PREVIEW BY PAUL HINDMARSH [Artistic Director]
I am delighted to announce the full programme for the 2022 RNCM Brass Band Festival, which will be taking place over the weekend of Friday 28 to Sunday 30 January. This unique festival returns featuring six of the country’s leading brass bands, all of whom are guaranteed to be on razor sharp form the week after a re-scheduled British Open Brass Band Championships. The RNCM also welcomes top international soloists, Peter Moore (trombone), who revives the concerto Simon Dobson composed for him a decade ago, and Rex Richardson (trumpet), who brings with him a new concerto he commissioned from Peter Graham. There is also a major contribution showcasing the skills and talents of the RNCM brass students.
The concerts mark the contribution to the brass band medium by some of Britain’s finest 20th composers as part of wider national celebrations. Some months ago the centenary of the birth of Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006) was marked with concerts, workshops and documentaries, revealing a wealth of creativity born out of sometimes extremely turbulent personal circumstances. Sir Malcolm loved the bracing sound of the brass band, as did Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958), one of the great figures of English music of the 20th century. Celebrating Sir Malcolm at 100 and being part of the nationwide RVW150 celebration has provided with a rich seam of invention to bind together the various strands of the weekend’s music making. We include the first performances of new performing editions by Phillip Littlemore. He has drawn on a life-long enthusiasm for Vaughan Williams and his experience as brass band arranger to fashion a performing edition of English Folk Suite in the composer’s original key and has also prepared a new edition of Variations for Brass Band, correcting a vast number of errors and, having consulted the composer’s full score, which is substantially different than Frank Wright’s contest edition published for the 1957 National Brass Band Championships, restoring as appropriate some of the composer’s original intentions. This receives its first concert performance, with permission of the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust and publishers Boosey & Hawkes.
A contemporary of Arnold, the brass specialist composer Ray Steadman-Allen (1922 – 2014) is best known for his major contribution to the repertoire of The Salvation Army. Within SA circles RSA was regarded as a musical adventurer, pushing the boundaries of hymn tune based music to the limits of contemporary tonal style. Following his retirement from full-time service in that organisation, RSA turned to the wider brass band world. Both aspects of his prolific output feature in a centenary tribute, including one of his finest works, Hymn at Sunrise and his RVW tribute piece, the rarely heard Meditation on Randolph.
No RNCM Brass Band Festival would be complete without a substantial offering of new or recent work. Back in the early 2000s there was significant and at times vociferous resistance to the brass band music of one of the major contemporary composers in British music, Judith Bingham, largely as a result of my decision to select her 1995 BBC commission Prague as a regional test piece. I regard this work as a masterpiece of the band medium and in the year of Judith’s 70th birthday, I thought it was time that her work was heard again. I’m also thrilled that Tredegar Town band agreed to revive the equally impressive These are our Footsteps.
In musical terms, the programmes as a whole highlight the importance of the variation form in the evolution of the brass band repertoire, from Wilfred Heaton’s Variations on an old gospel song, Celestial Prospect, composer in around 1947, via the distinctive contributions of Vaughan Williams, Edmund Rubbra, Eric Ball and Robert Farnon to Edward Gregson’s latest major opus, The World Rejoicing. The festival also continues to provide a platform for new writing, through the 6th John Golland Award. Recent works by Philip Wilby, Bruce Broughton and Edward Gregson will be heard for the first time in concert settings. World or national premieres from the pens of Peter Graham, Simon Dobson and Liz Lane will also feature. With a number of revivals of forgotten treasures, workshops discussions and a presentation by festival partners, Brass Bands England, I hope that the 2022 RNCM Brass Band Festival will give you as much listening pleasure as I had planning it.
