RNCM - RNCM Brass Ensemble and Band

2009 RNCM Festival of Brass
Conductors: John Miller, Christopher Houlding
RNCM Manchester
Saturday 31st January

Miller Magic: John Millar leads the RNCM Brass ensemble
Photo: Ian Clowes

More pictures at: http://www.pbase.com/troonly/0901_rncm_festival

The contribution of the RNCM Brass Band to the Festival of Brass has become an integral and vital part of the weekend’s proceedings and this year’s Saturday morning performance from the students of the Royal Northern Brass Band and Ensemble was to prove no exception. 

Opportunity

A number of the young musicians involved already hold positions in some of our leading bands, a beacon of optimism for the future amidst all too frequent stories of a national school music education system in disintegration. 

The opportunity for us to listen to the fruits of the Royal Northern College of Music’s thriving brass department is also entirely appropriate given the Festival’s residency in the College, whilst the student’s contribution also proves consistently to be one of the most enjoyable experiences the event has to offer.

With the Ensemble in the hands of John Miller and Chris Houlding taking charge of the Brass Band for the second half of the concert, the audience in the Concert Hall were treated to a typically challenging, varied and ultimately fascinating programme that drew together a number of the themes running throughout the weekend, including the music of Gilbert Vinter, John McCabe and the decade of the 1970’s.

Subtle

John McCabe’s 'Desert II: Horizons', is one of a series works he has written inspired by visits to deserts undertaken during his tours as a concert pianist and was written for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in 1981.

It’s a work full of subtle colour, shimmering hues and sometimes delicate, sometimes blinding light. With the twelve piece ensemble arched around the stage and standing throughout the performance, the shifting sands of the opening, evoked in quiet, gradually accumulating rhythmic figurations in the trumpets, soon gives way to the first big chord and with it a clear indication that Images and 'Cloudcatcher Fells' are works from the same musical mind.         

Whether in abstract form as in Images, or in the evocative landscape painting of 'Cloudcatcher', John McCabe is a master of musical atmosphere, yet this work also reveals something of the joy of discovery, that sense of awe and vastness of space that the composer must have experienced when witnessing these sights for the first time.

Clear and unfussy

Responding to John Miller’s admirably clear, unfussy and batonless direction with obvious enthusiasm, the players of the RNCM Ensemble immediately set a high standard for themselves, with terrific piccolo trumpet work from Andy Lofthouse being amongst several individual contributions of note. 

Although also written for Philip Jones, the contrast between 'Desert II' and Malcolm Arnold’s 'Symphony for Brass' could hardly be starker. This is not the Arnold of the English Dances or indeed the side of Arnold skilfully exploited by Martin Ellerby in his recent Malcolm Arnold Variations.

Deep and unsettling

Rather it is music that immediately plunges the listener into the dark, deeply unsettling world of Arnold’s continuous battle with his mental health, depression and alcoholism. There are several points during the work where the music seems to try to break free of its shackles only to regress back into the abyss and it’s not until the final blazing major chord that there is any real note of optimism.

For all its discomfort though, it is a powerful, profound work and the impressive performance given by the Ensemble showed a maturity way beyond the ages of the players. From the sonorous sounds of the opening movement to the considerable fugal challenges of the 'Finale' the players provided us with a clear reminder of just how fine a work this is. 

Challenging Brass

With Chris Houlding taking over in the middle, it was Gilbert Vinter’s all too rarely heard 'Challenging Brass' that opened the second half and a cracking concert opener it is. Vinter of course wrote several miniatures for band including 'Lisbon Carnival' and 'Portuguese Party', both of which are products of the lighter side of his musical character. 

'Challenging Brass' on the other hand seems to condense many of the compositional fingerprints found in Vinter’s major scores, into just a few minutes of exciting music in which two ideas challenge for ultimate superiority.

Impressive musical baton

Chris Houlding’s impressively musical direction, once again without the use of a baton, was to be one of the defining factors of the second half of the concert and the band immediately showed its prowess with incisive rhythmical detail and a strong but never overblown sound.

Some present in the audience might have remembered Black Dyke’s stunning performance of Thomas Wilson’s 'Refrains and Cadenzas' that brought Peter Parkes and the band European victory in 1984. 

The RNCM Brass Band here gave a rare opportunity to hear a work that to our knowledge has never been used on the contest platform since, no doubt partly on account of its quiet ending and partly due to what some might see as its challenging language.

Craftsmanship

It is in reality a work of considerable craftsmanship that does exactly what it says on the tin; a series of refrains and cadenzas that skilfully exploit the instrumentation of the band in imaginative and often colourful ways. 

As is so often the case, young players can give a fresh, free from preconception perspective on neglected contemporary works such as this and so proved to be the case here. Chris Houlding and the band paid admirable attention to the detail of the score, exploiting the nuances and subtleties of the music with skill, whilst there were some excellent individual contributions around the stands including some fine euphonium playing from Phillipe Schwartz as well Mark Harrison on soprano and Cai Isfryn on principal cornet.

Stirring close

From the neglected to the immediately familiar, it was Edward Gregson’s 'Connotations' that brought the programme to a stirring close. Again, the enthusiasm of the players was evident from the beginning, with Chris Houlding not being afraid to challenge his players with tempos and drawing a conclusion of real joie de vivre from his young band.

All in all it was stimulating stuff for stuff for a Saturday lunchtime and a potent indication that despite Chris Houlding’s plea to the audience for more tenor horn students (there are currently only students of the instrument on the college books) all is well and thriving in the brass department at the Royal Northern College.

Christopher Thomas                         

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