Side drum and basses took their place in the body of the hall at the commencement of this concert which launched Brass Arts Festival 2013 at Regent Hall. The remainder of the band entered section by section to ‘Trinity’.
Commanding soloist
James Fountain produced a commanding account of ‘Wondrous Day’, the pared down accompaniment allowing the soloist to be heard clearly, before the songsters sang ‘Sweet Jesus’, one of Bruce Broughton’s fairly rare excursions into vocal writing, the accompaniment enhanced by the addition of brass.
Euphonium premiere
The other soloist was Anthony Smith, Bandmaster of the Bristol Easton Band, who gave the premiere of the attractive ‘Rhapsody for Euphonium’ by Regent Hall’s own Paul Sharman.
Following a lively opening, in which the band echoed statements by the soloist, the central section featured the melody ‘He Leadeth Me’, before a return to the pyrotechnics of the first section.
The soloist then underlined his credentials with ‘Hot Canary’.
Lyrical duet
James Fountain joined Anthony for the lyrical duet ‘Time and Eternity’, after which the songsters presented ‘Let Everything that Hath Breath’ and ‘In Tune with Thy Divinity’ - the latter, a vocalisation of Robert Redhead's setting of ‘Londonderry Air', featuring Karl Westwood as soloist.
Admirable versatility
One of the most impressive aspects of James Fountain's playing is his ability to change style and mood instantly.
His interpretation of ‘Virtuosity’ has matured over the past year or so, with a humorous cadenza, complete with half-valve effects, and numerous high notes. He then took up the cornet for a most sensitive version of ‘Share my Yoke’.
Unusual euphonium feature
Anthony Smith was nicely restrained in the ‘Lament from Stabat Mater’, followed by ‘Poder de Deus’. This had been arranged by Paul Sharman for a forthcoming trip to South America, for the unusual combination of flugel, euphonium, 6 trombones and drums.
The same composer's ‘On Duty’ was given a characteristic choreographed performance and then the songsters changed the mood completely with Edward Gregson's song ‘Before the Cross’, the unaccompanied passages being particularly striking.
Dark side of the moon
James Fountain's delicate rendition of ‘I Surrender All’ preceded the scripture message.
Brought by Major Mark Sawyer, who had also acted as compère for the evening, he likened the way the moon reflects the light of the sun to the way Christians should reflect God's influence.
The band then played part of ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, accompanied by images depicting space and scripture references to creation, and highlighting the opening notes of the praise song ‘Our God Reigns’.
The songsters stood amongst the audience for the benediction ‘The Lord Bless Thee and Keep Thee’ and the evening ended in lively fashion with William Himes' ‘Three Kings Swing’.
Peter Bale
