Stage and Screen
Rothwell Temperance Band
Conductor: David Roberts
RTB Recordings: CDRTB2010
Total Playing Time: Approx 70 mins

According to the sparse sleeve notes of their latest release, Rothwell Temperance Band is a Championship Section brass band based in Rothwell, near Leeds, in the North of England.

Blimey. They don’t half know how to undersell themselves.

Spurs

And despite knowing that this is an easy listening release geared towards boosting concert income and media profile, they at least could have shouted a bit more loudly off the bandroom rooftop about their recent impressive achievements.

It’s a bit like getting Harry Redknapp in his Saturday afternoon programme notes to describe Spurs as a Premier League football club based in Tottenham, near central London in the south west area of England.

Despite their much admired modesty, Rothwell is much, much more than that.

Self promotion

It’s a pity too, as this is an enjoyable bit of musical self-promotion – very impressive in fact, despite the familiar roll call of lightweight repertoire of well-known favourites from stage and screen.

As we have come to expect, Rothwell comes well prepared for the job in hand under the direction of David Roberts.

Even some mundane looking content (the sleeve notes and play list are disappointingly unenlightening) has a polished freshness, through precision and vibrancy, with the unnamed soloists on classy form throughout.

Finesse

The recording acoustic is clean and sympathetic, cleverly engineered to enable detail and inner balance to shine through, whilst the MD ensures that the ensemble performs with subtle delicacy and more than a touch of stylistic finesse.

Arrangements of the big stage numbers from ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Cats’, ‘West Side Story’ and the like provide the first half of the entertainment on show, whilst after the break we get the meatier items from the silver screen - with everything from the stiff upper lip Charlie’s of ‘633 Squadron’ to a reminder of the stiff as a board acting style of Mario Lanza and Charlton Heston in ‘The Student Prince’ and ‘Ben Hur’ – although the music that accompanied their efforts was luscious, dramatic stuff.

Quality playing

There is plenty to enjoy in the performances; neat ensemble, purposeful dynamics and accomplished style that it is a pity that some sloppy, unimaginative post production work just smudges the polished patina of the quality playing.  

Rothwell has often been described as something of a contesting dark horse, but given that they are now well and truly a top class thoroughbred outfit, you feel there was no need for them on this release to still keep their identity such a secret.

Iwan Fox

Contents

Music from STAGE Shows
1. There's No Business like Show Business
2. I Dreamed a Dream
3. Overture to "Cats"
4. All I Ask of You
5. Another Openin' Another Show
6. I've Never Been in Love Before
7. Cool and Somewhere from "West Side Story"

Music from SCREEN Movies
8. The Magnificent Seven
9. Dances with Wolves
10. 633 Squadron
11. La Califfa from "Cinema Paradiso"
12. Singing in the Rain
13. Parade of the Charioteers
14. For the Love of a Princess from "Braveheart"
15. The Mask of Zorro
16. I'll Walk with God from "The Student Prince"