Trinity College of Music Brass Band

Conductor: Stephen Maw
Regent Hall
Friday 27th October

The Trinity College of Music Brass band, formed by Stephen Maw in 1998, is a regular visitor to Regent Hall, having appeared at many of the free Friday lunchtime concerts.  The band is treated as an individual project by the college, with rehearsal time being allocated as and when a concert is in prospect. 

On this occasion they had had five rehearsals to put together the hour-long programme.  The band uses French horns rather than tenor horns, an Eb trumpet rather than a soprano cornet, and there was a large rotary valve tuba alongside the four rotary valve EEb basses.

They opened with James Curnow's "Fanfare and flourishes", based on the "Prelude" to Carpenter's "Te Deum", Stephen reminding the audience of the use of the theme in connection with the Eurovision Song Contest, recalling entrants such as Bucks Fizz and Abba, and showing his age by the inclusion of Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson!  As for the music itself, the opening suited the French horn sound beautifully and the crisp and accurate playing made an instant impression.

Camille Saint-Saens spent much of his life living in Africa - even, apparently, composing his bassoon sonata whilst riding on a camel! - and this formed the inspiration for the "Marche Militaire Francaise" from his "Suite Algerienne".  The band's fine bass section made their presence felt, and again the French horn sound was prominent.  The pace seemed a little steady at first, almost as if the Band of the French Foreign Legion had reappeared from their last visit to the Royal Tournament, but it seemed to pick up later on.

The running scales throughout the band were neatly played and the performance all round was tight and disciplined, with a bright sound, although the Eb trumpet was a little more prominent than a soprano cornet would have been.

Principal Cornet Matthew Down presented Joy Webb's popular "Share my Yoke", aided by some particularly fine euphonium playing in the introduction.  The light accompaniment allowed the soloist, who does not have the biggest of sounds but who played with sensitivity, to come through comfortably.
Stephen referred briefly to the debate over the playing of transcriptions from the classics when introducing Denis Wright's arrangement of Brahms's "Academic Festival Overture", coming down firmly in favour if it meant good music being presented in well-crafted arrangements. 

He spoke of the four student songs which Brahms included, quoting a translation of "Gaudeamus Igitur", emphasising the line in praise of the teachers in particular, and joked that his own students were taking Latin lessons so they could learn the song themselves.  Clean articulation and the careful placing of notes were added to a well controlled sound, with a suitable feeling of elation at the appearance of the afore-mentioned "Gaudeamus Igitur".

Two items by Wilfred Heaton were included in their programme. "Mercy's light" is based on a song from the thirties that had fallen into obscurity, and takes the form of a slow waltz, much in the style of Satie's "Gymnopedies". Very sparingly scored at times, it can seem very disjointed, but under Stephen's direction the band produced a very convincing reading, with the various solo and duet passages being well balanced.  "Victory for me" is written in bolero style, with echoes of Ravel, featuring the Salvation Army song of that name.  The important side drum part was crisply played, as was the tricky flugel obliggato, contributing to a suitably uplifting performance.

Their closing item, Peter Graham's "Shine as the light", was written for the Salvation Army's music camp at Star Lake.  It offered ample opportunity for the band's four-strong percussionists to go through their paces, and the band as a whole seemed to respond well to the exuberant nature of the music.

There was excellent support for the soloist in "Candle of the Lord", particularly the euphonium countermelody, although the somewhat frantic passage before the aleatoric section seemed a little uncertain.  The three expressions of "Light me" were very effective, the first just played at a whisper, the next two becoming progressively more assertive and commanding. 

The final section, based on Chick Yuill's song "The light has come", was appropriately majestic and imposing, and crowned a fine performance with a blaze of sound.

As Stephen left the stage having received the enthusiastic applause for the audience, the band broke into their traditional encore, Barrie Gott's "Lightwalk", the horns and flugel taking a relaxed approach to the opening that worked well, and with an excellent flugel solo being greeted with spontaneous applause.  It had been one of the most successful concerts given by this combination, with a rounder cornet sound than has sometimes been the case, and built on the foundation of a very fine bass section.

Peter Bale

^back to top