The heavy industries associated with British brass bands may be close to extinction, so it’s reassuring to encounter evidence that so many of them are in rude musical health.
Ignore brass bands at your peril; recent years have seen schemes such as El Sistema and Stirling’s Big Noice rightly lauded, but the likes of composer Gavin Higgins point out that brass bands have been performing a similar role for centuries in the UK.
Versatility
Raised in the Forest of Dean, he jokes that he “practically came out of the womb carrying a cornet,” and credits brass-playing with helping to control his Tourette’s Syndrome. This disc neatly showcases Higgins’ compositional versatility.
In his words, “I don’t think light music should be bad music” - as he demonstrates in ‘Fanfares and Love Songs’, written in 2009 for the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain. That this thrilling, visceral piece was written for young players is extraordinary; the technical difficulties sound terrifying.
Heroic
‘Freaks!’ was prompted by Tod Browning’s 1932 film; Higgins writing darkly comic romp with a thrilling obbligato trombone part, heroically played by Jonathan Pippen. Its ten minutes are worth the disc price alone: music to make one giggle, wince and squirm.
There’s also the larger scale ‘Destroy, Trample as Swiftly as She’, inspired, improbably, by the writings of the Marquis de Sade. It’s terrific music, not just terrific brass music.
Striking evocation
The main attraction is the ballet score, ‘Dark Arteries’, a collaboration with Rambert Dance Theatre first performed in 2015; the Tredegar Town Band players joining the dancers onstage.
At times it’s a striking evocation of bleak mining landscapes; the short second section a percussive depiction of the Battle of Orgreave. The extended final movement is a mournful, moving meditation on a world where the mines have long gone, the pitheads superceded by industrial estates and golf courses.
It packs a huge emotional punch. Utterly brilliant, and wonderfully well played.
Graham Rickson
