The following article appeared in BASBWE magazine on our ten year anniversary
Since
its formation in 1983, Werneth Concert Band, based in and around the Stockport
area, has built up a reputation as community band of considerable quality and
innovation both on and the concert platform and in competition. In the Boosey
& Hawkes National Concert Band Festival the Band has achieved considerable
success, including two Gold Awards and three Silver Awards in the National
Finals since its first attempt when the Band won through to the finals in the
Fairfield Halls, Croydon.
Like
any other “working” band which has to generate both money and audiences, it has
to keep a careful balance in its programme building. Alongside the usual
selections, transcriptions and lighter items the band, and in particular its
conductor Allan Jones, has always felt it important to broaden the horizons of
player and audience alike with original, more serious works. Examples of works
performed and/or rehearsed by the Band include
Beowoulf (Macbeth),
Choral
and Alleluia (Hanson),
Chorale & Shaker Dance (Zdechlik),
Concerto
for Band and
Concerto for Timpani and Band (Jacob),
Gallimaufrey
and
S.P.Q.R. (Woolfenden),
Incantation and Dance (Chance),
Lincolnshire
Posy (Grainger),
Othello (Reed),
Suite of Old American Dances
(Bennett),
Toccatta Marziale (Vaughan Williams) and, of course, the
Holst
Suites.
The
Band also commissioned Bill Connor to write
Waiting Game, his first
piece for
wind band and was presented
with the wind band score of
Into the Ark by its composer, the late John
Golland.
In
addition to its regular concert and festival work the Band has undertaken two
foreign tours. The first was to Heilbronn, Stockport’s twin town in Germany, in
May 1991. More recently the Band
May to 30 visited
Portugal in May 1998, when a party of 45 players and 35 friends and family (the
“Klingons”) flew from Manchester to Lisbon for a week-long visit. The spur for
this visit was “EXPO ‘98", the international exhibition being held in
Lisbon from 22 September 1998.
Using
a hotel in nearby Cascais as its base, the Band performed eight times in a
range of venues. Both venue and occasion dictated a fairly light tour
repertoire. For instance, on the first day of the tour the Band performed at a
formal reception held at the residence of the British Ambassador to Portugal,
Roger Westbrook, where the Ambassador entertained the Lord Mayor of London,
Richard Nichols, who was the official British representative at the opening
ceremony of “EXPO ‘98", the Mayor of Lisbon and other guests. The
programme reflected the nature of the assembly and included “light” music such
as Osser’s
Italian and
Beguine Festivals,
Symphonic Beatles
(arranged by John Cacavas),
Sinatra in Concert (arranged by Jerry
Nowak), ending with the playing of the British and Portuguese National Anthems
for the formal toasts.
The
following day the Band performed before, during and after a church service held
at St. George’s Church, Lisbon, also attended by the official guests. In
addition to accompanying the hymns the band performed and appropriate programme
including Custer’s arrangement of
Suite from the Water Music and
Balladair
(Erickson). In the evening, at the same venue, the Band gave a full length
concert which included
Chorale & Shaker Dance (Zdechlik),
transcriptions of Dvorak’s
Slavonic Dances (arranged by Clair Johnson) and Frank
Erickson’s arrangement of Ravel’s
Bolero. They then played items
representative of the four home countries, including Grainger’s
Irish Tune
from County Derry, and
Ye Banks and Braes and Claude T.
Smith’s
God of Our Fathers.
Other
performances during the week included short informal concerts in front of the
United Kingdom and European Union Pavilions at EXPO ‘98. Unfortunately the
Band’s midnight performance on the main stage had to be cancelled because of
rain and problems with the sound and lighting systems. However, the Band was in
prime position for the amazing firework and lighting display.
On
the Tuesday the Band spent most of the day at St. Julian’s School in
Carcavelos, whose head teacher Davis Styan and wife Caroline, both formerly of
Stockport, had done so much to make the whole visit a success. An afternoon
concert/demonstration for the pupils was followed by an evening public concert
in the beautiful courtyard of the school. This concert took the form of a “Last
Night of the Proms”, with the usual fodder of
Fantasia on British Sea Songs,
Jerusalem and
Pomp & Circumstance March No 1., accompanied by
steamers, balloons, flags and a very enthusiastic audience of British and
Portuguese.
The
final concert was shared with a local band, the Banda da Sociedade Musical
União Paradense at the most impressively finished Teatro Gil Vicente in
Cascais, which followed a most enjoyable reception at the hotel. Guests at this
reception included many of the people who had helped and supported the Band
during its stay. The Band’s second half programme included a repeat performance
of
Chorale & Shaker Dance, as well as Jay Chattway’s
Parade of
the Tall Ships and
Invicta by James Swearingen.
Our
thanks are due especially to Allan Jones for rehearsing and conducting the many
items which we prepared for the concerts and to John Glynn for all his hard
work in arranging the trip. Considerable help was also provided by the UK staff
of Portugalia Airlines, who even returned to us a bag of music stands which had
been left on the luggage carousel at Manchester Airport and returned to
Oporto!.
On
the financial side, considerable efforts were made to raise money to help to
subsidise the trip. Whilst local shops and business were eager to help, the
economic climate meant that the income from such sources was fairly small,
though very much appreciated. Local authority help was non-existent and events
of this nature do not qualify for lottery assistance. In the end, much of the
subsidy was funded from Band funds which had accumulated over the seven years
since the Band had last been abroad. The trip was such a success, however, that
plans are already being made for another in two years time, with a much greater
emphasis being placed on fund-raising in the intervening period.
With regard to lottery funding, it is noted
that the editorial in the Summer 1998 issue of “Winds” referred to the fact
that our colleagues in the brass band movement attracted much more in the way
of grants than did the wind band movement. This would appear to be because, on
the whole, wind band members have their own instruments, whereas in the brass
band area there is a tradition of bands providing instruments for their
members. Equally, few wind bands have their own premises, which could be
another means of attracting lottery funding. Clearly we are at a disadvantage
here, though the solution is not obvious, other than changing the lottery
rules!
In
addition to the works already mentioned, the Band took with it a tour
repertoire which, although on the light side, was appropriate for the tour.
Items included Walkabout (Woodfield), Barnard Castle (Richards), Amparita
Roca (Jaime Texidor), Sarabande and Polka (Arnold), Lerner and
Loewe in Concert and Les Miserables (arranged by Warren Barker),
Clair Grundmas’s Little English Suite and Sundance by
Frank Ticheli.
In
many ways the repertoire hopefully reflects the nature of community bands, that
is the need to entertain and educate. Werneth Concert Band feels that it has
got the balance about right. The Band moves into its sixteenth season with some
titles already in place, such as Incantation and Dance , Cajun
Folksongs No. 2 (Ticheli),Forest of Arden (Lloyd).Sunmount
(Washburn) and Festivo (Gregson). They will no doubt be joined by new
titles from the more popular repertoire.
