The International Staff Band of The Salvation Army

Conductor: Bandmaster Stephen Cobb
Hadleigh Temple
Saturday 25th February

There were very few empty seats as the International Staff band took their places on the platform for their much-anticipated visit to Hadleigh Temple. 

They opened their programme with a new march by Kenneth Downie entitled "Praise Tribute", and written in homage to Wilfred Heaton.  The stylistic and thematic references to "Praise" were apparent for all to hear, but there were also elements of Kenneth Downie's own march fantasy "The Joybringer", as well as references to the Manx hymn melody "The Good Old Way".  Right from the unison opening the band displayed a bright, full sound, with the horn section particularly impressive in the trio, with decoration from the euphoniums.

In what was something of a Kenneth Downie benefit night the band continued with another recent composition, written as a companion piece to "In Perfect Peace".  Somewhat unusually for a Salvation Army work there were no words to associate with the music, but it was suggested that the music itself would communicate its message to the listeners.  A recurring four note motif, rising and falling and taken up throughout the band, right down to the basses, seemed to underline the prayer for peace, and the climax when it came was well-balanced – loud, yes, but with no distortion or overblowing.

Martin Cordner composed the march "Temple Vision" for the opening of the new hall at Hadleigh, so it was fitting that the ISB should include one of his compositions in their programme.  "Day of Freedom", written for the Clydebank Band, combines the hymn tune "Lobe den Herren" ("Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation") and the more modern tune "Midnight Cry", with an opening reminiscent of James Curnow's "Psalm of Praise".  The crisp articulation of the opening was followed by the side drum leading into a bass ostinato over which the horns intoned the melody, with decoration from the euphoniums and fanfare-like interjections from the cornets.  "Midnight Cry" was introduced by a baritone solo, accompanied by the trombones, and taken up most effectively by horns, baritones and basses.  With solos across the band, including a fine contribution on soprano by Gary Fountain, the music rose to a climax, the percussion playing a prominent part, until they reached the final triumphant chord, the trombones adding their weight and tone a couple of beats later.

The first soloist of the evening was Principal Cornet Kevin Ashman, with a solo written for him by Norman Bearcroft entitled "On Course!"  As Stephen Cobb pointed out, several of Norman Bearcroft's recent works have focussed on heaven, and the new solo includes Howard Davies's song "On the way to heaven", as well as "The Good Old Way", which had featured in the opening item. 

Following a wide-ranging opening cadenza, the solo part is full of the composer's trademark runs and decoration of the melodic line, with another brief cadenza leading into the central, slower section, commencing with the solo unaccompanied, and featuring one of the composer's own melodies, a setting of Catherine Baird's song "In Jesus' Steps".  The final section contains references to several other songs, including "When we get to heaven we shall wear a crown" and "Welcome, welcome home", as well as to the composer's own "Golden Slippers", particularly a duet in the cadenza between the soloist and another cornet.  Kevin made light of the technical difficulties of this very accessible work, and it was very well received.

Andrew Justice included "Rhapsody on an American Folk Hymn" on the cd "Comrades" that he recorded with Nick Hudson.  The solo was written for him by Ralph Pearce, and is based on a folk hymn associated with the words "What wondrous love is this?"  Written in three linked movements, it gave the soloist the opportunity to demonstrate both clean articulation in the faster passages and also perfectly smooth legato playing in the slower sections.  The accompaniment at the opening, with horns and muted cornets, was most effective, and throughout there was clear empathy between soloist and conductor.  Towards the end, the soloist was featured over driving percussion, and the octave intervals and arpeggios were most impressive.

Two quieter, more reflective, items followed, with William Himes' Latin American style setting of "This is my story" followed by Gary Rose's vocal item, in which he accompanied himself at the piano, and which was greeted in thoughtful silence.

To close the first half, Stephen had chosen Kenneth Downie's "St Magnus", written for the European Championships in Glasgow and since used at the British Open and at the Mineworkers' Championships. 

Although the composer treats the tune simply as a theme on which to base a set of variations, without any specifically religious connotations, listeners on Saturday would have been reminded of the words "The head that once was crowned with thorns".  The band's playing came across as full of confidence, with a particularly impressive opening from Gary Fountain and Philip Cobb, and the prominent timpani part carried off with panache.  The percussion played a major part in the success of the performance, despite being somewhat short of space at the side of the platform.  The various solo passages emerged from the texture as they should, with Derick Kane showing considerable delicacy, particularly with the quiet passage immediately following the main cadenza, and an effective decrescendo and crescendo from the soprano on his top note.  Comments overheard during the interval revealed that many people had enjoyed the item, and more than justified its inclusion on the programme, even if one or two had felt the volume had been a little too high at times.

