National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain

Artistic Director: Bramwell Tovey
Guest Soloist: Ian Bousfield
St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Bury St Edmunds
Friday 10th August

One of the most familiar clichés that you’ll here spoken or written in the sporting world is that an individual or team is only as good as their last match.   It’s not about what you’ve done beforehand it’s about what you do at the present time that matters.

Having attended the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain’s Easter concert in April, this reviewer wrote that if that concert was anything to go by, the players wouldn’t be able to wait to meet up once again to continue their musical education.

It would seem that those words had real resonance here as the players assembled at St Edmundsbury Cathedral to perform the first of two concerts at the end of their 2007 Summer Course. Back together once more, the current members of the NYBBGB produced a concert that was musically satisfying from the first note until the last and it was equally as impressive as their performance in April.  It was a performance that wouldn’t have been out of place at any of the Henry Wood Promenade concerts in the Royal Albert Hall this year.

The standard they set themselves (let alone, the Artistic Director, or the tutors) is of the highest order.  Within the band there is a healthy number of players who currently play with Championship Section bands although in this environment they don’t rest on their laurels and arrive with the desire to perform to the best of their ability.  Playing with the NYBBGB is the pinnacle of playing at youth level and each player, regardless from whichever banding level band they come from, revels in the opportunity.
 
The week was an intense one of music making, that included the completion of a CD recording featuring Jens Lindermann and Ian Bousfield, as well as a solo competition, where the band’s leader, Paul Duffy was declared the winner of the Harry Mortimer Solo Award. There was of course time for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves too.

An ardent supporter of the NYBBGB was Bill England whose untimely death came just before the course was due to start.  Bill was due to be present and in addition to dedicating the concert to him, the band’s Artistic Director; Bramwell Tovey led the band in a poignant performance of ‘Nimrod’ to open the night’s proceedings.

Leslie Condon’s Festival March, ‘Celebration’ was full of vibrancy and was followed by the first substantial work of the evening, Leighton Lucas’s ‘Chorale and Variations’.  Bramwell Tovey reflected on the fact that this is a work that isn’t heard too often, although it featured as the set test in the Schools Section at this year’s National Youth Brass Band Championships.  The work is certainly a stern test at youth level but the sound of the band was compact and featured some delightful euphonium work from Matthew White.

A focal point of recent courses has been John Pickard’s immense ‘Gaia Symphony’.  The band has previously performed two segments (‘Men of Stone’ and ‘Tsunami’) and for this course, it was the turn of ‘Wildfire’.  The players transposed that essence its destructive implications in compelling fashion and the ensemble and percussion work throughout work was of the highest order.  This just leaves one section to tackle; ‘Aurora’, and then the band will embark on a performance of the entire whole work on a forthcoming course. It will be some considerable achievement.

The guest soloist for the concert was a former member of the NYBBGB, trombone virtuoso, Ian Bousfield.  Speaking with real warmth and affection about what his association with the NYBBGB meant to him, Ian was delighted to have been actively involved in the week’s course.  Currently, he is the Principal Trombone with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Yorkshireman chose three contrasting, but nevertheless invigorating, works as his sparkling contribution to this concert.

Firstly, a World Premiere of Mark Freeh’s arrangement of Mozart’s ‘Concerto No.2’ - K.417. The work itself is a feast of melodic beauty with an expansive opening movement followed by the ‘Andante’ that contains lines of real lyrical beauty for the soloist.  The final hunt inspired ‘Rondo’ brings the work to a fabulous conclusion where the soloist’s technique and delivery was exquisite.

Secondly, Eric Leidzen’s ‘Concertino for Trombone and Band’ where the soloist demonstrated the real art of lyrical playing and it was one of the highlights of the concert for this reviewer.

For his encore, Ian produced another terrific display of technique and artistry in ‘Annie Laurie’ leaving the trombone players in particular agog at the way he eased through this challenging work.  The term world class can be used too often at times to describe merely outstanding playing, but this was much, much more than this. 

During their Easter course, the band paid tribute to Sir Malcolm Arnold and did so again on this occasion with a reprise of the work performed in Manchester, (in addition to the National Childrens Band in Bromsgrove, two weekends previously) with his ‘Little Suite for Brass’ - Op.80, where the band’s Principal cornet, Paul Duffy who led the band superbly all night, demonstrated a real sense of tenderness in the central ‘Siciliano’.

Throughout the week and during this concert, Bramwell Tovey inspired the band.  During the concert, Mr Tovey’s emphasis on clarity produced playing in which every important detail had its place and time – especially so in Elgar Howarth’s ‘In Memoriam R.K.’ and Sir Edward Elgar’s ‘Severn Suite’.

‘In Memoriam R.K.’ had been used as the set test at the All-England International Masters in May and the MD holds the composer’s works in very high regard.  Here, he produced from his ensemble a deeply musical account that was notably for its lyricism and sense of elegance. The performance was enhanced by the soloists and the dark sections of pain and anguish were delivered with enormous sensitivity. The final closing section was reminiscent of the heartfelt ‘Nimrod’ at the beginning of the evening as time practically stood still as the music drifted within the still ambience of the cathedral.

The inclusion of ‘Severn Suite’ marked the anniversary of Elgar’s birth and after a lip-sapping programme, the musicians dug deep to deliver a fine account of the work.  As with ‘In Memoriam’, Bramwell Tovey let the music speak for itself and there was some fine ensemble playing as well as excellent flugel playing from Zöe Hancock delivered with such musical control.

To conclude the night’s music, the band once again performed the encores used in Manchester during April.  Rimmer’s march ‘Punchinello’ was taken at a lively tempo, followed by the players putting their instruments down and singing their parts with a real apparent sense of joyous fun.

Finally, a final touch of class from the MD with the hymn tune, ‘St Clement’ where the structure of the phrasing was enthralling.

The pride in the standards set by the MD was noticeable throughout who talked with immense enthusiasm about the music during evening. Ian Bousfield clearly enjoyed being back in an environment that heralded a special and important time in his life and the same goes for the band’s leader and Principal Cornet, Paul Duffy who really is a star in the making.

The band reconvenes in a few weeks time where they’ll perform at the Brass on Sundays Gala Concert at Symphony Hall on Sunday 16th September. The repertoire on offer will be made up of that played during the 2007 courses of which the CD recording on the Polyphonic label has played a significant part. That occasion is not only being eagerly awaited – and on the evidence of what we heard on this particular night, it will be another concert to savour.

Malcolm Wood

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