The RWCMDs enviable reputation for producing high class graduate musicians with a foundation of outstanding brass band academic achievement was highlighted in this afternoon concert performance at the impressive Dora Stoutzker Hall.

The series continues to attract a growing audience following in the Welsh capital, thanks to the hard work of Head of Brass & Percussion Studies Kevin Price, and the engaging selection of music provided by Brass Band Study Leader Dr Robert Childs.

Concerto performance

It also provides students with the opportunity to deliver a concerto performance as an integral part of their BMus studies, and on this occasion, fourth year student Hannah Drage was featured in Gareth Wood’s ‘Concerto for Tenor Horn’.

William Mathias’s celebratory ‘Vivat Regina’ provided a substantive opening contribution, as the MD led a balanced and warmly hued ensemble through its six movements of engaging noblesse oblige musical style.

Principal cornet Steph Wilkins provided an excellent focal point with her subtle interventions, whilst there were notable contributions from each of the leading solo lines and confident ensemble backing, as the MD allowed each movement to find its natural sense of flow.

Cultured rendition

Gareth Wood’s ‘Concerto’ has quickly become a mainstay of the tenor horn repertoire, with Hannah Drage producing a cultured rendition full of elegant nuance, enhanced by a technique of substantial solidity and a mature appreciation of style.

The bold darkness of the opening movement gave way to a languid lyrical interlude, before a rousing finale full of virtuosic flourishes brought an outstanding performance and intelligent interpretation to a close.

Counterpoint

Joseph Parry’s ‘A Tydfil Overture’ provided a thoroughly enjoyable counterpoint to the courtly reverence of the Mathias’s composition.

A work of mid Victorian romantic bombast infused with remarkable original thought processes (it’s more a tone poem than overture in reality), it could have been written by anyone from Mendelssohn or Beethoven to Percy Fletcher in partnership with the great Welsh hymn tune writer William Williams of Pantycelyn. 

Composed between 1874 and 1880, it stands startlingly apart from the mainstream of repertoire performed at the time by the emerging banding movement – decades ahead of its brass band time, yet very much an identifiable part of the musical era from which it originates.

Appreciation

The MDs inherent appreciation of its intentions as well as function breathed contemporary life into its colourful lungs, whilst the performers revelled in the opportunity to play with lyrical intent – none more so than principal euphonium Grant Jameson.

With a few minor tweaks to the current transcription by Simon Wright, it would be an ideal test of contesting character for good quality Second Section bands.

On this occasion it was played with mature consideration - to bring to an end a concert of equally mature student musical excellence.

Iwan Fox