The second half commenced with a setting by cornet-player Paul Sharman of the chorus "Righteousness, Peace and Joy".  The composer, who attends the Regent Hall Corps in London, took the short cornet solo himself in this short Latin American style item.

"Cause for Celebration" is a recent work by William Himes, Bandmaster of the Chicago Staff Band, featuring the hymn tune "Old Hundredth", although the tune only appears in full well into the piece. Fragments of the melody are taken and treated thematically, with duets for cornet and soprano followed by flugel and cornet, with a prominent xylophone part.  The melody appears on back row cornets, with the band gradually joining in, and the piece ends with an exultant flourish.

The final soloist to be featured was Derick Kane, playing Kenneth Downie's "Euphonium Concerto", commissioned for Robert Childs and the Black Dyke Band, and first performed by them at the Royal Northern College of Music's Festival of Brass in February 2000.  The concerto bears the sub-title "Eulogy for Euphonium" and it was suggested that this is the key to understanding the music as, in the words of the programme notes it "celebrates the contrasting qualities of the instrument", with the central "Andante con espressivo" being its emotional core. 

After opening bars with echoes of the Horowitz concerto the solo line covered a very wide range, with frequent octave leaps and high trills, and a triplet passage that reminded one somewhat of "Largo al factotum"!  The second movement presented a smooth, sustained solo line, growing in intensity as the euphonium reached its upper register.  There were also the occasional harmonic twists which are characteristic of the composer.  After a neat Eb bass solo at the end of the 2nd Movement, the finale opened with euphonium and timpani, with the band entering in a fugue-like response to the solo line.  There were times towards the end when the solo line was slightly overwhelmed by the accompaniment, and the soloist seemed a little ill at ease with some of the pedal-register sections, but it is encouraging to find a soloist like Derick constantly seeking out new works to add to his repertoire.

Derick had barely returned to his seat, and indeed Gary Fountain was still replacing the soloist's stand, when Stephen brought the baton down for Dean Goffin's arrangement of the "Finale from William Tell Overture" by Rossini.  Taken at an exhilarating speed, the precision of the band was astounding at times.  Gary Rose then exchanged his baritone for a trombone to join the rest of the section in Ralph Pearce's trombone feature "There is a Redeemer".  This telling item, which was to precede the scripture reading, was accompanied by a Power Point presentation portraying scenes of the destruction of the World trade Centre, together with bible verses focussing on hope and reconciliation.

Stephen Cobb prefaced the final programmed item by explaining that music just seems to be flowing freely from the pen of Kenneth Downie at present.  "King of Heaven", built around the familiar tune "Praise my soul the king of heaven", and to all intents and purposes a concerto for band, was premiered at the Gospel Arts Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2005. 

Bearing some similarities with Britten's "Young person's guide to the orchestra" each section of the band is featured in turn, starting with the cornets.  The flugel and horns are joined by the baritones, whilst the trombones are accompanied by muted cornets, the trombones presenting a well-balanced, bright sound for their variation.  The basses and euphoniums start together, but then there is a section for the basses alone, which showed, not for the first time during the evening, that newcomer Damien Wileman, who has replaced Trevor Caffull on BBb, is settling in well.  The percussion featured timpani, wood block, side drum, glockenspiel, cymbal and tom-toms in quick succession, before a fugal section bringing the whole band together, the tune sounding first in the bottom half of the band, then being taken up by the cornets.  Upward sweeping runs help to drive the music onward, with the final climax being crowned with a powerfully resonant tam-tam.

Giving an expression of thanks, Alan Walker referred to the variety of people present, including regular worshippers at the corps, visiting Salvationists and banding enthusiasts, summing up the evening as having been full of wonderful moments of brilliance, dexterity and energy, the programme having brought contrast, inspiration and encouragement.

As an encore the band presented Ray Farr's up-tempo setting of "Toccata" with no apparent signs of tiredness, and playing as crisp and tight as anything they had played all evening.

Peter Bale

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