RNCM Festival this weekend

[johnflugel]

Just wondering how many people are going this weekend? I will be there tonight and tomorrow for 3pm & 7.30 concerts. Might make Dyke on Sunday night if I get time too.

Sure it will be a great weekend, some of the best conductors with the best bands. I have been 2-3 times before and it's always an exceptiona levent. If you haven't been before the venue is great, 400 seater (I guess) amphitheatre with great acoustic and close knit atmosphere. Loads of trade stands, foyer performances etc - well worth it.

If you want more details:
http://www.4barsrest.com/classifieds/concert_detail.asp?id=618

John

[Aidan]

are the concerts in the concert hall or the opera theatre?
think im gonna go to the fodens concert on sat nite, then il be out on the sunday for some beverages after 3 when the radio2 young brass soloist thingy session finishes

[T-Horn]

think their in the concert hall aidan. :D

[PeterBale]

Did anyone else hear Edward Gregson talking about it on the radio at teatime this week? They also had David Childs in the studio, talking and playing, and they introduced the feature with an extract of John Fletcher playing the Gregson Tuba Concerto.

Looks to be a good programme and it seems as if ticket sales are going well. just a pity it's not broadcast as it used to be when the Beeb ran it, as it's too far away for us poor folk dahn sarf :!: :wink: :lol:

[Fridge]

I went to the Grimethorpe concert last night as part of the opening and I thought it was great. Full credit to the piano soloist in competing with the band in shostakovich 2 and for managing to do the concert off just two days and not many rehearsals after the original sloist went ill. I think the program was superb covering a whole range of modern and traditional pieces.
It sets me up for a good weekend at the concerts!! :D :D

[Mark Bowater]

When does this start on Sunday ?, as I'm planning to go tosee Cory & Dyke later on.

Does anyoneknow of any personel chnges in the bands, not seen anything but herd Dyke havehad changes on ornet section?

[Aidan]

yeah sion thomas has joined them

[Richard Dyson]

The Brass Herald website www.thebrassherald.com is providing live coverage from the RNCM Festival of Brass, providing reviews of the concerts as they happen.

[AndyCat]

I was very surprised to find a review of our concert on the site by the time I arrived home from playing in it! Well done to Richard and all at the Brass Herald for the informative coverage.

[Brian Bowen]

I was very surprised to find a review of our concert on the site by the time I arrived home from playing in it! Well done to Richard and all at the Brass Herald for the informative coverage.

I'm so pleased to know there's another Wilfred Heaton work that is new to us (Variations), thanks to Howard Snell apparently. I hope it will appear soon on CD for us all to hear. So much of Heaton's music is truly original and exquisite.

[johnflugel]

I went to the Grimethorpe, Faireys & Fodens concerts, all had highlights and they all should be congratulated.

The undoubted highlight for me was the amazing 'Variations' by Heaton/Snell. It was a powerful, moving experience: enhanced by the presence of the composers family. The playing was of the highest order (man of the afternoon was Ian Porthouse, bang on form) and reminded me of the epic performance Brittania gave of the same composers 'Partita' under Howard Snell in 1992. I know it's a cliche: but I a had a shudder up my spine on the final chord - a performance I will never ever forget. Bram Tovey, Edward Gregson, Paul Hindmarsh & Elgar Howarth were all on their feet to applaud...that says something.

Another highlight was Fodens encore, the second movement of 'Songs of the Morning'. Beautiful playing and a truly great way to end the day.

John

[AndyCat]

Thanks for the compliments John. I'm lucky enough (along with Martyn Booth, 3rd cornet) to have been on both the Heaton performances you mention. The Heaton / Snell thing really seems to work!

[Mark Bowater]

Did anyone hear them last night, what were they like ?, had to work so had to go after Cory.

[Aidan]

by "them" do you mean dyke? ;)
they were very good. I found it a lot more enjoying than the 2nd half of the cory concert we snuck in for

[carlwoodman]

Highlight for me was always going to be, and most certainly was, the RNCM All Stars playing Elgar Howarths transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition. (I didn't get to hear much else though as the ISB were at Warrington for the weekend.)

