Other News about Fine Arts Brass
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See our Out and About page for recent photos of FAB
...and here's some older news
- The Dominican Republic AND Costa Rica Tour
- Nimbus Records release our latest CD: 'An A - Z of Jazz'
- FAB to Premiere 3rd Brass Quintet by Stephen Dodgson.
- Five Bagatelles finally gets Premiered!
- August in July
The Dominican Republic AND Costa Rica Tour
We add another two countries to our list.....
We are very pleased to announce that our two week tour in February 2004 is now confirmed. We shall be leaving these shores on the morning of February 16th for a one week tour of Costa Rica moving on to the Dominican Republic on February 22nd for another week. It is a first time visit for Fine Arts Brass to both countries so it will be a particular pleasure for us. Originally this tour was scheduled to take place in the November of 2003 and it was just to have been the Dominican Republic. Over the past few months, word got around that we were coming to the area and so both Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica showed an interest in a visit from us. Unfortunately we were not able to accommodate Trinidad this time, but we are more than happy to add Costa Rica to the tour! We shall be giving 3 public concerts in both countries in addition to miscellaneous educational events.
Nimbus Records release our latest CD: 'An A - Z of Jazz'
After what has seemed like an eternal wait, Nimbus Records have recently released our latest CD. As has been predicted here since March (when it was recorded) it is called 'An A - Z of Jazz'. It is a compendium of virtually every style of Jazz from its initial origins of Ragtime by the likes of composers such as May Aufderheide, through to the jazz influences of Frank Zappa in the 1990s - hence the 'A - Z'. In between we cover the styles of Dixieland, Music Theatre, Boogie-Woogie, Bebop, Big-Band Swing, 'Free' Jazz, Latin Fusion & Pop Fusion. To order your copy either visit our records page or contact us directly to order.
FAB to Premiere 3rd Brass Quintet by Stephen Dodgson.
We are very proud to announce that we shall be giving the premiere of Stephen Dodgson's 3rd Brass Quintet written for us, on Friday 6th February 2004 at our concert at Leeds University. As some of you will know, we gave the premiere of Stephen’s first quintet, Crossways back in 1989 for the Stratford Festival and his second, Spice of Life, for the Cheltenham Festival 3 years later. You can read their programme notes by clicking here. It is particularly fitting that we have the privilege of giving his latest quintet its first airing, as Stephen celebrates his eightieth year, in 2004.
Five Bagatelles finally gets Premiered!
To be broadcast on Friday August 22nd 2003 at 1pm on BBC Radio 3
On Wednesday 23rd July, as part of our recital at the 2003 Chester Festival, we finally gave the world premiere of Wilfred Heaton's Five Bagatelles for Brass Quintet. It had taken us fourteen years to do it, but amid the luxuriant acoustics of St John's Church in the city, we finally gave life to a piece that had sat on the shelf for far too long.
As will be heard on August 22nd, our programme also included works by Philip Wilby, Robin Holloway and Malcolm Arnold, but the highlight for us was the performance of the piece by Yorkshire composer Wilfred Heaton. It was a piece we commissioned back in 1989. However, always sensitive to a hint of criticism, the composer withdrew the work after the suggestion that the taxing first trumpet part be shared between the two trumpet players. FABE were delighted to finally perform this fine work in its original form after a gap of fourteen years and we acknowledge the help and collaboration of BBC producer and Heaton expert Paul Hindmarsh.
John Wilfred Heaton (1918 - 2000) was a composer of refined sensibility and technical skill the true extent of whose creative gifts has only emerged since his death in May 2000. As his many admirers suspected, the music currently in print represents just a small part of what he actually composed. Wilfred's life in music was underpinned by wide-ranging interests in the arts, in philosophy and by his strong religious beliefs. Yet at times his creative impulse was often tested and questioned.
Born in Sheffield, Heaton's musical talents were first nurtured through the Salvation Army. However, the technical and musical complexities of his best work were often thought too radical for Salvation Army performance. Between 1962 and 1969 he was Musical Director of the Leeds Symphony Orchestra and in 1970 he spent several months as Musical Director of the Black Dyke Mills Band.
As his professional activities increased however, his own creativity went into decline. A note on the score of Variations offers the explanation ''..all compositional ambitions were brought to a halt with my contact with Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophical Movement. Involvement in this seemed to dry me up at a tempo. I lost the impulse to compose. Such an activity seemed unimportant compared with the spiritual impulses provided by Steiner''.
From time to time he was tempted out of his creative semi-retirement most notably in 1973 when he accepted a commission to write Contest Music only for it to be rejected by the organisers as ''too advanced''. It was to be used to huge acclaim 9 years later as the test piece for the National Championships.
In his later years Wilfred was pleased but always appeared surprised at the appreciative reception his music was by then receiving. A few weeks before he died Wilfred Heaton remarked that as a young man all he wanted to do was be a composer ''.. and I suppose that urge never really leaves you''.
August in July
Mr Hogg reflects on the past few weeks in the FAB Diary.....
The last few weeks have encapsulated the diversity of life in FABE, as we journeyed physically and metaphorically from a council estate in Birmingham to the Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral.
In late June we travelled through a congestion free London (we should thank Mr Livingstone I presume) and played on the BBC Radio 3 drive time show, In Tune. Our irrepressible and irreverent host Sean Rafferty guided us through the minefield of live radio with Gallic wit and charm, coaxing erudite answers to all but the most oblique questions. An enjoyable experience with some shameless plugging of our new CD ‘The A to Z of Jazz’ thrown in.
From the hallowed walls of the BBC we moved to the muddy cowsheds of rural Warwickshire, for the Royal Agricultural Show held in Stoneleigh. We were there to represent West Midlands Arts and performed two hour long sets, mostly in the rain to an audience of farmers and other green welly types. Not particularly stimulating musically, however we got to see the latest Landrovers in action (!), whilst others spent a pleasant hour sampling the delights of the food hall. I understand that Chris particularly enjoyed his wild boar and mushroom sausage.
A couple of days later the group were to be found playing for the opening of a new park in Birmingham. Castle Vale was an inner city area with all the problems associated with urban degeneration, until the local council knocked down the monolithic high-rise apartments that trapped its residents and built low-level housing on a more human scale. They even commissioned artists to work with local people, erecting sculptures, murals and other artwork in a noble effort to brighten the drab urban landscape. We were there to herald the opening of the first park to be created in Birmingham in living memory. In doing so the council were not only symbolising their commitment to local community, but creating work for itinerant brass players. Long may they prosper?
After a couple of days en plein air it was time to return to the rarefied atmosphere the Lady Chapel at Lichfield Cathedral for a late night feast of minimalist music. The concert featured three FAB commissions (Fitkin, Nyman & Torke) and a relatively new work by the brilliant young British composer Joe Duddell. Joe (who has a percussion concerto performed at the Proms this year) was in the audience and proved a charmingly indiscrete raconteur, relating some hilarious stories after the show. Not bad for a lad from Eccles.
We first met Michael Torke (along with James MacMillan) five years ago at a celebrity concert at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. Since then we have been trying to persuade Michael to write us a piece. Those that know his thrilling orchestral work Javelin will be acquainted with the rhythmic drive and visceral energy that imbues Michael’s work. August (which we premiered in July) is no exception. The work weighs in at around twelve minutes and has a sea of relentless semi-quaver figure alternating with melancholy passages of poignant beauty. Audiences seem to like it and so do we.
To play a piece of music for the first time is a responsibility, a privilege and possibly the best part our job. If composers conceive and give birth to a work, then our role is that of mid-wife who smacks its bottom and let’s the screaming child breathe.