Conductor: Paul Holland 
Snape Maltings Concert Hall
Saturday 23rd August

Opened in 1967, Benjamin Britten’s splendid concert hall in the heart of rural Suffolk has become a world-renowned arts complex and host for the annual, critically acclaimed Adelburgh Festival.

In recent years it has welcomed a number of brass bands, with the 2024 National Champion invited to follow in the recent footsteps of Brighouse & Rastrick and Black Dyke, whilst KNDS Fairey will showcase their ‘Wallace & Gromit’ talents later this year.

Interest saw an audience of well over 500 people enjoy an eclectic programme set out by Paul Holland to deliberately showcase diverse musical styles. 

Undeniable quality

The traditions of brass band test-pieces and orchestral arrangements were marked by impressive renditions of Geoffrey Brand’s waspish take on Dvorak’s ‘Carnival Overture’,  and the noble English sentiments of ‘Kenilworth’  by Bliss, which ended each half. The cultured lightness of touch in the ensemble and solo lines was marked by clarity and understanding in playing of undeniable quality. 

The cultured lightness of touch in the ensemble and solo lines was marked by clarity and understanding in playing of undeniable quality. 

Bliss provided a filmatic feel to his 1936 suite. Paul Holland directed the cameo scenes that captured the vitality to the splendour of ‘At the Castle Gates’,  balanced by a tender ‘Serenade on the Lake’  and the perky pomposity of the ‘March’  to close.   There was also an appropriate life-affirming quality to the Dvorak, the stern technical challenges brushed off with a sense of elan. 

Unexpected detour

The band’s engaging 2024 Brass in Concert ‘Gaming’ set offered a much more unexpected detour for the audience into a world that brought back memories of the 1970’s and the television tennis of ‘Pong’, as well as with some of older pop hits referenced in ‘Guitar Zero’. 

Hallmarked quality also came with Paul Richards, Emily Evans, Lauren Chinn and Daniel Thomas who stand out solo performances, appreciated fully be a knowledgeable audience.  

There were perhaps a few slightly bemused expressions when it came to the more modern soundtracks of slot machine fun with ‘Quest for Coin’  and ‘Fractured Reality’,  but the fun remained.  

Hallmarked quality also came with Paul Richards (‘Beyond the Veil’), Emily Evans (‘Enter the Dance’), Lauren Chinn (‘The Children of Sanchez’) and Daniel Thomas (‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’) who stand out solo performances, appreciated fully be a knowledgeable audience.  

You could forgive then, on what was a hugely impressive showcase, the detour into ‘Brassed Off Fantasy’  territory thanks to the appreciation shown elsewhere with the haunting beauty created in Gavin Higgins’ ‘Ivory Ghosts’,  the emotion of ‘Schindler’s List’  and upbeat percussion drive of Saucido’s ‘Windspirits’.

Tom Fisher