CD: Summon the Heroes
Cory BandDOYEN: DOY CD390
SUMMON THE HEROES
Cory band
Conductor: Philip Harper
DOYEN: DOY CD390
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In this latest release, Cory Band takes the listener on a diverse journey through three different categories of ‘heroes’. The crisp fanfares of John Williams’s aptly named Summon the Heroes provide an ideal opening to the disc, before it launches into the first theme of ‘Classical Heroes’ with Suppe’s Morning Noon and Night in Vienna. From a singing euphonium line, the music builds to a finale rich in both excitement and meticulous detail. Solo horn, Ailsa Russell, then features in Haydn’s Finale from Cello Concerto, delivering the sparkling technical passages with pinpoint accuracy before a nostalgic rendition of an old favourite – English Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams.
The second theme pays tribute to a ‘Hero of Literature’, William Shakespeare, with a dramatic telling of the Romeo and Juliet story, as featured in the band’s winning 2018 Brass in Concert programme. The sweeping chords of O Verona from the 1996 film provide an epic, organ-like beginning to the tale before a complete change with the infectiously upbeat Latin-American Caribe, depicting the masquerade ball with a twist. Glyn and Helen Williams then play the title characters in a duet rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet – a tender, lyrical performance. Philip Harper’s own Clans Collide effectively depicts the violent street fight, followed by Lament and Wagner’s Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, which demonstrate the outpouring of sadness at the deaths of the main characters. These are exquisitely delivered by the band, which paints incredibly vivid musical pictures. Finally, the tragedy is brought to peace with Somewhere from West Side Story, notably featuring a poignant trombone solo from Chris Thomas.
The final theme of the disc is ‘Globetrotting Heroes’, with the energetic Night Flight to Madrid preceding the winner of the 2018 Cory Band RWCMD Composition Prize – Andrew Wainwright’s The Spirit of St. Louis, which descriptively tells the story of Charles Linbergh’s record-breaking solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. More lively music is to be heard in Huapango, before the disc ends with the unmistakable Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The outstanding Brass in Concert programme is the undoubted highlight of the disc, which is sandwiched by a varied selection of enjoyable light music. Combined with exceptional audio quality and smart, informative presentation, this release will surely become popular across the brass band world.
THOMAS DUNNE
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