The Dora Stoutzker Hall at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama continues to provide a wonderful stage for the student performers of the Royal Welsh College to showcase their talents in a series of enjoyable mid day concerts.

The Repco Brass Band was the latest to grasp the opportunity, and was greeted by a warm reception from an audience that continues to be attracted in numbers to the events.

Engaging programme

With an engaging programme of contemporary music from the pens of emerging young composers Christopher Bond, Kina Miyamoto, Daniel Storey and Nic Mills on the menu, it also provided the opportunity to hear repertoire that would not normally get much of an airing on usual brass band programmes.

Accomplished

19 year old Matthew Leach was an accomplished conductor at the helm of a band that produced a warmly hued tone. It is underpinned a neat ensemble which supported quality solo work from the likes of principal cornet Will Norman, soprano Ben Halstead and flugel Rhysian James amongst others.

An excellent percussion team led by Max Ireland provided a solid rhythmic foundation - an essential requirement given the propensity of upbeat kit work required in many of the pieces.  

Hearty opening

Christopher Bond’s ‘Fanfare of a Nation’ provided a hearty opening with its drive and pulse - a neatly written splash of colour that worked well.

More puzzling however was his ‘Behold the Power of God’ - an enjoyable piece of fizz-bomb writing very much in the current vogue for flash and flurry, but which in the process made the omnipotent being of the title sound as if he has come from some sort of Europop spiritual retreat. 

A different, less portentous title may give this engaging work a better chance of being heard more often.

This was a God of happy-clappy Evangelical sparkle and glitter - certainly not old Methodist fire and brimstone, and it was a bit of a relief to find out later that in fact the music was a celebration of composer Goff Richards - who certainly had a God given talent. If only there had been some details given on the day, then we wouldn't have all gone home with such musical aetheist thoughts. 

Contrasting depth

Kina Miyamoto’s sombre ‘A Selection of Japanese Folk Songs’ provided contrasting depth and understanding with its elegant structures and feeling of repose, whilst Daniel Storey’s ‘Quest’ was an intriguing amalgam of ideas, styles and genres - from the austere and opaque to a touch of Pete Waterman and what seemed like a quick trip through a downtown Tehran bazaar.  

Both pieces had that welcome hint of maturing originality charging the compositional synapses though.

Substance

To close two works from Nic Mills, a young composer who is certainly maturing into a compositional voice of substance.

His programmatic ‘Beyond the Storm’ set out to create the sense of impending fear, momentary calm and terrifying coda of a passing hurricane - something that he certainly achieved in a short, but vibrant work of power and purpose.

Equally as impressive was the ‘Finale’ from his ‘Symphonic Suite’ -  with its oblique nods and winks to what seemed to sound like a clever inversion of Mozart’s celebrated piano sonata in A (K331) – the one featured in Philip Wilby’s ‘Vienna Nights’.

That said, perhaps the composer had cleverly scrambled the senses of this listener in the maelstrom that came before it though - but whatever the inspiration it was a composition that retained interest from start to finish.

Much like this concert in fact. 

Iwan Fox