Masters of Space and Time
National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain with Ian Bousfield (Trombone) and Jens Lindemann (Trumpet)
Like its counterparts in Scotland and Wales, the National Youth Brass of Great Britain (NYBBGB) has become one of our most treasured institutions and many of our finest brass band players and conductors have passed through its ranks since its formation in 1952. This recording is a long-overdue celebration of the best that the band represents and it gets off to an apposite start in Leslie Condon’s Festival March - Celebration, which is given a stylish reading by Bramwell Tovey and the band.
Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite for Brass was written for the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland in 1963 and it has been a popular addition to countless programmes since then. The NYBBGB takes the work in its stride, and the central Siciliano features lyrical playing of the highest order from the band’s principal cornet, Paul Duffy.
Jens Lindemann is the flugel and trumpet soloist in Dusk from Hugh Fraser’s Concerto for Jazz Orchestra and it should almost go without saying that the Canadian superstar is on spectacular form. One of the purposes of any national youth band is to introduce the young players to what they may aspire to, both in terms of repertoire and performance, and there could have been no better example of the latter than Lindemann’s appearance at the 2007 course, at which this recording was made.
Elgar’s The Severn Suite is, of course, one of the great classics of the brass band repertory and it has been the subject of many fine performances and recordings since it was written in 1930. In this particular recording, listeners will have to remind themselves constantly that they are actually listening to a youth band, such is the quality and maturity of the music. In particular, the fugue (The Cathedral - arguably the most difficult of all the movements) is given a reading of which any Championship Section band would be proud.
One of the NYBBGB’s most celebrated ‘old boys’ is the trombonist, Ian Bousfield, who has since gone on to enjoy a career at the very top of his profession as principal trombone of the Hallé, London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras. In this recording, we hear him in Mozart’s 2nd Horn Concerto and, as expected, the playing as close to perfection as one would ever hope to hear. Performing music by Mozart also presents a delicate challenge to the accompanying band and the NYBBGB gives of its best in achieving just the right style. Wilfred Heaton’s Meditation - Just as I am, like the earlier Elgar work, is brass band music at its most difficult and Dr. Tovey again leads the young players through a highly accomplished and emotional performance. Also very difficult is Frank Proto’s A Carmen Fantasy, which receives an electrifying performance from Jens Lindemann, but the work with the most current interest on the recording is Bruce Broughton’s Masters of Space and Time, originally written for the 2001 British Open but never used (although it will be the test-piece at next year’s All-England Masters International Championships). A relatively short piece, colour and texture dominate the early section, and an energetic section, which follows, sets a number of challenges that are comfortably negotiated by the band.
If any readers have missed out on the opportunity of hearing the NYBBGB in recent years, this is a chance not to be missed.
Kenneth Crookston
Saturday 6th September 2008
