Welsh musicians setting the pace for excellence at Proms
LAST week saw the Welsh Proms Cymru return to St David’s Hall, Cardiff, for its 32nd season.
This year Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, the artistic director of the Welsh Proms is celebrating his 75th birthday and, as the founder of the Welsh Proms, has dedicated the 2017 festival to the memory of his daughter Lisa, who sadly passed away just weeks ago aged 46 from a rare form of cancer.
The Welsh National Opera Orchestra opened the Proms with a performance of the Die Fledermaus overture by Strauss, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
The evening ended with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture after performances of well-known compositions by Faure, Verdi, Massenet, Wagner, Grieg, Dvorak and the beautiful Enigma Variations by Elgar.
It was an evening of dramatic and evocative musical themes.
On Tuesday, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied by John Lill CBE on piano, played music by the Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Glinka and Rachmaninoff.
Wednesday saw the return to the Welsh Proms of the Cory Band – the current best brass band in the world, a title that they have held for the past 10 years – along with the choirs of Bridgend, Ogmore Valley, Cardiff Arms Park and Côr Meibion Morlais, creating a massed choir of 200 voices.
Their programme certainly showed their technical brilliance and professional handling of the classics. I don’t think you can beat a brass band and male voice choir when they are at their best.
Friday was A Night at the Movies, celebrating John Williams’ 85th year, which was presented by Classic FM’s John Suchet and played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The climax of the week was the Last Night of the Welsh Proms, which as well as enjoying the classics also featured the technical brilliance of David Childs as he gave a world premiere performance of a new Concerto for Euphonium by Paul Mealor, the composer of the Royal Wedding music.
It should be noted that brass players are not just interested in brass bands. Many are also well -ounded musicians who are actively involved in playing with various orchestras and swing bands in addition to playing with brass bands. It is a real achievement these days to find that brass bands have found a regular spot in the Welsh Proms scene, which is a breakthrough that is still to happen on the English side of the bridge.
England have more than two world-class brass bands, as is the case in Wales with just Cory and Tredegar being ranked first and seventh in the top 10, while England have Brighouse and Rastrick ranked second, Black Dyke third, Grimethorpe fifth, Flowers nineth and Fairey 10th – and yet we seldom see any of these bands being rec- ognised when the Proms season takes place in England.
Both Cory and Tredegar are making huge strides in publicising the brilliance of the music that is being produced by brass bands, and Tredegar in particular has found a niche in the ballet scene and becoming an integral part of the world-renowned Hay Festival.
Welsh brass bands are certainly in the vanguard of demolishing the restricted view that people have had about brass bands and are making the general public more aware of the professionalism that is inherent within the ranks of our top bands.
Perhaps the BBC in general and the Proms in particular may come to notice the success that both Cory and Tredegar are having in the music scene and begin to promote brass bands in their future plans.
An organisation in Wales that is fast going along the lines of what Cory and Tredegar are doing is City of Cardiff (Melingriffith).
They are looking outwards to the future by concentrating on what can be described as being inward-looking.
Their present organisation has something in the order of about 150 players turning up to play at varying levels with an age group stretching from five years of age to more than 80 years “young”!
At present they have five brass bands all attending rehearsals at the bandroom in Tongwynlais.
Generally, four of these bands are feeders for the contesting bands, of which one is in the Championship Section and the other is in the Second Section.
One of the bands can be described as a Community Band and they are happy to attend rehearsal and play music for concerts and do not become involved in the competition side of brass band activities.
The better the band, inevitably the more stressful the demands – and players know the demands and make their decision about their future direction.
Melingriffith have created an organisation that caters for all ambitions and is successfully keeping about 150 brass musicians happy with the music they most enjoy playing.