World of Brass Gala Concert

Black Dyke; Cory; Fountain City
Conductors: Dr Nicholas Childs, Dr Robert Childs, Joseph Parisi
Guest Soloist: Stephen Sykes
The Sage, Gateshead
Saturday 14th November

Despite its self proclaimed title as the world’s leading entertainment contest, Brass in Concert has a gaping black hole at its core – a big Black Dyke hole in fact.

The droves of North East brass band lovers who packed into the main hall at The Sage on Saturday night knew that only too well, after the 2009 National Champion produced a second half performance of such viscous polish that it almost left a musical oil slick on the stage.

See what you're missing

This was ‘see what you’re missing’ playing; a cast iron statement of authoritarian brilliance stamped in musical letters ten foot high.

As good as Brass in Concert undoubtedly is, at present it’s like a World Cup without Brazil or Formula 1 minus Ferrari, and still the organisers seem no closer to being able to persuade Black Dyke to put their reputation on the line. And after the weekend, you can see why.

Class apart

When Black Dyke performs like this they are a class apart, with an entertainment formula that makes everyone a member of their banding ‘Tifosi’.  At present, they don’t need Brass in Concert to enhance their reputation as everyone’s favourite entertainers as much as the organisers need them.

Before they took to the stage, Fountain City produced an entertaining set under Joseph Parisi that confirmed at first hand the evidence of their remarkable progress.

Although minus a tuba player (courtesy of British Airways world beating policy of delivering people to one airport and their luggage to another) they still produced a truly authentic banding sound.

After quickly getting accustomed to the acoustic (and the sight of a packed hall peering back at them with a mixture of admiration and curiosity) they produced a well shaped ‘Little Russian’ opener before going on to deliver a balanced programme of high quality playing.

Highlight

The highlight was a sublime ‘Over the Rainbow’ (appropriate given they hail from Kansas City) by flugel player Matthew Vangjel, which even the most die hard Judy Garland fan would have acknowledged couldn’t have been bettered by the red shoed warbler herself.

A rapid fire ‘Hora Staccato’ followed – although the sight of the poor lass on tambourine dressed as a mix of Gypsy Rose Lee and a Romanian asylum seeker at Grimsby Docks was odd to say the least. The playing made up for the sartorial oversight.

With the band encircling the MD like an under attack wagon trail in a John Wayne western, the lovely arrangement of ‘Lux Aurumque’ was beautifully realised, before they finally let their hair down with a real old humdinger and Lee Harrelson’s cracking take on ‘Malaguena’, complete with screaming trumpets and a sultry Mexicana laziness that burst into life at just the right moment.

Fresh lips

Cory followed with a four-item programme that certainly kept their lips fresh ahead of their title defence the next day.   

The band had been held up for hours on the motorway on their journey from South Wales, but they soon got into their stride with a pumping ‘Hail the Dragon’ opener.

That was followed by a neat bit of playing on Peter Graham’s rather undemanding ‘Sirocco’ Suite that pushed just about every musical stereotype button you could think of on its windy journey up through the Mediterranean – although the ‘Gaelforce’ inspired opening few bars seemed a little geographically off compass.

Gavin Pritchard was a quick fire soloist on the xylophone with ‘Helter Skelter’ before the band rounded off a programme played with more than an eye and a lip on their impending contest appearance with ‘Turris Fortissima’.

Brilliant familiarity

Black Dyke then delivered what the audience had been waiting for – brilliant familiarity - from Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s ‘Horizon’s’, through their well rehearsed ‘Kings of Cool’ set, local lad Joseph Cook as the Figaro ‘Factotum’ and rounded off with a sumptuous ‘Organ Symphony’ finale and an encore whip through the finale from 'William Tell' that would have had the poor Lone Ranger holding onto Silver for dear life. 

All that and they also accompanied some sublime trombone playing from guest soloist, BBC Young Brass Musician of the Year Stephen Sykes, on ‘Brasilia’ and ‘Why Did I Choose You?’ - both played with an elegant musicality and frightening technique.
 
It rounded off a night when the undoubted winner was the one band that had no need to compete at all on the weekend.

Iwan Fox

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