SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW

John McCabe: Guildhall Brass Band and Wind Ensemble, Paul Cosh, Peter Gane, Ben Gernon, Concert Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Barbican, London, 31.3.2010 (BBr)

 

John McCabe: The Maunsell Forts (Nocturne for band) (2002)

Desert I: Lizard (1981)

Desert II: Horizon (1981)
Canyons (1991)

John McCabe has been writing for wind and brass all his career, but his interest in the brass band started in 1978 with the commission for Images, and he has remained faithful to the medium ever since, and not only because he is a Northerner (whir thir’s muck, thir’s brass, than nozz, as they say – and this refers as much to the bands as to money) – he’s a composer who truly believes in the brass band as a medium for musical communication. He doesn’t turn out the regulation kind of band music however, but music in his own voice, uncompromising to tradition and contemporary taste  and with a special tang to it: which  may not be to every bandsman’s liking, but it suits the audience. This concert highlighted two major works for brass, one for concert band and one for woodwind quartet with percussion (colourful percussion is a McCabian trademark.)

The Maunsell Forts was written to a BBC commission for the 2002 Open Championships. It’s a one movement piece which is full of incident, but which, surprisingly, ends quietly, not what is expected of a test piece. The Guildhall students threw themselves into this difficult work and rose to the challenge with flying colours. With strong direction from Paul Cosh, this performance was purposeful and vibrant – everything a composer could want from his performers. It was hard to believe that we weren’t listening to Besses’o’th’Barn or the Black Dyke Band, so assured was the playing. It was magnificent.

McCabe has written a series of pieces with the generic title Desert, each with a specific subtitle. Deserts have always fascinated him and he has said that when he saw his first one he was amazed “that there were so many shades of yellow.”  Lizard, the title for the first, although not describing the animal itself is based on the fact that they can go from 0 to 60 in what seems like a nanosecond – without anything between the two extremes. Here we have a piece for woodwind quartet and percussion (admirably played by Claire Pillmoor, Mary Noden, Boyan Ivanov, Holly Reardon and Taichi Imanish) which contrasted brilliant fast music with more reflective things, these latter comprising large chords which, I suppose, represent the never ending desert vistas. There’s also some very cool marimba writing.

Desert II: Horizon was written for the Philip Jones Ensemble and is of fearsome virtuoso dimensions, but from this performance you’d never have guessed it. As I have written elsewhere, the marvellous thing about young musicians is that they really don’t see the difficulties of the music they are playing, thus they simply play. Here was a case in point – seemingly impossible music was thrown off as if it were not to be worried over. I am sure that the players worked long and hard to get their performance to this point, but that’s what performance is all about – the audience must never know that what you are doing is difficult. Youth is the great leveller in that respect.

The same kind of authority was in evidence in Canyons for large wind ensemble, conducted by the man who directed the first performance – it was commissioned by the Guildhall School - Peter Gane. Canyons is concerned with big things and, as such, it is big music. Here, as with The Maunsell Forts and Horizon II, McCabe builds a work of great tension and excitement, with gigantic climaxes and with rich, sonorous writing for the ensembles, which he  balances with more relaxed music. In Canyons, however, everything is bigger and more impressive.

All the performances were of a very high standard, and if one hadn’t been told, there was no way that one would have guessed that one was listening to student groups. This was an excellent achievement by all concerned, and a fitting tribute to one of this country’s most interesting and important composers.

Bob Briggs