One of the welcome additions to the RNCM Festival has been the inclusion of leading youth ensembles to give full concert performances.  

This year it was the award winning Wardle Academy Youth Band under conductor Lee Rigg - a shining example of excellent organisation and inspirational leadership. 

They were not out of place in any way, with an excellent audience enjoying a reprise of the music that helped them to victory in the Intermediate Section of the National Youth Championships last year. 

Warm ensemble sound

The quality of their warm ensemble sound was backed by precise phrasing and clear articulation, something that was certainly shown in the opening ‘The Old Hundreth’, (in an arrangement by the school’s first head of music, Rom Stanko) with four confident cornet soloists at the front of the RNCM Theatre stage.   

Daniel Hall's 'Smoke Sketches' was the set-test performed in winning that National title. Inspired by the mysterious divinations of fire gazing, the three contrasting movements - from dying embers to intense flaming incandescence, is such an engrossing work from a composer so young, and all the better for the deliberate lack of needless pyrotechnics. It was performed with a finely judged maturity.

Daniel Hall's 'Smoke Sketches' was the set-test performed in winning that National title. Inspired by the mysterious divinations of fire gazing, the three contrasting movements - from dying embers to intense flaming incandescence, is such an engrossing work from a composer so young, and all the better for the deliberate lack of needless pyrotechnics. It was performed with a finely judged maturity.

Graduated brilliance

A-level student Millie Mills was the excellent soloist in James Curnow’s youthful ‘Euphonium Concerto’ - one that cleverly bridges the gap between emerging aspiration and full blown virtuosity.  The expressive opening, aided by her focussed tonality, made way to a lively scherzo before the graduated brilliance of the finale brought things to a rousing close.   

‘Dimensions’, an early work from the pen of Peter Graham also showcased a mature appreciation of style - this time by all sections of the band. Lee Rigg gave the music essential time and space, allowing his players to perform with vibrant confidence as the contrasting tempos and colourful scoring with echoes of Gregson and Vinter unfolded. 

Rise again

To close, the ‘Finale’ from Mahler's 'Symphony No.2’, cleverly arranged by Chris Wormald, where the band took the ‘Rise again, yes, rise again’ poetic inspiration to heart with a performance that was lifted in passion and purpose.

The encore of the old Oasis classic, 'Don't Look Back in Anger' was a neat homage to the festival’s home city – played with a ‘Morning Glory’ intensity that would have made the Gallagher brothers proud.

Malcolm Wood