old Way’ based on a old Manx folk song, was an uplifting and skilful exploration of the art of harmony, counterpoint and rhythmic detailing, whilst Martin Ellerby’s heartfelt ‘Requiescent Aberfan’ was a poignant paean to a tragedy that has lost none of its awful, visceral impact half a century on.

Masterful

To close, Grimethorpe recalled their famous 1991 British Open triumph with Wilby's masterful ‘Paganini Variations’. 

In the intervening years it has become something of a banding tourist attraction - blighted by mediocre performance overload. Here it was restored to its rightful place in the Pantheon of great test-pieces - the most timely of reminders that it can only be truly mastered by bands of the highest class. 

Grimethorpe was certainly that. The hymn tune ‘Gresford’ only added to the fact.

Malcolm Wood