Brass Meets Ivory

Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: James Gourlay
Soloist: Ashley Wass (piano)
St Johns Smith Square, London
Saturday 19th September

Despite the best efforts of a well-oiled publicity machine, it was a disappointingly small audience which gathered to hear Grimethorpe Colliery Band under James Gourlay present a programme of serious repertoire. 

About 150 people greeted the band as they took to the stage, with Carlton Main’s Gary Bates having the daunting task of standing in for the indisposed Kevin Crockford, taken ill on the Monday following the Open weekend, and the intrepid Claire Hudson the only female player, amongst the back row cornets.

Echoes of “Brassed Off”

They opened in sparkling style with a crisp, detailed rendition of the march “Death or Glory” (Robert Browne Hall), marked by careful attention to the marks, especially the contrasting dynamic levels. 

The band, well spaced out on the stage, produced a full, round, well-balanced sound, the highlights including Robert Westacott’s delicate treatment of the melody in the trio, and some very quiet playing around the stand.

Revised concert opener from Darrol Barry

Darrol Barry wrote “Brass on Fire” for Russell Gray and the Leyland Band, but has since revised the work, and Grimethorpe were giving the first performance of the new version. 

It was an up-tempo number that lived up to its name, with strident cornet figures backed by runs throughout the lower band. There were some tricky solo passages to negotiate, tackled enthusiastically by Ken Ferguson, Michael Dodd and Rob Westacott on tuba, euphonium and cornet respectively. The kit player, seated on the stage behind the trombones, also had his chance to shine, and it was a welcome reminder of the skill and invention of a composer who can be all too often unfairly dismissed as a writer of trivia.

Dance music from the past with a modern twist

Kenneth Hesketh’s “Danceries”, written for wind band in 1999, was arranged for brass two years later, and subsequently recorded by the Leyland Band, with whom Rob Westacott was at the time playing Principal Cornet. 

It is an attractive work, drawing on music and dance forms of the 17th and 18th centuries, with some genuine themes from the period joined with original material by the composer. The band displayed a little hesitancy at the start of the first movement, “Lull me beyond thee”, a lilting 6/8 melody, where the writing is rather fragmented and thinly scored, but things soon picked up with the entry of the full band. 

The scherzo, “Catching of quails”, was full of verve and vigour, with striking off-beat accompaniment and surges of sound. In the entrancing pavane “My lady’s rest” a lyrical tuba solo was followed by some excellent playing from the horns and flugel, with modern twists in the harmony and false relations galore. 

There was some particularly sensitive playing by Andy Holmes on flugel, and as the melody meandered between various instruments the gentle wash of sound underneath was very effective. 

In the finale, the lively “Quodling’s Delight”, the composer introduced various elements before combining them together, with a powerful sustained pedal from the basses underpinning the running around by the rest of the band. 

Apparently there had been some concern in rehearsal that the bass sound was not coming through strongly enough, but they had clearly successfully overcome any such problems!

Titan‘s return!

Grimethorpe had been awarded third place for their performance of Hermann Pallhuber’s “Titan’s Progress” at Symphony Hall, and they chose to include it in the programme, this time under the direction of James Gourlay rather than Alan Withington. 

Introducing the work, the conductor referred to the influence of Mahler, and also to the humour and light-hearted elements included, which he then proceeded to draw out in their reading. After the opening bars, the lightly-scored allusion to “A Lincolnshire Posy”, included as a tribute to Percy Grainger and the wind band movement, was well balanced and nicely together, and the later trumpet fanfares rang out particularly clearly. 

There was a clear sense of the lolloping rhythm of the “Farandole” (humorously outlined by James Gourlay in his introduction), and the cornet and euphonium duet was most effective, the players standing in the wings to either side of the stage. 

All in all it was an impressive performance, with a fine contribution from Gary Bates on soprano, and demonstrated that it can work just as well on the concert stage as in a contest. Indeed several members of the audience seated near this reviewer, who had previously expressed reservations at enduring what they saw as a “competition piece”, were most impressed.

