The National Youth Brass Band of Wales completed its 2014 course on the weekend with a brace of successful concerts given at Canolfan Beaumaris and the William Aston Hall in Wrexham.

Innovative mix

They were led by Norwegian conductor Reid Gilje, who brought with him an innovative mix of musical genres to explore — from George Lloyd’s ‘English Heritage’ and ‘Chump Change’ by Quincy Jones, to Joe Zawinul’s ‘Birdland’, ‘A Child is Born’ by Thad Jones and Frode Rydland’s ‘Red Morning Star & Bucimis’.

The musical centrepiece was provided by Huw Warren’s ‘On the Other Hand’ — a concerto for two jazz trumpets.

The new commission by the Ty Cerdd national music organisation which now oversees the running of the band, featured the sparkling solo talents of former youth band alumni Gethin Liddington and Percy Pursglove, the MD of National Youth Jazz Wales.

Musical outlook

It also emphasised the change that has taken place in the general musical outlook and remit of the band — something which Ty Cerdd Youth Music Manager Matthew Thistlewood told 4BR that the organisation felt was essential for its ongoing long term development.

"It was a wonderful week of great music making, which certainly lived up to our aim to help broaden the player’s musical experiences, diversity and education," he said.

"We want to have a strong balance between core brass band repertoire and new, challenging genres — and with Reid providing an inspirational lead that was certainly the case this year."

Welsh music

Matthew added: "Our remit is also to encourage the performance of Welsh music and we were delighted at the response of the players and audiences to Huw Warren’s wonderfully creative composition and to ‘A Welsh Fantasy’ from Ryan Howells, winner of the Ty Cerdd Young Composer competition."

The youngsters (up to the age of 21) also benefited from the experience of tutors Gareth Small, Dewi Griffiths, Lesley Poole, Glyn Williams, Les Neish, Simon Cowen and Simone Reblleo, whilst the outstanding contribution by Tony Small to the band since its formation in 1982 mall was marked by a presentation by Ty Cerdd Director Gwyn L Williams.

Demanding

The demanding programme certainly tested the band to the full, with the performances full of vibrancy, colour and detail — notably ‘English Heritage’, which was delivered a with a real spark of free flowing drive and virtuosity — stunningly led by principal cornet player Pippa Scourse from Beaumaris.

The response from highly entertained audiences was to demand more — with three encores in the form of the evocative ‘Jill’s Theme’ by Ennio Morricone, a rousing ‘Blackbird Special’ and with a crafty bit of Nordic/Welsh cultural exchange, with Reid’s own arrangement of ‘Farvel til en slavisk kvinne’.

It was a wonderful week of great music making, which certainly lived up to our aim to help broaden the player’s musical experiences, diversity and educationTy Cerdd Youth Music Manager Matthew Thistlewood

Diverse

"It was good to hear the players tackle such diverse repertoire," Matthew added. "It’s a young band at the moment, full of potential and growing maturity, which we hope to develop in every possible way over the next few years."

With the players getting to grips with alarming ease to everything from 1970s funk and classic American musicals to contemporary Nordic fayre and Argentinean tango, the concerts also provided further evidence of the remarkable geographical spread of Welsh banding talent.

Principals

In addition to Pippa Scourse, the main principal positions (above) were filled by Tom Dunne (Torfaen) on euphonium, Gwern James (Ceredigion) on soprano, Hannah Rogers (Cardiff) on horn, Jack Roberts (Anglesey) on baritone, Merin Lleu (Gwynedd) on trombone, Emily Humphries (Torfaen) on flugel, Rob Cowlishaw (Wrexham) on Eb tuba, Rose Gillison (Ceredigion) on BBb tuba and Helydd Gwynant (percussion).

The much sought after individual tutor awards this year went to Hannah Rogers, Jac Thomas and Merin Lleu.