Regent Brass
Conductor: Alan Duguid
Soloist: Erin Black
Regent Hall, London
Saturday 10th October

Regent Brass have acquired a reputation for imaginative and challenging programmes in recent years.  This latest concert, part of Regent Hall’s Brass Arts Festival, did not disappoint in this respect.

The afternoon began with Verdi’s ‘Grand March from Aida’  and ended in similar vein with the lively final dance from Manuel de Falla’s ballet ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’,  arranged by Duncan Wilson. In between these two anchors from the romantic repertoire were some treasures from the contemporary canon.

Mineral mystery

‘Obsidian’  by Emily Howard was commissioned by Black Dyke Band and premiered by them in 2010. It was shortlisted for a British Composer Award the following year but never heard again until now. 

This short work captures the mineral’s mystery, rumbling low brass portraying its hard, inky blackness, cornets providing its jagged edges and the flashes of reflected light from its surface.  

rumbling low brass portraying its hard, inky blackness, cornets providing its jagged edges and the flashes of reflected light from its surface.  

Franklin Onyeso’s ‘Ode to the Three Who Hanged’  received its premiere.  This was a complex work, the full meaning of which was not immediately clear, at least not to this reviewer.  It was full of contrasting timbres, textures and exciting rhythms which held the attention until, at its conclusion, the music suddenly fizzled out.  More opportunities to hear the piece would be welcome.

Sublime

The most sublime moment of the afternoon came with Erin Black’s beautiful rendition of the slow movement from Maurice Ravel’s ‘Piano Concerto in G major’,  arranged by Tim Beaumont.

Black’s playing transported us to another place. A simple melody gave way first to ornamental sextuplets and finally to cascading demisemiquavers before ending on a quiet, sustained trill.  It provided a wonderful aural contrast to the otherwise all-brass content.

Black’s playing transported us to another place. 

The remainder of the programme included Alastair Wheeler’s arrangement of the pleasant, if slightly underwhelming, ‘Huntingtower Ballad’,  a curiosity by Ottorino Respighi written towards the end of his life. 

There was also a workmanlike account of Thierry Deleruyelle’s ‘Fraternity’,  one of the European Championship’s better products in recent years, and a rare performance of Malcolm Arnold’s ‘Little Suite No. 3’,  the last work he wrote for brass band, and which for this reviewer is not his finest moment.  We were also treated to a short encore, ‘This I Know’  by William Himes.

Not bound

Regent Brass are not bound by convention.  They tune up on stage.  They favour simple concert black dress rather than the Edwardian quasi-military garb still preferred by so many other bands. 

They also trust their audiences to have the intelligence and attention span required to appreciate programmes of this nature, and on this occasion that trust was reciprocated with a good-sized gathering. 

In short, they give every impression of a band committed to bringing innovative brass band programmes to new audiences.  Good for them.

Alec Gallagher