Come to the Cabaret

During the interval the stage was set to accommodate the piano in preparation for Martin Ellerby’s “Cabaret Concerto”. 

This work, unfortunately attributed in publicity leaflets to Martin Guerrby (sic), was commissioned by the pianist Philip Mead, the first performance being given in 2003 with the City of Cambridge Band. 

It was given a most convincing interpretation by Ashley Wass, a former BBC New Generation Artist and a member of the piano faculty of the Royal College of Music. It is a richly varied work consisting of eight short sections, the titles being taken from paintings by James McNeill Whistler.
 
“Harmony in Green and Rose” was a slow, Joplinesque rag, opening with the pianist on his own, the brass being added quite sparingly. “Variations in Grey” was something of a tour de force in terms of miniaturisation, with theme, variations and finale all in the space of two minutes, with passages for piano and brass largely alternating. 

“Nocturne in Blue and Silver” made much use of various mutes in depicting a dreamy nightscape, the intensity building effectively, if slightly marred by a dropped triangle beater! 

The funky rag entitled “An orange note” made reference to the nursery rhyme “Oranges and lemons” (also featured by the composer in one of his pieces written for the Coldstream Guards Band), with striking off-key harmonies hammered out on the piano. Even the timpani had a go at the tune, and there were some quite aggressive exchanges between soloist and band.

Borrowings from Brahms

Rob Westcott was featured in “Arrangement in White and Black”, which drew from a theme from Brahms’ “Symphony No 3”, with a particularly effective shift from minor key into major. 

“Caprice in Purple and Gold”, a race between piano and band, seemed imbued with the spirit of Malcolm Arnold, right up to its somewhat abrupt ending. 

In “Symphony in White”, the pianist was only called upon to play the white, diatonic notes, but this included sweeping runs up and down the keyboard. The movement made much of bell effects from both soloist and band, and ended with the strings being left to resonate freely. 

Ragtime returned for the last section, “Harmony in blue”, a fast and furious duet with all the energy of Vila-Lobos at his most aggressive, including clusters of notes played by hammering the fists on the keys, complex rhythmic patterns and, at one point, descending glissandi from the trombones. 

It proved a most enjoyable work, and there were occasions where one felt the audience wanted to break into spontaneous applause at the end of a section (which would no doubt have been quite fitting for a “cabaret” concerto!) The composer was certainly greeted most warmly as he was called to the stage at the end of the performance.

Concerto

The published programme had indicated that the concerto was to be followed by the “Second Movement from Piano Concerto No 2” (Shostakovich), but no-one seemed to feel short-changed by the exquisite encore offered in its stead, Olivier Messaien’s prelude “The Dove”, evoking the world of birdsong in his own, unique way.

As a finale, Grimethorpe performed Ray Farr’s arrangement of music from “The Firebird” (Igor Stravinsky). 

The “Infernal dance of King Katschei” was marked by some powerful tuba playing and crisp interjections from the trombones, with incisive work on xylophone cutting through the texture. The antiphonal passages between cornets and trombones came across to good effect, before some fine trombone playing from Gary McPhee in the “Round Dance of the Princesses”. 

In anticipation of the finale, the music faded right away, before the euphonium took up the melody, the music gradually building up in tension and excitement. Despite missing something of the the sweeping French horn glissandi of the original, it was a most impressive effect, with the tam-tam ringing out between the brass phrases, and a sudden cut back in volume before the thunderous final crescendo.

Quick dash

Following a quick dash through the “Finale from William Tell“ (Rossini) – with more dexterous fingering and tonguing from Rob Westacott – it was time for the players to retire for a well-earned night’s rest, in preparation for their appearance at the South Bank Centre as part of a Leonard Bernstein celebration the following day. 

Although the attendance was more than a little disappointing, those who were present (including Joseph Horowitz, versatile composer and Martin Ellerby’s teacher) enjoyed some first class music-making. 

The players did themselves proud, and James Gourlay proved an admirably lucid and affable compère. Appreciation is also due to Rodney Newton for the most informative programme notes.

Peter Bale

^back to top