Foden’s regular eve of National Final concert gives a cosmopolitan banding audience the opportunity to hear a preview of the following day’s test-piece as well as raise funds to cover ever inflationary London hotel costs.

The commitment to getting to Oxford Street for a 7.30pm Friday night start on a day that combined Biblical rain with Victorian travel infrastructure was testament to the reigning champion’s desire to provide full money’s worth. 

Accomplished

‘The Champions’  march was perhaps the obvious starting point,  especially with listeners also having the rare chance to get a photo with the British Open and National Trophy perched on the stage.

‘The Champions’  march was perhaps the obvious starting point,  especially with listeners also having the rare chance to get a photo with the British Open and National Trophy perched on the stage.

As part of their involvement in the annual Brass Band Conductors’ Competition, Russell Gray introduced 2023 winner Mattew Ryan to conduct a waspish ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’  overture. The City of Bradford MD is one to watch; confident and accomplished, as was shown with his command of the tricksy dislocations of Samuel Hazo’s ‘Rush’.

John Barber’s languid take on ‘Stardust’  and the later ‘Song for Bram’  (a touchingly revised version of Edward Gregson’s paean to his free-thinking friend as well as Foden’s conductor) offered the classiest of interludes (as did the encore of ‘Star Lake’).

Elegiac

The seriousness of hearing Russell Gray’s elegiac appreciation of the metaphorical Canadian vistas of Edward Gregson’s ‘Of Men and Mountains’  certainly whetted the appetite of expectation for the following day, whilst the very British tradition of musical pantomime, with a reprise of their 2022 Brass in Concert ‘Robin Hood’  set, placed tongues firmly in collective cheeks.

In their different ways both take some understanding, although the former came with the absorbing musical intellect displayed by the composer, MD and band.

In their different ways both take some understanding, although the former came with the absorbing musical intellect displayed by the composer, MD and band. The spaciousness and majesty evoked held rich promise for the contest day that was to follow. 

The latter, especially for visitors not quite as well versed in its audience participation urgings, can be bemusing, although in the end the fun and games (and especially the quality of the solo playing) won everyone over. 

It wasn’t quite the same happy ending with the judges in the box for Foden’s the following day of course, but they came mighty close.

Iwan Fox