Grimethorpe Colliery Band

Conductor: Howard Evans
Cliffs Pavilion,
Westcliff on Sea,
Saturday 12th July

The south of England may not be generally thought of as the heartland of brass banding, but a near capacity audience gathered at the Cliffs Pavilion for a concert given by Grimethorpe Colliery Band, conducted by Howard Evans. 

The good turnout was no doubt due in part to some excellent publicity, with two local papers carrying feature articles not only highlighting the band’s “Brassed Off” connections, but also their recent contest successes, and promising a concert featuring light classics and other favourites. 

As it happens, there was also the rival attraction of a joint concert by Redbridge and the Essex Police Band a few miles down the road.

Sparkling form

It was clear from the opening bars of “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” (Berlin, arr Richards) that the band was in sparkling form. Seated in a fairly open formation, with the trombones angled back slightly so that they projected towards the audience rather than directly at the cornets, both solo and section work was first class, responding well to Howard’s direction.

Before the next item, Mendelssohn’s overture “Fingal’s Cave” (arr Thompson), Howard outlined the band’s recent contest successes, also making mention of his own links with the area. 

First class

Seeing the yellowing manuscript copies with sellotaped additions attached seemed to add to the atmosphere as the band produced a finely balanced reading, with tight rhythms and some very neat dovetailing of parts between Roger Webster and Kevin Crockford, whose playing throughout the evening was first class. Accompaniment figures were never allowed to overshadow the main themes, and the contrasts in volume in the final bars were most effective.

The first soloist of the evening was Principal Cornet Roger Webster with the first of several arrangements by Grimethorpe’s former solo horn player, Sandy Smith. The “Ave Maria” by Caccini came to prominence through the singing of Andreas Bocelli, although Howard Evans explained that it was actually written in around 1970 by a gentleman called Vladimir Vavilov. 

There was a knowing glance between Roger Webster and Kevin Crockford before the introduction, in which the soprano entered at the top of the register, supported by muted cornets, horns and baritones. Roger’s playing was the epitome of restraint, making it all sound deceptively easy, with only the snatched breaths indicating something of the effort required, and the sympathetic accompaniment supported the soloist well.

Contrasting

Introducing Goff Richards’ setting of “Crimond” gave an opportunity to plug Grimethorpe’s latest recording of hymn arrangements, and their performance proved an excellent advertisement, bringing out all the detail and the effective use of contrasting sections of the band. Even the slightly Wagnerian ending, which can seem a little over the top, was given due gravitas without spoiling the balance.

Film music followed, with Sandy Smith’s take on “The Mask of Zorro” (James Horner) allowing the band to display some Latin emotion and passion. The tambourine and castanets set the scene, the powerful melody from the middle of the band contrasted with some scintillating cornet runs, and there was a suitably yearning love theme to boot.

Sensitive

Kevin Crockford was then joined by Ian Shires on flugel for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu” (arr Smith). With a lighter flugel tone than is sometimes the case, the two instruments blended well, and there were some telling swells and fades in the accompaniment. This was followed by “I Dreamed a Dream”, from “Les Miserables” (Schonberg arr Barry), with some sensitive glockenspiel playing complementing Roger Webster’s solo in a reading that effectively captured the wistfulness of the original.

Full throated

The first half closed with what has been one of the staples of Grimethorpe’s repertoire for many years, Alan Catherall’s arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park”. With sweeping horn phrases, a warm-toned baritone, delicate basses and a full-throated sound in the tutti passages and with Kevin Crockford’s soprano rising imperiously over the band in the last couple of bars, it made for a worthy climax, without perhaps quite hitting the heights of excitement the band is capable of in this number.

Following the interval, during which the stall in the foyer appeared to be doing a roaring trade in recordings, there were a couple of alterations to the printed programme. In place of the advertised “Henry V” came a stylish interpretation of Gordon Langford’s “Famous British Marches”, giving Howard Evans the chance to refer to his own Welsh heritage, as well as offering something for the English, Irish and Scots in the audience before the rousing finale featuring “Rule Britannia”.

