Saturday 6th July - 20.00
Brown Shipley Concert Hall
London Brass
Jon Burgess, Reporter
The final concert of the 2003 ITG Conference featured the London Brass Ensemble. Before London Brass took the stage Murray Greig surprised John Dickinson, trumpet tutor at the RNCM and Head of Wind, Brass and Percussion at Chetham's School of Music with a presentation his contributions to the musical life of Manchester.
It is hard to imagine that there was anything that could match the quality and excitement of the concerts we had heard this week, but from the first notes of the London Brass the audience knew this would be a special concert. The first five works on the program were compositions from the16th and 17th Centuries. Roger Harvey's arrangement of The Fairie Round by Holborne set the mood for the first half. The ensembles rhythmic precision and tone quality were exceptional. Also deserving mention in this first work was the piccolo playing of Andrew Crowley.
Gabrieli's Canzon II à 6 and Sonata à 3 were performed with three trumpets and three trombones. The upper two trumpets used piccolos for these two works. The four trombones were featured in Canzon Terza by B. Marini. The ensemble playing and rich sound were a delight to hear. Canzon Duodecimi Toni à 10 by Gabrieli featured rapid tongue and finger technique by trumpeters Neil Brough and Garth Small as the antiphonal responses were performed with incredible accuracy and control.
The final work on the first half was an arrangement by the hornist Richard Bissill of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. This work demonstrated not only the virtuosity and versatility of the ensemble but the excellent arranging showed the many possible timbres and colors of this group.
The second half began with two contrasting 20th Century compositions. The first, Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's The Traces of a Revolutionary Song, was a very staccato, rhythmically complex work that was performed with an aggressive, agitated feel. In contrast, the second work by Gordon Crosse, titled Peace for Brass, was as the title suggests, much more relaxed with beautiful sustained lines within a modern context.
The final work on the program, Variations on a Theme by Haydn (Surprise Symphony) by Paul Hart was a humorous mix of familiar tunes and styles. Although this work contained much humor, this was a true virtuosic work that featured solos from many different members of the ensemble. After several bows the London Brass returned to play an arrangement of Chick Corea's Spain. This exciting arrangement featured the high trumpet work of John Barlay. This was a perfect finish to a magnificent conference with the sounds of the London Brass ringing in our ears.
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