The Great Northern Brass Arts Festival 2005

Malcolm Wood was there all day and enjoyed himself listening to a interesting selection of bands. This is what he thought.

Sponsored by World of Brass
Supported by Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd., Besson Musical Instruments Ltd. The Brass Herald and BBC GMR

The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Saturday 3rd September 2005

Featuring:
Black Dyke Band, Dr Nicholas Childs
Bones Apart
Brighouse & Rastrick Band, James Gourlay
The Brass Players
Euph4ria
Fodens Richardson Band, Garry Cutt
Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band, Richard Evans
Healey & Smithey Bridge Primary School Bands, Lee Rigg & Gwen Diggle
Marsden Band, Glyn Williams
North Central Divisional S.A. Band, Gordo Kirsopp
SONAR BRASS
Stockport Schools Band, Colin Duxbry

Soloists: Brett Baker, David Childs, Natsumi Inaba, Paul Lovatt-Cooper, Richard Marshall, Alan Morrison, David Thornton, Helen Tyler, Michael Warriner, Mark Wilkinson, Glyn Williams, Dr Roger Webster & Alan Wycherley

Compere: John Maines

The arrival of the Great Northern Brass Arts Festival in September signifies the start of the Autumnal concert and contest season with summer days becoming a distant memory.  Not this year though as glorious sunshine descended upon Manchester for a day when it was more appropriate to be spending the day outdoors than in the confines of The Bridgewater Hall.

Now in its eighth year, this festival is one of the most important within the whole movement.   Philip Biggs co-ordinates everything superbly, something that the bands appreciate and those involved want to be part of it. It is always a great opportunity to hear some of the finest brass musicians anywhere in the world without the added pressure of it being a contest.  The day is about good music-making with something on offer for everybody and it is certainly good preparation for the senior bands on view who will be competing for the Open title in a couple of weeks.

The theme of the day this year was very much along the emphasis of entertainment – what bands do best, whilst glimpses of music for the connoisseur were not as prominent as in previous years.

Once again, audience attendances were excellent with large numbers being in attendance for Brighouse, and a near capacity audience for the Gala Concert.

The day would not be possible without the continuing support of World of Brass, Besson Musical Instruments, The Brass Herald, Yamaha-Kemble, BBC GMR, whose presenter of the long-established ‘GMR Brass', John Maines, once again, compered the day in fine style, in his informative and entertaining manner.

Entertainment was given before things got going inside the hall from Marsden Band under Glyn Williams and the North Central Divisional Salvation Army Band, and in between concerts in the main hall, The Brass Players  & Euph4ria kept everyone entertained, but the concerts got underway at 12 noon in one of the best concert halls, around, Bridgewater Hall.

Stockport Schools Band (Colin Duxbury, Guest Soloist, David Childs)

One of the most important parts of this festival is the involvement of youth bands and in recent years, St Helens and Rochdale Borough Youth Bands have performed, whilst this year it was the turn of Stockport Schools Band.

The local band travelled the short distance down the A6 to give a programme of music that had much to admire.  The opening march, ‘Westward Ho!'  was confident and featured some fine cornet playing from the band's principal before music of an African flavour saw the band get their vocal chords going in Jan Magne Forde's ‘Ejala'.

Goff Richards' ‘Light as Air' is a subtle title based on around the music of Bach and the old classic, ‘A Lighter Shade of Pale' – music that band seemed really to enjoy.

The first Guest Soloist of the day was euphonium virtuoso, David Childs.  David's choice of repertoire was light and easy on the ear.  The popular ‘Brillante' displayed the young man's class followed by the Welsh classic tune, ‘Myfwany', before that old war horse, ‘Carnival of Venice' was reproduced with hardly any effort.  The band clearly enjoyed performing with David and deserve acknowledgement in the way the accompanied the soloist.

Stockport's contributions continued with the ‘Great Escape' and ‘Gabriel's Oboe' before the band played tribute to the significance of VE Day with ‘Eventide' before finishing with music Ross Roy.

Sonar Brass & Bones Apart

SONAR Brass and Bones Apart are two leading brass ensembles who have made a huge impact on the banding scene in recent years.  The players are all associated with the movement and as friends decided that they wanted to

Both ensembles performed programmes that were a blend of classical repertoire mixed with some old favourites all with that sense of fun and in both cases the playing was so clean and articulate whilst being sensitive to their colleagues

SONAR made up of Shaun Crowther (bass), Owen Farr (horn), Nicholas Hudson (trombone), Alan Morrison & Richard Marshall (cornets) took to the stage first with Handel's familiar 'Entrance of the Queen of Sheba' acting as their opener.  Dvorak's 'Humoresque' featured some finely delicate cornet playing from Alan Morrison before the hall echoed to old romantic song, ' Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square'

A change in mood brought the classic ‘New York, New York' where the boys really seemed to enjoy themselves in particular before more music with an American flavour was performed, 'She'll be coming round the Mountain' 'The Trail to Mexico' (Tom Dooley) and 'Blue Tail Fly' all coming under the banner of  'Three Songs of the American Dream', arranged by Martin Ellerby.

