Communituy Showcase I - Hannaford Festival of Brass

Ontario Central Reservist Band of the Salvation Army
Weston Silver Band
Canadian Staff Band
Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre
Toronto, Ontario
Friday, 2nd March, 2007

The 2007 Hannaford Festival opened up with the Ontario Central Reservist Band of the Salvation Army under the baton of bandmaster, Geoffrey Norton.  From the start, the band got the audiences attention with the Premiere of Keith Ketteringham's March: OCRB.  This difference in sound between bands from the States and Canada was also evident straight away, with the Canadian bands having a bit darker rounder sound.

Principal cornet Gary Dean took the stage to perform the soloCaprice for cornet and band: Keep that Smile. The solo was written by Kenneth Ketteringham (Keith's brother), and was performed with spectacular clarity.

OCRB then attempt to swing with the brass arrangement: Swingtime Religon.  As the case most times when brass bands attempt jazz, it came across a bit straight, but was still an enjoyable listen.  The band followed with two southern folksongs: Shenendoah and Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.  The band showed a lovely sound, however, when the basses, baritones, euphoniumss and trombones outnumber the cornets 18 to 9 it's bound to be a bit bottom heavy.  Bramwell Hurd put in a solid performance as the euphonium soloist forJeannie.

The 3rd movement from The Western Overture could have been entitled "Instant Western."  It was a bit cheesy, but quite fun to listen to. OCRB performed another Salvation Army march, Norman Bearcroft's Temple 85.For a nice change of pace, second horn, Philip Christie was then featured with the vocal solo Love Changes Everything.  Unfortunately, the band sometimes played too loud covering the soloist.

Highlight of OCRB's set was the cornet trio What a Friend (Holz) performed by Gary Dean, Deryck Diffey and James White.  The blend and precision of the soloists were fantastic.  There timbre matched beautifully, this was truly a treat.

The band may have been a bit ambitious, performing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (arr Coles) as their finale.  They closed with a programmed encore Festival March: Motivation (Himes).

With the average age of the band at 73 (nobody under 55 is allowed in the band), OCRB showed music can truly be a lifelong passion and that this group has still got it.  An excellent start to the Festival.

When Weston Silver Band took the stage, Larry Shields was determined to show he could conduct the band with one arm tied behind his back.  (Actually it was in a sling as he had injured it several weeks earlier).

Weston Silver Band

The opener Blenheim Flourishes (Curnow) showed this was a class band from the start.  The bands rendition of Slaidburn was good performance to set the bar for the March Contest.  Perhaps it could have used a bit more delicate playing in sections.

Soprano Brad Norton showed lovely lyrical playing and solo work in Hugh Nash's solo Demelza.  There were about two notes that Brad looked as if he'd like to take back, but they did not distract at all from a truly enjoyable musical performance and one of the highlights of the evening.

Weston has done a tremendous job as of late choosing and performing good concert band transcriptions for brass band.  Ontario Pictures is one them and it on their new CD "Around the World in 80 days" (which is available from 4barsrest shopping).  The piece takes you through several locales in Ontario including the brutal weather of Thunder Bay and the calming water of Lake Erie in the cornet solo Point Pelee.

Weston performed a fine rendition of Swedish Folksong and drove home their portion with Sing, Sing, Sing as arranged by Ray Woodfield.  This would be the bands final concert before Richard Marshall (Black Dyke) joins them next month.

The finale for the Friday night community showcase was the Canadian Staff Band of the Salvation Army, conducted by Bandmaster Brian Burditt.   This was their first performance at the Hannaford Festival and let's hope there are many returns.

Canadian Staff Band

The Staff Band made a big opening with Curnow's Fanfare and Flourishes followed by a very clean performance of Condon's march Celebration.  The trombones were a positive force in both pieces.  Between the opening fanfare and hymn, this fine band captivated the audience.   Ron Heintzman then performed the cornet solo Concertpiece for Cornet as once again, the music of Jim Curnow was featured.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the Staff Bands performance of Peter Graham's Windows of the World.  Amazonia kept a stead flow of energy throughout the piece. Flugel soloist Valerie Moreton did a fine job in The Rising Sun staying well within the mood of the piece.  Drume of Thunder was the next movement as the band closed with Earth Walk performed with a solo by principal cornet Steve Brown and a lively percussion section.  It would be easy to say that this movement was a strong finish to the entire work, but the fact of the matter is the entire piece was all quality.

To contrast the high energy of Amazonia the band followed with a beautiful and lyrical rendition of On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss. The CSB closed the concert with Gregson's Variations on ‘Laudete Dominum'.  The band really met the task of using each variation to build to the final presentation of the theme at the end of the piece.  On most days, the audience probably would have demanded an encore, but Laudete was a fine end to a 3-hour concert.

Patrick Herak

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