I was fortunate enough to have been at the 1st performance of this version of Pictures at the 1978 Proms with PJBE.
It was great to hear it again after so long.
I must mention the picc. playing of Jamie Prophet. Absolutely secure no matter what dynamic or pitch, fantastic. John Miller on Eb trumpet was astounding too. Benny van Dijk on bass trombone is not someone I had heard before but what sound in Baba Yaga! I could go on but dinner is ready!

Many thanks to Elgar Howarth and the RNCM All Stars for a memorable 30 minutes or so!

[James Yelland]

just a pity it's not broadcast as it used to be when the Beeb ran it, l:

Quite so - so do as Edward Gregson asked on Sunday night, write to Roger Wright, controller of Radio 3 and complain about the BBC's absence.

[James Yelland]

[quote="Brian Bowen
I'm so pleased to know there's another Wilfred Heaton work that is new to us (Variations), thanks to Howard Snell apparently. I hope it will appear soon on CD for us all to hear. So much of Heaton's music is truly original and exquisite.[/quote]

Amen to that. This was the highlight of the entire weekend, for me.

[PeterBale]

. Benny van Dijk on bass trombone is not someone I had heard before but what sound in Baba Yaga! I could go on but dinner is ready!
Ben van Dijk is a very fine bass trombonist, playing with the Rotterdam Philharmonic as well as being a tutor at the RNCM. He has two fine solo albums to his name ("Nana" and "First Song") with some excellent contra playing as well as bass trombone. The cds are available from www.Warwickmusic.com. He also has his own website and a forum devoted to the bass trombone: www.Basstrombone.nl

[James Yelland]

[quote="James Yelland

Quite so - so do as Edward Gregson asked on Sunday night, write to Roger Wright, controller of Radio 3 and complain about the BBC's absence.[/quote]

Further to my comment, the address is Roger Wright, Radio 3 Controller, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA.

Pick up your pen and tell him, as Gregson said, what a disgrace it was that the BBC was not there. Letters are better than emails, which will almost certainly go to the customer service department, which as we all know is usually synonymous with 'waste paper basket'.

[johnflugel]

I have just send a letter to Mr Wright:

I am under no illusions and recognise that the general public does not give a hoot about bands, and that the wider musical world tends to frown on us too - but I believe that it's the BBC's responsiblity as a non commercial and educational body to promote the best in as many areas of british musical life as possible. I don't think there is much doubt that the RNCM Festival respresents that.

How will the wider world of music appreciate the world of banding if it's main classical music station offers 'Padstow Lifeboat' once a month? :evil:

I think the more that write, the better - we cannot moan if we don't make an effort.

Thoughts please

John

[James Yelland]

One or two general thoughts from the festival:

1. Battle of the Berlioz - one performance towered over the rest - Fodens playing Le Corsaire. It was so incendiary its a wonder the sprinklers didn't come on.

2. Berlioz wrote seven concert overtures (I think). Six of them have been arranged for band. We heard five of them this weekend - plus a rather brassy arrangement of March to the Scaffold. It seemed a pity to miss out Benvenuto Cellini - I felt like someone who had bought half a dozen eggs, only to find one missing on opening the box.

3. Brass bands are loud instruments, aren't they? That hall is barely big enough to take the sound. Friday night's pianist just managed to keep his head above water, but in The Legend of Sangeet, the (amplified) sitar was quickly drowned out once the band reached a fairly moderate volume - and it wasn't just the sitar that was lost. Short stand-up solos for cornet, flugel and euph(?) might have been mimed, for all we heard. The chorus and soloists in Bram Tovey's Requiem, on the other hand, were all clearly audible - but that was because the composer had scored it that way - and this was a great piece of music which deserves to be heard again.

4. Conventional wisdom has it that Resurgam or Journey into Freedom represent Eric Ball's best endeavours. I've always thought High Peak ought to be right up there too, but after hearing Grimethorpe's The Undaunted I am having to revise my opinion again.

5. Variations (Heaton)...what a piece of music.........

[James Yelland]

Highlight for me was always going to be, and most certainly was, the RNCM All Stars playing Elgar Howarths transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition.

The flugel horn player looked like John Barclay of London Brass to me, but his name wasn't in the programme. Or have I got faces and names mixed up?

Quite agree with you though, John Miller was superb. There were a few losses of concentration towards the end though (missing cymbal clashes for example) which I suppose just goes to show how demanding this piece is.

