Concerts, Forums & Masterclasses

Featuring: Rex Richardson, Hakan Hardenberger, Euphony Quartet, Composer Forums
2012 RNCM Festival of Brass
Manchester
Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th January

Paul Hindmarsh’s excellent stewardship of the RNCM Festival of Brass ensured that this year’s event continued to enthral as well as enlighten.

And whilst the concerts once more showed off the very best of brass in terms of performance and repertoire, it was the intriguing additional attractions that enhanced the overall musical experience of the weekend.

Open forums

Chief amongst these were the twin open forums, as well as the concert appetisers from the Junior RNCM Brass and Euphony Brass Quartet and the masterclasses from trumpet stars Rex Richardson and Hakan Hardenberger.

The opening night Festival Prelude was a enjoyable occasion with the talented performers from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama providing a warm musical welcome to a well chilled audience, as an unexpected snap of bad weather caused havoc on the road network into Manchester.

It did mean that Black Dyke’s opening concert was a rather curtailed affair, but it did allow the Euphony ensemble  the chance to showcase their emerging talents for a second time as the initial start time was put back by over an hour.

Revealing

The following day Johan de Meij was interviewed by Paul Hindmarsh in what was a revealing open forum.

Excerpts from his ‘Lord of the Rings’ suite for symphony orchestra were played over the Carol Nash Recital Room sound system – accompanied by images from the tale of hobbits, rings and multi million pound merchandise opportunities.

The music was breathless and highly commercial in its scope and power, whilst de Meij himself was an engaging personality; revealing the little compositional secrets to his success – not just on the Tolkien soundtrack but also from his fabulous test piece, ‘Extreme Makover’ and his ‘UFO Concerto’ which was to be performed on the weekend by David Childs.

Cut & Paste

When mischievously asked, he even revealed that he too was prone to the use of ‘cut & paste’ compositional techniques, although he rather quickly made clear that it was employed, ‘only when absolutely necessary...’.  

He was too clever a chap to be drawn into any naming and shaming of fellow composer’s who use the technique much more liberally – even if there were a few knowing nods and wry smiles on faces in the audience.

Composers Panel

Much the same response came in a highly engaging ‘Meet the Composer’s’ Forum which was expertly chaired later the same day by Chris Thomas, who writes extensively for many wide ranging music publications, including 4BR.

He was joined by a panel that included Dr Peter Meechan, Gavin Higgins, Lucy Pankhurst, Dan Price and Andy Scott – to discuss amongst other things, contemporary repertoire – or the lack of it – in the current banding concert and contesting world.

It made for a fascinating 40 or so minutes of intelligent analysis and strong opinion, with counterbalanced viewpoints coming from all five composers. 

Juicy bone

The odd juicy bone of contention was thrown into the mix – right from the start in fact, with an old video of Elgar Howarth leading Grimethorpe Colliery in excerpts of Harrison Birtwistle’s ‘Grimethorpe Aria’.

Howarth may have turned as slowly as Lot’s wife with an air of noblesse –oblige in her nostrils to address the assembled audience (dressed in depressing 1970’s beige and brown) in his measured stentorian voice, but what he said was as relevant today as it was in 1973 when it was first performed: Just how far have we come in our appreciation of contemporary brass band repertoire?

It was a clever bit of forum stewardship from Chris: Howarth remains the standard bearer for all things good about contemporary repertoire – even 40 years later. It also gave the participants a foundation stone on which to build their eloquent arguments.

Inspirational

With the Junior RNCM Brass Band providing a enjoyable short concert under the direction of Les Neish (who continues to be a charismatic, inspirational teacher and conductor for the aspiring young performers at the RNCM) and trumpet stars Rex Richardson and Hakan Hardenberger providing two contrasting, but equally enjoyable masterclasses for some very lucky students, there was always something of interest to engage the informed audiences on the weekend.

No wonder Paul Hindmarsh wore a broad smile of satisfaction each time we saw him. 

Iwan Fox

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