Amsterdam Staff Band

Conductor: Bandmaster Howard Evans
Southend Citadel
Friday 10th June

For their final programme prior to their appearance at the Gospel Arts Concert at the Royal Albert Hall the Amsterdam Staff Band visited Southend Citadel, the home corps of their Bandmaster, Howard Evans. They had been welcomed earlier by the Mayor and Mayoress, who provided a meal at the Civic Centre and then attended the festival, as did a number of the bandmaster's family.

From the opening tones of Dudley Bright's setting of  ‘In Good Company'  the band displayed a full, clear sound, if a little loud at times.  With a field drum either side in the balcony, and trombones and cornets flanking the rest of the band, they played with considerable precision and sense of style, making the contrast between the early music sections, with the melody attributed to Henry VIII, and the interpolation of the more modern worship song ‘Lord, I lift your name up high'.  The soprano cornet of Daniel Rosenquist was heard to good effect as he soared above the band.

Introducing the band, Howard referred to previous Dutch involvement with the area, including the burning of the Royal Navy 400 years ago, and the building of Canvey Island!  The programme continued with the well known ‘Vitae Lux'  (Frode arr Aagaard-Nilsen), featuring the full, warm tones of Menno van der Woude on flugel horn.  The band provided solid support, although the dynamics could have been tempered to suit the hall: having increased in volume fairly early there was nowhere else to go, although it should be said the sound never distorted and the tuning remained spot-on.

The congregation was then given the opportunity to join with the band in an attractive setting by the Bandmaster of the hymn ‘Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation' before entering into a more reflective period.  There are a number of suites in the Salvation Army repertoire where individual movements can be taken and used on their own, and one such is William Himes'  ‘To the Chief Musician'.  Entitled ‘Sacrifice'  it uses the old song ‘I bring thee all', with phrases of the melody emerging from various sections in the band.  If some of the harmonic subtlety seemed lacking due to some over-safe playing, it nevertheless gave the opportunity for meditation leading up to the bandmaster's prayer.

Howard Evans, who is a former National Bandmaster in the United Kingdom Territory, has contributed a number of vocal settings for The Salvation Army, and he developed one of these into the band piece  ‘Chassidic Dance'.  Featuring the cornets and trombones once more, there are elements of Jewish music, in particular the gradual winding up of the tempo.  Opening with a summons on the tam-tam, the fine trombone section presented the theme, later joined and answered by the cornets, the excitement gradually building to a climax, capped by shouts of "Oi!" and the setting off of a number of party poppers.  In complete contrast, ‘Doyle's Lament' from ‘Call of the Cossacks'  (Peter Graham) showcased Menno once more, with sympathetic accompaniment from the band.

The first half closed with Dean Jones ‘Glorifico Aeternum', the composer's first major work for brass, written in response to a request from a divisional music school.  Featuring the tunes ‘Now thank we all our God', ‘Somebody prayed for me' and ‘St Columba'  it offers an up-to-date approach to the older melodies, with unexpected rhythmic and harmonic twists.  The band's impressive percussion section provided a steady foundation and the accents from the well-drilled band were precisely placed.  Once again there was some good work from the trombones, although the horns were somewhat overshadowed when they presented the melody ‘Somebody prayed for Me'. 

At the start of the third section, the rhythmical figures were particularly clear, and cornets seemed to take on an especially bright sound in the latin american passages.  In the lower half of the band, the chords were well balanced, and the hefty bass drum beats at the entry of ‘St Columba' were very telling, as the piece brought the first half to a rousing finish.

The second half commenced with a quintet at the front of the platform as audience and band continued to mingle.  Gradually the hubbub of conversation died down and the band resumed their seats to join the quintet in Kevin Norbury's ‘Hallelujah Parade'.  With its often amusing references to such earlier songs as ‘Praise God, I'm saved' and the march ‘Scarlet Jersey' it was a fine curtain-raiser for the emotional climax of the evening.

Howard Evans explained that he had been considering for some time devising a sequence based around the form of the Requiem Mass, using various reading and music to develop the themes.  Entitled ‘A Symphony of Hope' the first section, ‘Kyrie', was represented by the band song ‘He is here'.  The percussive and aggressive tones of the third movement of Howard's own ‘Elegiac Variations' (Mvt 3) seemed to match the mood of the ‘Dies Irae' perfectly, and the band seemed to revel in this complex writing.

The ‘Confutatis' speaks of hope, and Simon Smedinga, the band's Principal Euphonium, played Howard's setting of the children's song ‘When he cometh', specially written for a forthcoming CD featuring Steven Mead accompanied by Howard's other band at Boscombe.  Although somewhat overwhelmed by the band on occasions, he impressed with his smooth tone and sustained lines, particularly at the top of the register. 

The ‘Offertorio' can be seen as a sacrifice of both prayer and praise, the latter coming across well in Martin Cordner's transcription of Ian Robinson's song ‘He is exalted', featuring some very nimble work on tuned percussion.  Olaf Ritman plays cornet in the band and he contributed a challenging setting of the tune ‘O waley, waley', with which the words ‘When I survey' are associated.  This atmospheric arrangement features some effective percussion writing, with various exotic instruments including a rain stick, and was confidently played by trombonist Marc Onstwedder, forming the ‘Agnes Dei' of the Requiem.

The second congregational song combined the hymn ‘Whiter than the snow' - used since the very early days of the Salvation Army, and the subject of various parodies over the years - with a laid-back 12/8 setting of the tune by William Himes, and which worked remarkably well as a congregational item.  Of the various settings of the ‘Pie Jesu' available, the band chose that by Andrew Lloyd Webber, as arranged for cornet and flugel by Ray Steadman-Allen.  Here the two soloists did not seem ideally matched, and there could have been a little more empathy between them.  They also seemed to have to push a little hard against the band. 

The final part of the Requiem, ‘Libera Me', was represented by Peter Graham's ‘Sinfonietta: The Dawning'.  There was a little suspect intonation at the opening, but things soon settled down with the trombones' reference to ‘O Lord, what a morning', followed by phrases from ‘Morning has broken'.  The five-strong trombone section also featured in a meandering figure that always reminds this reviewer of the music used as the theme music for the TV series ‘I Claudius'.  The euphonium introduced Joy Webb's song ‘There will be God' and the themes are developed with Peter's customary skill, culminating in the trombones once again declaiming ‘O Lord, what a morning', this time against the rest of the band. 

At the conclusion, Major Geoff Ashdown, the Commanding Officer of Southend Citadel, was invited to the platform.  Flanked by two of the larger bandsmen, who proceeded to link arms with his and lift him off his feet (!) he was presented with a couple of mementos from the band in appreciation for the hospitality extended to them.  Howard then pointed out that the band had not played a march during the programme, whereupon they went straight into Sousa's ‘The Salvation Army March', taken at a ferocious pace, but played with the utmost precision, including the running bass accompaniment to ‘O boundless salvation'.

Following a spoken benediction by Major Ashdown, the evening ended with the playing of ‘An Irish Blessing', with the solo quartet positioned at the back of the balcony.  It marked the end of a fine evening of music-making, with a well-chosen and varied programme, well played and presented, with first class precision and intonation.  If there was a regret, it was that at times the band was very loud, not particularly helped by the hall itself, which led to some loss of clarity and the feeling that things were a little too much "in-your-face".  Tempering the volume could have made a very good evening into a great one.

Peter Bale

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