Bravura

Then the band’s solo horn player, Arfon Owen, stepped forward for a bravura performance of the finale to “Horn Concerto No 1” (Richard Strauss). It was a fluent reading which brought out the youthful exuberance of the young composer, with some excellent work form the band in some of the tricky accompanying figures.

“American Trilogy” (trad, arr Goff Richards) draws together three American standards, opening with a reflective setting of “Dixie”. A powerful bass pedal led into the concluding, majestic “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

The pre-publicity had promised a couple of items from “Brassed Off” and the first came in the form of Percy Grainger’s harmonisation of “Danny Boy” as featured in the film. Less acerbic than some of his orchestrations, the opening verse on saxhorns produced a beautifully balanced sound, building on the solid foundation provided by the fine bass section. 

After a well-controlled climax, the music was allowed to fade away, the final chord just tapering away into nothingness.

Gasps

Michael Dodd, playing “Napoli” (Bellstedt arr Owenson), drew gasps of admiration as he launched into the opening cadenza, soaring above the stave, followed by smiles as he went on to negotiate sudden leaps down into the pedal register. The arpeggios were deftly tackled without losing the shape of music, although at times the tone seemed uncharacteristically muffled, lacking its customary clarity. 

Nevertheless, it was a reading that thrilled the audience and showed what a fine technician he is.

J S Bach was an inveterate borrower and arranger, and no doubt he would not be at all surprised to find his works performed on brass, given the developments in instruments over the years. Sandy Smith’s transcription of his “Little Fugue in G Minor” was marked by some very stylish playing, with each section presenting its line and then fading away into the overall texture. 

The bass entry could easily have been the organ pedals being added, the use of timpani to point the opening notes of the phrase towards the end was effective, and the addition of tam-tam and bass drum in the final bars would certainly have met with Stokowski’s approval – and probably Sir Thomas Beecham as well!

Blur

The final soloist of the evening was percussionist Ben Coombe, and there was no little amusement as his two companions – likened by Howard Evans to a pair of undertakers – made much play of bringing the xylophone to the front of the stage. Ben then brought all the fun of the fair to life with “Helter Skelter” (W G Lemon, arr Ray Woodfield), his sticks almost disappearing in a blur as he fitted in the requisite quantity of notes, and with rippling cascades in abundance. The audience definitely approved, and Ben’s performance received the loudest applause of any item in the programme.

There followed an oasis of calm in the form of William Himes’ setting of “Amazing Grace”. The cornets and flugel at the opening were finely balanced, and the horn melody in the second verse was allowed to flow smoothly. The final section was more drawn out than usual, but the fullness of tone was sustained right through to the closing bars.

Relentless

The final programmed item was the “Appian Way” movement from Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” (arr Snell). The gentle but relentless tread of the basses and timpani set the scene, with the somewhat eerie sound of the muted euphonium. The trombones entered almost imperceptibly, before Ian Shire’s commanding flugel solo dominated the texture, joined by euphonium and baritone. 

The blaze of sound which erupted at the tutti would have put many a massed band to shame, but there was no over-blowing, and one always had the feeling that there was more in hand if it were needed. With Kevin Crockford’s bell raised skyward at the end, it was an inspiring and uplifting finale to a first class concert.

Encore

There was time for just one encore: the “Galop” from “William Tell”, taken at a blistering pace and with some phenomenal playing by Roger Webster, sounding as fresh at the end as he had at the start of the evening. With the band in such good form, one would not be surprised to see them complete a hat trick of National titles come October, or take the British Open title for the first time since 1991. 

Their presentation and deportment was excellent, with commendable attention to detail and obvious respect for the audience, and Howard Evans kept things ticking over nicely, developing a good rapport with both audience and band, without any undue waffle or corny jokes.

Peter Bale

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