Conductor: Michael Fowles 
Soloist: Gary Curtin 
Elgar International Festival of Brass
The Bradshaw Hall
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Sunday 7th June 

The opportunity to hear the third of what will be five commissioner-led premieres of Richard Blackford’s ‘Orbital’  added a substantive conclusion to a long, but satisfying festival day.

Following Cory and Flowers, and with Tredegar and the cooperation band to come, it offered further appreciation of a work (the composer again in attendance to introduce it) that expertly combines literary source material with stylish musical imagery.

Although built on a compact foundation of development it also provides scope for malleable interpretation in its 15-minute, four-movement structure. 

Although built on a compact foundation of development it also provides scope for malleable interpretation in its 15-minute, four-movement structure. 

Here, Michael Fowles controlled a considered sense of the dramatic as well as the descriptive - the musical vistas illuminated, the technical challenges met.  

Informed appreciation

Where it eventually resides in the competition realm will be interesting to see, as much like John Golland’s ‘Sounds’,  it demands informed appreciation, even from bands of Foden’s quality.    

In that respect his 1973 abstract symphonic study itself remains something of a contesting outlier

In that respect his 1973 abstract symphonic study itself remains something of a contesting outlier; technically and musically accessible (revised in 1991), yet only successfully traversed by a comprehensive understanding of texture, balance and descriptive effect. 

That was also was evident here – the result, an interpretation of persuasive insight.

Detour

Liz Lane’s ‘Antiphonary’  could also be considered a detour from the composer’s usual output; one built on an amalgam of ideas and inspirations curated from liturgical texts to Vivaldi opera found at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. 

Presented as if the listener had walked into its Morning Room (where they are housed) to hear small groups of players performing excerpts in different corners, the effect was both curious and enveloping - the flugel harmonically detached from fellow leads, yet somehow still connected to the ensemble as a whole. 

Acknowledgment

A lip injury suffered by trombonist John Barber meant that he was unable to perform the Larsson ‘Concertino’. 

Gary Curtin stepped in to provide a vibrant rendition of Philip Sparke’s ‘Harlequin’  – much to the delight of the composer, who was in the audience to also appreciate the more textural balances and spotlights of ‘Tallis Variations’  that opened Foden’s programme.

Once again the MD presented a familiar work with acknowledgment rather than alacrity – the triumphant climax followed by the final chord ebbing away into the air. 

Iwan Fox