To close, SONAR once again demonstrated their versatility with Turpin's 'Harlem Rag'.

Lorna McDonald, Becca Harper, Sue Cordiner (replacing Carol Jarvis) and Becky Smith then came on stage and just like their male counterparts, produced a fine display that gained many admirers.

Mozart's overture to the 'Magic Flute' was an impressive opener before a contrast of style and technique in Bruckner's 'Locus. Iste'.

Music from Russia featured in Chernetsky's 'Tanks Corps March' preceded the popular standards, 'Another Openin' Another Show' and 'Fly me to the Moon.'  To finish the finale from Gounod's 'Faust' ballet music complete with choreography from the girls depicting ballerinas.

To round everything off, a fun item as both groups combined to perform a new arrangement by Rodney Newton of 'Rag & Blues' subtitled ‘Easy Winners' – great fun, and a fine way to the early afternoon's entertainment.

Healey & Smithy Bridge Bands (Lee Rigg & Gwen Diggle)

The highlight of the day for many, as popular at this event now as all the other artistes.  These youngsters love every minute of being involved in this event, and once again, they performed a mini programme consisting of Bach's ‘Toccata in D Minor' featuring eight year old Owen Middlemass on xylophone, ‘Summer Romance', ‘I will follow him' from Sister Act and the hit of 2005, ‘Is this the way to Amarillo' where conductor Lee Rigg just stood to one side and gave the band the stage.

Participation such as this might be short and sweet, but at the end of the day, it's the future of banding and Philip Biggs should be acknowledged for giving them the opportunity to show what they can do.

Brighouse & Rastrick Band (James Gourlay, Soloist Alan Morrison)

Brighouse under James Gourlay were the first big name band performing a concert that bucked the trend somewhat of the other performers concentrating on a programme of a serious nature with a hint of entertainment.

After the customary opening bars of the bands signature tune, 'West Riding', it was straight into Frank Wright's arrangement of Verdi's 'La Forza Del Destino'.  Immediately, it was evident that the band was in fine form producing a classical as opposed to brassy sound around the stand. 

The band then gave us a taste of Scotland with some idyllic playing in 'Scottish Cradle Song' composed by the band's conductor.

Alan Morrison with Brighouse

Alan Morrison was part of the Grimethorpe Band that was one of the first to break new ground in 1985 when it performed its complete Granada Band of the Year programme without the aid of a conductor.  Grimey won that year and part of that winning programme was Elgar Howarth's arrangement of Harry James' 'Trumpet Concerto' featuring Alan as a soloist.

Alan simply rolled back the years with a fine rendition displaying all his virtuoso skills that have become part of his make-up when performing.

With modern day test pieces continuing to challenge player's skill and technique, it was refreshing to hear Gilbert Vinter's 'Salute to Youth', used as the British Open test piece in 1985. 

Brighouse gave a fine account of the work and coped with all the challenges of the score including numerous cross-rhythms and Brenden Wheeler on euphonium produced a delightful sound the concluding movement – 'Relaxation'.

The second World Premiere of the day came in the form of an arrangement of Resphighi's 'Belkis, Queen of Sheba' by BB's Rodney Newton.

Following on from his arrangement of Respighi's Church Windows' at the festival last year, this is another colossal transcription for band and one that the arranger deserves enormous credit. 

Respighi drew on Oriental sources and extracted a suite of four movements that drew every ounce of concentration and stamina out of the band during its twenty minute performance that also included harpist Lucy Haslar and Martin Parkes on electronic piano.

The second movement, 'War Dance' tested the foundations of the hall to their limit as did the dramatic 'Origastic Dance & Finale' complete with off stage trumpeters bringing the piece to its dramatic conclusion.  Such a challenging programme didn't require an encore but the band performed some ‘Essential Brighouse' in the form of the 'Floral Dance' bringing a most impressive programme that the band and MD deserve acknowledgement for, to an end.

Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band (Richard Evans, Soloist Richard Marshall)

If you're looking for a band to entertain, look no further than the reigning Brass in Concert Champions, Grimethorpe.  Under Richard Evans, the band brought the house down when it made its debut at this festival last year, and it was a repeat performance this time around.

Richard Evans leads Grimethorpe

When this band is in the mood to entertain, its hard to argue that anyone does it better.  There programme on the night featured items from last years winning programme up in Spennymoor.

