Follow your rotary dream

June 20, 1998 by Michael Swart
Filed under Events

Heavy Breathing on both Sides of the Proscenium

June 5, 1998 by Michael Swart
Filed under Events

by Jay PattersonIf the full house at the Desford Colliery Band’s concert at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort is any barometer, this reviewer must recant. Pattaya does have an interest in culture. Bringing this prize winning band of virtuoso brass players to Pattaya was a real coup for the Bangkok Music Society. Pattaya society was out with a vengeance. Jewels glittered among much cheek-kissing and warm camaraderie among the ‘my diamonds are bigger than your diamonds’ crowd.

Aloix X. Fassbind, with his usual flair, had conceived the performance as a ‘promenade’ concert a la London ‘proms’. Mr. Fassbind, the hotel’s Executive Vice-President, ordered tables arranged to give everyone the best possible view of the stage. This reviewer saw that it was probably an inadvertent inspiration.

The Band was founded in 1898, in the small coal mining town of Leicester. Coal miners, needing a bright spot in their lives, often played band music after a hard day in the mines.

Of course, none of the original members played at Friday evening’s concert.

Conductor Richard Adams is not only a trained and talented musician, but gave droll and informative commentary throughout the program.

The band is now composed of professional musicians. This is evident from their mind-boggling technique and perfect ensemble playing.

There are many misconceptions about Brass instruments. One is that they are only used in ‘loud’ music. The other is that they are not suitable for soulful melody. Classical music gives lie to this myth. Anton Bruckner wrote one of his most beautiful slow melodies for the much maligned tuba.

There is also a certain ‘mystique’ surrounding brass players. During the big band era in the US, the great jazz and ‘swing’ brassmen were almost national heros.

In the world of popular music, it’s ‘cool’ to play the guitar, and ‘hip’ to play the drums. But good trumpeters, trombonists and flugelhorn players are ‘supermen’.

Ah, to be able to make that big golden sound flow out of those gleaming horns and trombones! It must be every kid’s dream at one time.

It was wonderful to see the audience’s eyes glued to the stage. One could imagine the men in the audience were living out a vicarious dream of being up there on stage with the ‘coolest of the cool’.

The attention the women in the audience gave the band by was also very impressive. Transported by the music, not one was busy gossiping or waving jewel covered hands at friends across the room. All feminine eyes were on the stage. The distaff contingent veritably breathed with the band. Then a strange feeling came to this reviewer; the breathing was more like panting and the expression in the ladies’ eyes! It was more like cobras looking at potential prey than polite attention.

Looking back at the stage, the realisation hit. These guys were all approximately mid-twenties to early 40’s. Could it be that the women thought they were as potent as their instruments? I dismissed this and scolded myself for thinking the ladies could be so prurient. Seeing so many fresh-faced western men at one time merely brought back thoughts of sons back home.

This was not the case with the Pattaya Mail’s trashy fashion editor, Teetha Clench. Wearing a cellophane Sarong, Teetha was surveying each member of the band through a huge pair of rhinestone studded opera glasses. She was scribbling on a piece of paper. I peeked and saw she was giving each of the players a 1-10 ‘rating’. Looking closer, it was not surprising that Teetha had not given one member less than a ‘7’. Teetha, with her base instincts, must have felt me looking at her doodling. Without lowering her opera glasses, she pulled a can of Mace out of her purse and pointed it directly in my face. She must have stocked up since her last encounter with Blitzkrieg. I quickly moved to the other side of the table.

Anyway, the first number was a rousing march, de rigeur for opening band concerts. The ‘Champion’s March’ by Wilcox contained snatches of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. Played with panache, it set the tone of the evening.

The next piece was the very beautiful overture from La Forza del Destino, by Giuseppe Verdi. Considered his finest overture, and of Beethovenian amplitude, this piece was arranged for band competitions. A virtuoso showpiece, the Desford’s played it beautifully.

Darren Pearce’s fast, soft arpeggios on the flugelhorn were quite beautiful. This accompaniment figure was orginally for strings and it was dazzling to hear Darren execute it perfectly on the flugelhorn.

‘What do you think of his arpeggios?’, I asked a woman at the next table.

‘You men! You only think about one thing,’ was the stinging reply.

The next piece was ‘Memory’ by that guy who wrote ‘Cats’. Despite Cornettist Craig Bennett’s excellent tone and legato, it is not my favourite piece. Craig did prove the song does have some merit if not sung by Barbra Streisand.

The next piece was a bit of a mystery. A furious Czardas, the program stated the composer was Richard Strauss. It sounded more like Johann Strauss to me.

Cornettist David Smith gave us some real smooth schmalz with his solo rendition of ‘Zelda’.

The first half of the program ended with the wild and wonderful Lez Ghinka from the ballet Gayneh, by Khatchaturian.

An astute musician friend remarked that this piece really ‘worked’ as a transcription for concert band.

During the interval I saw Teetha Clench trying to get into the green room, where the band was resting. The jade was trying to convince the guys that they needed a truly professional ‘dresser’ and Teetha was volunteering for the job. The fellows were terrified but staff got Somsak, a comely young security guard to lure her away. Apparently, Somsak is receiving a two month salary bonus and free psychiatric care for this act of heroism.

The second half opened with the Liberty Fanfare by John Williams. Although not avante garde, it is the best piece I have heard by Williams since his score for ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. Williams’ movie music is mostly derivative and often noisy, but this piece, written for the Atlanta Olympic games, shows he can produce some good things when not constrained by Hollywood.

Napoli, known to many as ‘Funiculi, Funicula’, featured a finger twisting solo performance by euphonium player Michael Howard. Italian as it could be, it showed the huge brass instrument is as flexible as the best coloratura soprano.

The next piece ‘Puttin on the Ritz’ showed what brass bands are all about. I have heard the British are ‘kinky’ but now I know they really can ‘swing,’ too! Great work!

‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ was a bit of a disappointment, as the arrangement sounded more like the spiritual ‘Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho’.

The band got in some ‘hot licks’ with the ‘South Rampart Street Parade’.

The next piece was ‘Elsa’s Procession to the Minister’ from Wagner’s Lohengrin. Because of the character of Wagner’s music and the opera’s association with the medieval era, this really ‘worked’ in a brass arrangement.

The last piece was the Brasiliera, from the Scaramouche suite for two pianos by Darius Milhaud. Marked Tempo de Samba in the piano version, it ended the concert with a zap. It also showed the versatility of flugelhorn player Darren Pearce, as he is also a virtuoso on the maracas!

This reviewer would like to offer up endless gratefulness to the band for NOT playing ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’!

This concert was probably the most successful in Pattaya’s history and we should all be grateful to the sponsors for a really wonderful evening.

The proceeds from the concert will also help three Thai brass players continue their studies overseas.

Everyone hopes that the Desford Colliery Band will return to Pattaya as soon as their schedule permits.

We solemnly promise to lock up Teetha two days before you arrive.
Bravo!

Original article by Pattaya Mail