[Aidan]

no it was murray grieg (probably spelt wrong) i think. Trumpet tutor

[Pete Meechan]

Sorry Jame, had to disagree with one or two points you'ce made (and it's nothing to do with me coming from God's own town, Nuneaton!)


One or two general thoughts from the festival:

2. Berlioz wrote seven concert overtures (I think). Six of them have been arranged for band. We heard five of them this weekend - plus a rather brassy arrangement of March to the Scaffold. It seemed a pity to miss out Benvenuto Cellini - I felt like someone who had bought half a dozen eggs, only to find one missing on opening the box.

I hate to sound a either a bit patronising or a bit thick, but I went to every concert of the festival and every piece I hard sounded a bit 'brassy'. Maybe this is a problem with going to a festival of brass! Incidently, I thought it was a great new arrangement.


3. Brass bands are loud instruments, aren't they? That hall is barely big enough to take the sound. A brass band is a loud ensemble full of loud instrumets, yes, but as I have said before, I went to every concert, and indeed have been to many more in that hall in my time as a student there, and I dont see how the hall is 'barley big enough to take the sound'. Admittedly, there are better places to sit in the hall (like 2/3rds of the way back as opposed to on the back row), but I think it is a little sillyto make that kind of statement.


The chorus and soloists in Bram Tovey's Requiem, on the other hand, were all clearly audible - but that was because the composer had scored it that way - and this was a great piece of music which deserves to be heard again. More than deserves - it should be a priority for any brass band conductor who has the resources of a choir (and a good set of percussionists).


4. Conventional wisdom has it that Resurgam or Journey into Freedom represent Eric Ball's best endeavours. I've always thought High Peak ought to be right up there too, but after hearing Grimethorpe's The Undaunted I am having to revise my opinion again.
A Kensington Concerto was pretty good too!

Pete

[Pete Meechan]

My own personel highlights from the festival:

1. Nick Childs and Dyke's performance of Enigma - perhaps one of those performances you will never forget (I won't.). Truely moved.

2. Songs for BL - a fantasic piece performed to the highest of standards

3. Bram Tovey's Requiem - although not too much brass writting, B.T. proved not only is he a formidable composer, but also why he is ranked up along side the best conductors in the buisness. A true pleasure to watch and listen.

4. The saturday night curry - never have so many tandori mixed grills made it on to 1 table in Al Bilal!

5. The jazz band in the bar, 6pac (www.6paconline.com) - superb.

6. Did I mention Enigma?

7. Rodney Newton's new piece, played by Cory - fantastic!

[James Yelland]

every piece I hard sounded a bit 'brassy'. Maybe this is a problem with going to a festival of brass!
Pete

By brassy, I mean - er - bright, cuivre. A bit edgy. You know. The sort of sound that you would never have heard from the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. Not that I am saying it was a bad thing. Just different from the band's usually rounded sound.

[Brian Kelly]

My personal highlights from a fantastic weekend:

1) The RNCM All-Star Brass Ensemble: fabulous playing all-round! How does James Gourlay still sound so good when presumably he is not playing with anyone or in regular practice. And Ben van Dyke on bass trombone sounds even better live than on his solo CDs.

2) The Fodens concert on Saturday night. For me, the most enjoyable of all the concerts (though I enjoyed all of them), Fodens in fantastic form, good choice of music (maybe a bit biased on that point as an ex-SA player) and loved the Requiem. I think it has been recorded on CD by Hannaford St Band in Canada, who gave the piece its world premiere.

3) The Legend of Sangeet. Yes, the sitar was drowned towards the end, as were the stand-up soloists, but as a piece of music taking brass bands into new territory it was great, and I look forward to hearing it again. Full marks to Black Dyke for commissioning it. Who knows, it may help to get children/adults from an Asian background interested in brass bands, but that is a topic for a different thread.

Can't wait for next year.

[James Yelland]

As a postscript to the festival, I see that someone called Vernon Briggs (who is he, I wonder?) described Elgar Howarth's Cornet Concerto and Philip Harper's Legend of Sangeet as 'novelties' in a review printed in Brass Band World magazine.

No Vernon. Novelty items usually involve silly noises, usually from the percussion section. These were serious pieces of music.

The article in general is reminiscent of Philip Catelinet's contributions to the British Bandsman - you know, 'a most pleasing concert with something to suit all tastes'.

Grrrr!!! :x :x