Pinning the audience in their seats, Grimey started off with the Latin number, ‘Los Hermanos De Bop' featuring three members of the band on mellophoniums, joined front of stage by Ian Shires on flugel

The band took a few intakes of breath before maintaining the standard and tempo with Kabalevsky's ‘Colas Breugnon'.

Not content with that, the band featured soloist Richard Marshall, in what for many was the individual highlight of the whole day. 

At this event last year, Richard performed the title track of his latest solo cd, ‘Blaze' and this time performed the solo that brought him the winning soloist's prize at Spennymoor last year, Kenny Baker's ‘Virtuosity'.

In a word, this performance was just simply stunning – nothing more really should be said.  If you've heard Richard Marshall perform in recent months, you'll know why.  If not, simply indulge yourself in copies of ‘Blaze' and ‘Grimethorpe in Concert Vol II' and you'll find the answer.

A complete change of mood followed and a nod in appreciation to the band and conductor once again.  It's ok playing the fast and furious stuff as heard earlier in the night, but it takes a quality outfit to play quietly and yet effectively as was heard in Sandy Smith's arrangement of Puccini's ‘Humming Chorus' from 'Madame Butterfly'.

Bach's ‘Little Fugue in G Minor' was effortless executed before the band acknowledged the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War with the music from the film, ‘Saving Private Ryan' in ‘'Hymn to the Fallen'.

To conclude its programme, classic Grimethorpe and ‘MacArthur Park' – an oldie out of the library it maybe, but made so to feel so fresh and vibrant under the inspirational Richard Evans.

The audience wanted more and they deserved it, but the time constraints on having two more bands perform on the night meant that was that. 

Fodens Richardson Band (Garry Cutt, Soloists Natsumi Inaba, Helen Tyler, Michael Warriner, Mark Wilkinson, Glyn Williams & Alan Wycherley)

As with last year, Fodens had the unenviable task of following Grimethorpe onto the stage to conclude the first half, and under Garry Cutt, maintained the standard, whilst performing a programme that was a contrast in style to what had been heard earlier.

Understandably as British Open Chamions, they commenced their slot with Major George Wilcock's march, ‘The Champions' before producing a slick and nicely polished performance of ‘Festive Overture' by Shostakovich.

The next two items featured many of the band's fine soloists in music that will have appealed to those with a classical ear.  Firstly, Mark Wilkinson and Alan Wycherley joined forces to perform Horvotiz's ‘Concertante Classico' with both complimenting one another with their individual solo playing although the conclusion of the second movement wasn't completely in tune it appeared.

Glyn Williams, Natsumi Inaba, Helen Tyler and Michael Warriner then joined forces to perform Mozart's ‘Ave Verum Corpus'.  As with Grimethorpe's ‘Humming Chorus' earlier in the night, this was another fine example of controlled, sensitive and expressive playing captivated the audience.

A change in mood completely followed with the up-tempo ‘Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home' before the bound rounded things off by producing a musical picture of Manchester during the war years and thereafter in Andrew Duncan's ‘A Manchester Tale' which included an air raid siren that sadly drowned the rest of the band out when utilised.

Black Dyke Band (Dr Nicholas Childs, Soloists Brett Baker, Paul Lovatt-Cooper, David Thornton, Dr Roger Webster)

Black Dyke once again brought the days events to a close with an entertaining set that maintained the standard of the night.  The popular ‘Fest Musik Der Stadt Wein' was bold and bright, before the band's principal cornet, Roger Webster stepped forward give a typically charismatic performance of the old favourite, ‘Charivari'.

In a year of celebration for the band, Philip Sparke's ‘Jubilee Overture' was an appropriate choice with some slick and effective playing from within the band.

Brett Baker was the next featured soloist with a commanding performance of Arthur Pryor's ‘Annie Laurie', closely followed by David Thornton who performed George Doughty's popular ‘Grandfathers Clock' without breaking sweat and throwing in one or extra variations for good measure to go along with it.

The final soloist of the night was Paul Lovatt-Cooper who performed a xylophone version of what is effectively ‘Knees Up Mother Brown' known in this composition from James Curnow as ‘Victor's Palm'.

Black Dyke: Matthew Routley narrating Battle of Trafalgar

To conclude their programme, Dyke paid tribute to the ‘Battle of Trafalgar' with narration superbly reproduced by bass player, Matthew Routley.  The playing and drama brought to the piece was excellently done.

Not surprisingly, Dyke produced an encore, the march, ‘The Melody Shop' to send the packed house on its way.

So that was that, another excellent day's music that wouldn't be possible without the hard work of Philip Biggs, the bands and other ensembles involved and the sponsors.  Thanks to them all and you can be guaranteed, The Great Northern Brass Arts Festival 2006, will be here before you know it.

Malcolm Wood

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