Tredegar Town Band

Conductor: Ian Porthouse
St James Church Festival
Tredegar
Friday 17th July

From the corporate to the quaint; the acolyte Nuremberg herding of Glastonbury to the slightly surreal Whicker Man tendencies of the Green Man event in Brecon. All around the country, July and August is Festival time.  

Jumbo jet

The best Festivals remain true to their roots – that means no VIP areas, ‘I was there’ tee shirts and no Bono telling the rest of us to save the ozone layer as he jets off to another gig with 20 tonne of stage show packed in the back of a jumbo jet.

Small is best

Small is beautiful and best – and thankfully, events such as this one in Tredegar are replicated all around the country, bringing fun, games, entertainment, and even the odd message to save the planet by connecting to local communities.

Tredegar’s appearance at the St James Church Festival Week comes at a time of growing optimism for the Welsh band.

Solid year

2009 has been a solid year of achievement under the baton of Ian Porthouse, with the prospect of more to come in the second half of the year.

An equally solid line up of players (including recent signing, Stephen Sykes on trombone) has fuelled optimism that the band is closing ground on their traditional heavyweight rivals of Cory.

They may be a little way off that just yet (they missed out on a return to the British Open), but on the evidence of this burnished performance in a sympathetic acoustic, they could be a band to look out for come the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as the forthcoming National Eisteddfod in Bala.

Lightweight

A lightweight programme saw the band feature some fine soloists (including Stephen Sykes on highly polished bikini wax ‘Brasilia’ form) as well as show a stamp of ensemble class with some well chosen repertoire from Berlin to Sparke.

Ian Porthouse was a personable compere, but led the band with a tight appreciation of dynamic and balance that impressed from the opening ‘Fest Musik’ right through to the closing ‘Fugue’ from Sparke’s ‘Graduation Day’.

Relaxed

The relaxed evening saw local singer Rosie Kane lift the spirits (as well as a few spirits of those interred in the crypt such was the volume of her PA system) with her belting singing, whilst the band’s other soloists, euphonium, Darren Morris; baritone, Geraint Chamberlain; xylophonist, Rhydian Griffith and principal cornet Dewi Griffiths made impressive and more refined contributions.

Neat changes

With some neat changes of tempo and style in items such as ‘Letter from Home’, ‘Dragon’s Rise’, ‘Dundonnell’, ‘Erin Shore’, ‘Mr Lear’s Carnival’ and even a bit of authentic two part harmony singing in Downie’s ‘The Joy Bringer’, (which even got the female rector jiving at the back of the hall) there was something for the local audience to appreciate and enjoy.  

All that and not a single welly wearing middle class bore fawning at the feet of a pop group time should have forgotten, or a ‘celeb’ trying to tell you to cut down on your carbon footprint by living off lentils and solar power, whilst still trying to flog you a tee shirt and a ‘greatest hits’ CD.

Iwan Fox

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