The beneficial results of musical collectivism were heard to fine effect with this vibrant concert given by the National Youth Brass Band of Wales. 

Now under the umbrella control of the national Ty Cerdd organisation, its ‘in house’ links to other youth bodies such as the National Choirs, Jazz and Youth Wind orchestra has given it a much more meaningful long term sense of purpose and direction.  

Enthused

Led by a clearly enthused Philip Harper, the obligatory TJ Powell march ‘Castell Coch’ opened in sprightly fashion in front of a well-packed audience in the RWCMD Dora Stoutzker Hall.

The course repertoire included two classics of the banding genre and a couple of the MDs own concert works: Herbert Howell’s ‘Pageantry’ - played with chivalric verve and brio, and Edward Gregson’s ‘Connotations’ - featuring some fine solo leads as it grew in ensemble authority to its purposeful climax.

Both were maturely handled, if at times a little wayward in precision, whilst ‘Constellations’ and ‘Path to Peace’ were pleasant contrasts of style.  

Fern Hill

However, the musical centrepiece was the Cardiff premiere (the world premiere was given in Neath the previous evening) of Hilary Tann’s evocative ‘All the Moon Long’. 

An elegiac work of considered substance, it is inspired by five lines from the poem ‘Fern Hill’ by Dylan Thomas, and the slowly changing vistas glimpsed across the estuary from the boathouse in Laugharne.

The sea is omnipresent: The sounds of decaying tidal wash over the pebbles of the beach repeating their somnambulant messages; the poet sleepily focusing his mind’s eye on past memories of his Aunty’s farm, before slipping peacefully with dreamlike metaphors into the arms of Morpheus and the warm pillow of his bed. 

It is a composition of great thoughtfulness and melancholic mystery.

Link

It is also a composition that linked the newly appointed ‘Composer in Residence’ to the other Ty Cerdd ensembles: Tann also working closely with the other youth ensembles during 2015. The collective benefits of exposure to a very expressive compositional voice will hopefully be lasting.

Patagonia

The concert was rounded off with another important collective cultural link - this time to the 150th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia in Argentina (which also saw the Argentine choral conductor Camilo Santo-Stefano paying a welcome visit to the band during the week)

A neat mix of colourful Latin exuberance and smouldering tango sensuality in the trio of ‘Conga del Fuego Nuevo’, ‘Oblivion’ (both of which featured excellent solo leads) and ‘Malambo’ (which surely must have inspired Howard Snell’s ‘Postcard from Mexico’) provided a cracking close to a fine concert showcase of Welsh brass band talent.

Iwan Fox