THE FULL PROGRAMME
Friday 28 January
6.15pm – 7 pm Carole Nash Recital Room
FESTIVAL PRELUDE
RNCM student ensembles perform a selection of original compositions and arrangements
7.30pm – 9.30 pm RNCM Concert Hall
FODEN’S BAND
Michael Fowles, conductor
ANNIVERSARIES I
James Cook, Circumnavigator Gilbert Vinter (1909-1969)
The Shining River Edmund Rubbra (1901-1985)
Prague Judith Bingham (b. 1952)
Sinfonietta (1981) Howard Blake (b. 1938)
first performance of new performing edition by Paul Hindmarsh
Little Suite No. 1 Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
Hymn at Sunrise Ray Steadman-Allen (1922-2014)
Saturday 29 January
11.00am – 12.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
RNCM BRASS BAND
Justine Gormley, piano
David Thornton, conductor
REVIVALS I
Four Minute Mile (1991) Judith Bingham
Piano Concerto (1990) Bill Connor (b. 1949)
Chrome (1997) Errollyn Wallen (b. 1958)
Scottish Dances Malcolm Arnold (arr. Farr)
1.30pm – 2.30pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM Engage workshop led by Philip Goodwin, trombone tutor RNCM, with student ensembles and local youth brass bands.
3.00pm – 4.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
TREDEGAR TOWN BAND
Peter Moore, trombone
Ian Porthouse, conductor
ANNVERSARIES II
Flourish for Brass Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
English Folk Song Suite Vaughan Williams
first performances of new performing editions by Phillip Littlemore
Shift (Trombone Concerto No. 1) Simon Dobson (1981)
Rhosymedre (from Three Preludes founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes)
Vaughan Williams (arr. Hindmarsh)
These are our Footsteps Judith Bingham
Variations for Brass Band Vaughan Williams
first performance of new performing edition by Phillip Littlemore
Supported by The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust and Yamaha
4.45pm – 5.30pm RNCM Theatre
JUNIOR RNCM BRASS BAND
Leslie Neish and Jon Malaxetxebarria, conductors
Programme to include:
Rebellion Simon Dobson
Tree Song Gavin Higgins
6.15pm – 7pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Paul Hindmarsh leads a pre-concert discussion with festival composers and guests
7.30 pm – 9.30 pm RNCM Concert Hall
BLACK DYKE BAND
Rex Richardson, trumpet
Brett Baker, trombone
Nicholas Childs, conductor
COMMISSIONS
A Fantasy of Joy Fredrick Schjelderup (b. 1990)
Four Cornish Dances Malcolm Arnold (arr. Farr)
Master of Suspense Peter Graham (b. 1958)
commissioned by Rex Richardson, first performance
Beethoven Philip Wilby (b. 1949)
The Royal Border Bridge Arthur Butterworth (1923-2014)
The Light Fantastic Philip Wilby
commissioned for Brett Baker by Janine Harrison
Heroes Bruce Broughton (b. 1945)
Rex Richardson’s appearance is supported by Yamaha
Sunday 30 January
11.00am – 12.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
GRIMETHORPE COLLIERY BAND
David Thornton, conductor
ANNIVERSARIES III
Overture Henry the Fifth Vaughan Williams
Innovation 216 Liz Lane
first performance of standalone brass band version
Sinfonietta At the Edge of Time Ray Steadman-Allen
Elegy (In Memoriam Gerard Schurmann) Jack Stamp (b. 1954)
Caledonian Suite Buxton Orr (1924-1997)
1.30 pm – 2.30pm RNCM Theatre
THE 2022 JOHN GOLLAND AWARD FINAL
Students from the RNCM perform works for brass ensemble by the finalists in the 6th John Golland Award for young composers. The recital also includes a performance of Phantasy for brass quartet by John Golland (1942 – 1993) and Music for Brass Sextet, the original version of Toccata, O the Blessed Lord by Wilfred Heaton (1918 – 2000)
Supported by The John Golland Trust
3.00pm – 4.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
CORY BAND
Philip Harper, conductor
VARIATIONS
Celestial Prospect Wilfred Heaton
Un Vie de Matelot Robert Farnon (1917-2005)
Main Street Eric Ball (1903 – 1989)
The World Rejoicing Edward Gregson (b. 1945)
4.45pm – 5.45pm Carole Nash Recital Room
BRASS BANDS ENGLAND presentation
6.30pm – 8.00pm RNCM Concert Hall
BRIGHOUSE AND RASTRICK BAND
David King, conductor
REVIVALS II
March Pelorus Jack Alexander Owen (1851 – 1920)
Suite The Unfortunate Traveller Imogen Holst(1907 – 1984)
Prelude on Randolph Ray Steadman-Allen
Meditation on Aberystwyth Wilfred Heaton
Paganini Variations Philip Wilby
Ticket sales are now live. Covid protocols will also be listed on the web pages at www.rncm.ac.uk.