With the emerging talents of the NYBBS Children’s Band and Reserve Band setting a high bar of musicianship the previous day, it was left to the NYBBS Senior Band and the Alumni Band to top a fine week of achievement with impressive authority.
It all kicked off with the nostalgia of the 60th anniversary celebrations, as former alumni joined Richard Evans for some serious musical endeavour.
Appropriate
‘Old Comrades’ was the appropriate march opener, followed by a wickedly paced ‘Le Corsair’ and super ‘Bugler’s Holiday’ of former principal cornet players Russell Gray, Caroline Farren and Rebecca Wilson.
There was also a timely nod to a proud heritage with the third movement of Malcolm Arnold’s ‘Four Scottish Dances’ and the rousing march from ‘The Pines of Rome’ to close.
With baton in hand Russell Gray selected a demanding programme for the current ‘Senior’ generation - one that tested the lyrical as well as technical mettle of the performers in equal measure.
The elegant Elizabethan delicacy of spirit of Elgar Howarth’s arrangement of ‘The King’s Hunting Gigue’ was a fine counterpoint to the imposing stamp of ‘The Force of Destiny’; one of bold, dark excitement, confident solo lines and precise ensemble work.
Skilful appreciation
An appreciative nod to the past came with the third movement of Thomas Wilsons’, now rather sadly neglected ‘Sinfonietta’ (commissioned by the band in 1967), delivered with cultured understanding, whilst there was a skilful appreciation of ensemble balance in Sandy Smith’s arrangement of Bach’s masterful ‘Little Fugue in G Minor’ led by Richard Evans.
The elegant Elizabethan delicacy of spirit of Elgar Howarth’s arrangement of ‘The King’s Hunting Gigue’ was a fine counterpoint to the imposing stamp of ‘The Force of Destiny’; one of bold, dark excitement, confident solo lines and precise ensemble work.
Debussy’s ‘Fetes’ was paced beautifully by Russell Gray, allowing the music time to find a natural flow, and there was much to admire in the way Richard Evans elicited the same sense of unforced musicality in the famous Beethoven ‘Sonata’ and especially the restrained passion of ‘Resurgam’ which contained warmly hued solo work from all leading lines.
Music from a different era closed things: Svein Henrik Giske’s arrangement of ‘Unisons’ delivered with an authentic seal of commanding authority.
60 years of history may have passed - but on the musical evidence of this weekend, the future of the National Youth Band of Scotland organisation is surely secure for many more decades to come.
