Central Ohio Brass Band and Brass Band of the Tri-State
17-Nov-2005Conductors: Jessica Sneeringer and Gary E. Clarke
Ascension Lutheran Church
Columbus, Ohio
Sunday 6th November
Ascension Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio was the venuet of this joint concert between the Central Ohio Brass Band (Columbus, Ohio) and the Brass Band of the Tri-State (Ashland, Kentucky) on Sunday 6th November.
It is not often that bands in the States get together for joint concerts, as the distance between them can often be too vast. (In fact, Brass Band of the Tri-State had to endure a 5+ hour roundtrip coach ride traveling some 250+ total miles). However, Brass Band Tri State was happy to repay Central Ohio Brass for their visit to Ashland last June.
Whilst these are not the top bands in the States (Central Ohio BB is in the middle, Honors Section and Brass Band Tri State is in the lower, Challenge Section), the enthusiasm these bands shared for each other's playing made for an enjoyable afternoon concert.
The Central Ohio Brass Band opened the concert with American Overture for Band (Jenkins, arr. Sarsany). Although there was a fair share of clipped notes, this piece grabbed the audience with some fine dynamics and section playing. The next piece, Gershwin's Strike Up the Band (arr. Richards), was quite well played and really showed off the bands excitement and enthusiasm for playing.
The band then undertook Symphony in Brass, Mvt I by Ewazen (arr Sherill). This piece may have been a bit difficult for the band, but they made a good go of it. Unfortunately, it generally lacked the rhythmic and dynamic precision needed to really make it sparkle.
The band slowed down with Geoff Richards arrangement of the classic Beatle's tune Yesterday. Between the lack of difficulty of this piece and the band's overflow of enthusiasm from the Ewazen this song may have been a bit too loud. However, it had general tidy playing.
Central Ohio BB closed their portion of the concert with Ray Farr's arrangement of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This piece can provide many challenges and pitfalls. The band may have been caught by some of the splits and intonation problems associated with the high register and exposed solos, but it still made an exciting close to their portion of the concert.
Brass Band of the Tri-State started their portion of the concert with Ross Roy by de Haan. The band struggled a bit with some of the exposed solos and fast sections, but steady basses and percussion (along with some fine legato playing) helped them get off to a fine start.
Barber's Adagio for Strings (arr. Mortimer) may have been a bit too ambitious of a selection for this band. Perhaps the most difficult piece performed by any of the bands today it is filled with dynamic and intonation traps that can ensnare even solid Championship Section Bands.
The band then featured every section in Philip Sparke's Merry-Go-Round. In this enthusiastic performance, most every section was quite well up for the challenge. However, the accompaniment may have let the featured sections down by not really providing a solid foundation.
There was some fine solo euphonium playing in Rodney Newton's Heroes and Warriors. Unfortunately, some of the cornet's same pitch problems exposed in early songs took away from the overall performance. Perhaps the long journey and combined rehearsal before the concert made the band weary.
The band closed their half of the programme with some good ensemble playing of the march Castell Coch (Powell).
The bands then joined together for the first of two combined pieces The Champions (Wilcox). Solid playing again in the march, although I don't remember the baritone part having a stinger. The massed bands then concluded Overture Solonelle: 1812 (Tchaikovsky arr. Wright). The challenge of playing this piece with massed bands is not to get too loud too quickly; really make sure to save something for the end. The bands may have fallen into that trap, however, they both were able to save enough energy to provide a strong finish.
As said before, an enjoyable afternoon as not only were both bands very appreciative of each others performance, but there was a good crowd of several hundred people there also to show their support.
Pat Herak
