Conductor: Stig Maersk
Soloist: Jesper Juul Windahl
Featuring: Ben Attfield (organ)
RNCM International Brass Band Festival
Saturday 24th January

A distinctive flavour of Danish musicality infused the audience at the RNCM Festival, as the reigning National Champion presented a thoroughly enjoyable menu of the nation’s compositional talents.

Formed in 1957, Concord is no stranger to the elite level performance stage. In April they head to Linz for the European Championships, their fifth appearance since 2017, keen to make as favourable an impression there as they did in Manchester.  It was certainly helped by a carefully curated programme, played with a confidence that spoke of detailed preparation under conductor Stig Maersk. 

Eloquent voice

The decision to feature their professional MD, Jesper Juul Windahl (who will lead them in Linz) as the soloist on the iconic Grondahl ‘Trombone Concerto’  was certainly inspired by informed musical understanding.

Richly mixing its romantic inclinations, he was an agile, eloquent voice – darkly intoned in the minor keyed writing with its melodic nods to Sibelius and Verdi 

Richly mixing its romantic inclinations, he was an agile, eloquent voice – darkly intoned in the minor keyed writing with its melodic nods to Sibelius and Verdi in its declamatory and dramatic statements of intent.  The calibrated build to the final flourish of exclamation held listeners in rapt appreciation. 

Gunboat diplomacy

Drama too with the first part of Frederik Magle’s ‘The Hope’ which depicted the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Given that saw defeat at the hands of a foreign adversary, any present-day tensions involving a fellow NATO ally had a neat twist of pertinence, although with this fine performance even Donald Trump would be better off having second thoughts about his crass gunboat diplomacy. 

any present-day tensions involving a fellow NATO ally had a neat twist of pertinence, although with this fine performance even Donald Trump would be better off having second thoughts about his crass gunboat diplomacy. 

Narrative led, (the title linked to the peaceful alliance that came at the battle’s end), the descriptive writing placed the listener in centre of the action; the organ adding an ominous sense of power, the percussion echoing the acoustic effect of cannon balls flying overhead, ripping sails and cracking bodies. The only pity was that the second part (with chorus) will have to be heard on another occasion. 

Craftsmanship

Although the band didn’t feature a composition from the pen of Philip Sparke, the two that did come from Jacob Vilhelm Larsen displayed the same adherence to structural and melodic craftsmanship.

‘DAO Fanfare’  written with a noble sprightliness commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Danish Music Federation, whilst ‘Ravenscroft Variations’ was a neatly conceived set of variants set to the Carol 705, ‘Remember, O Thou Man’.   Amid the elite levels works heard on the weekend, this was a welcome spotlight focus on a composition that would be a fine addition to lower section UK contesting repertoire. 

Inventive gems

Two little gems of inventiveness completed things – the first, a quite remarkable triptych deconstruction of The Beatles pop song, ‘What You’re Doing’.

 Per Norgaard’s ‘Doing’,  not only cleverly nodded at Paul McCartney’s troubled relationship with the actress Jane Asher that inspired the original in 1964, but did so in 1968 – when The Beatles had just released ‘The White Album’ and were still two years away from imploding.

Amazingly, Per Norgaard’s ‘Doing’,  with concise sections entitled, ‘I’ll do it’,  ‘You can’t do that’ and ‘It’s done’, not only cleverly nodded at Paul McCartney’s troubled relationship with the actress Jane Asher that inspired the original in 1964, but did so in 1968 – when The Beatles had just released ‘The White Album’ and were still two years away from imploding.

Hugely inventive, it sounded mint fresh, let alone nearly 60 years old.  

It left a classic bit of Nordic ballet fun to round off the Dane’s fine contribution to the weekend.

The preening bombast of Carl Nielsen’s ‘Dance of the Cockerels’  was all show and feathers, but backed with a strutting sense of pride, that as throughout their concert programme, was not misplaced either.

Iwan Fox