European Gala Concert

Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: Allan Withington
Stavanger Brass Band
Conductor: Selmer Simmonsen
Stavanger Concert Hall
Saturday 3rd May

The European Gala Concert remains the ideal opportunity to forget about the rigours of the contesting weekend and to focus on pure entertainment. 

Finding the right blend to entice the audience to part with their hard earned cash isn’t an easy one as the BFBB found out last year, but the Norwegian hosts delivered the goods here with a contrasting night’s music making that went down a storm with the capacity cosmopolitan audience.

Traditional

The traditional brass band programme came from the reigning English and British National Champion, Grimethorpe Colliery, whilst the contemporary music came from Stavanger and its guest soloist Nils Landgran.

It was Grimethorpe who opened up the nights proceedings with a programme chosen by the audience through internet voting. They had opted for a selection of a march, a couple of test pieces, an air varie solo and music from the film, Brassed Off - it just wouldn’t be the same without it, would it?

The familiar, ‘Londonderry Air’ opened up proceedings with members of the band wearing the famous purple jackets of Grimley Colliery complete with miner’s lamps.

Fine form

MD Allan Withington, was in fine form all night both as conductor and compere, where he mastered the old trick right from the off of building a rapport with the audience with his dry humour that had the auditorium in the palm of his hand.

You couldn’t have a ‘traditional’ programme without a march or test piece - and the audience got both.  ‘Mephistopheles’ was taken at a steady tempo, whilst Percy Fletcher’s original work, ‘Labour and Love’ was very impressively portrayed, especially in the slower movement that was very restrained.

Playing at its best

Michael Dodd, the band’s principal euphonium player, is a musician of fine repute as he demonstrated during the old standard, ‘Rule Britannia’. The sense of style and tonal quality throughout were the hallmarks of traditional euphonium playing at its best.

The ‘Elegy’ from Ireland’s ‘Downland Suite’ was refined in its delivery and it led to their (official) final offering, an excellent performance of Dean Goffin’s ‘Rhapsody in Brass’.  The MD laid out the beauty of the score in an expansive manner, and it became gripping listening with some excellent tempo’s that allowed the detail and balance to come to the fore in the opening and closing sections, with the middle movement understated in its execution.

Bulls eye

Grimethorpe were not going to get off the stage without an encore and they responded in spectacular style with ‘Macarthur Park’ leading to many of the audience rising to their feet as Kevin Crockord hit the bullseye with the final few notes.

Utterly different

For the second half, Stavanger’s programme with their guest soloist, trombonist, Nils Landgran was something totally and utterly different.

The playing throughout from the soloist was simply superb, ranging from music from James Brown and ‘Papa’s got a Brand New Bag’; ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ and ‘Creole Love Call’ from Duke Ellington.

Not for the faint hearted

The accompaniment from the band and a couple of acoustic guitars blended in with the trombonist superbly. Musically it perhaps didn’t appeal to the traditionalist or the faint hearted, but the audience lapped it up.  If it wasn’t for the announcement of the results, the soloist could have gone on and on and on………..

Nils Landgran is a household name in Scandinavia and it drew the crowds in – all with the added bonus of being able to hear two of the best brass bands in the business.  Forget the whistler last year – this was true entertainment. 

Right mix

The Gala Concert was proof that if you can find the right mix the audience will snap up the tickets. 

You’ve got to give credit to the organisers for producing the goods here (and they weren’t really going to go too far wrong with Grimethorpe or the home band of Stavanger) but the inclusion of Nils Landgran was the cherry on top of the cake and they could have doubled the audience without a problem if the hall had been big enough.

Malcolm Wood

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