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Paul Archibald – Sounding Out

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Paul Archibald – Sounding Out

Category Archives: Regent Brass

Those Magnificent Men and Women

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Brass, Brass Bands, cornet, euphonium, Horn, Iwan Fox, Paul Archibald, Regent Brass, tenor horn, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba

Like many other brass bands, the Coronavirus pandemic has put paid to rehearsals and concerts for the foreseeable future. Regent Brass, however, are continuing to perform online so as part of our big thank you to the NHS and key workers we decided to offer our version of the classic theme from the film, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying machines.

We’ve adapted the title of course to include everyone who is playing an important role in keeping the country safe and secure during the lockdown We’ve also put together a video that we hope will be both amusing and show off the wonderful players that we have in the band.

To make the recording, each player recorded their part asa video whilst in isolation at home, working alongside a guide track, which was then put together to form a wonderful performance full of energy and vigour.

Please spare a few moments to look at the video and please leave any comments if you have enjoyed our performance.

Regent Brass perform Those Magnificent Men and Women

We’ll be making more videos during the lockdown so stay in touch….

Regent Brass: An English Autumn

11 Thursday Oct 2018

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Brass Bands, cornet, euphonium, John McCabe, Noting Hill, Paul Archibald, Regent Brass, Richard Rodney Bennett, tenor horn, Trombone, Tuba

SATURDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2018

St Peter’s Church
Kensington Park Road
Notting Hill
London W11 2PN

TICKETS £10/£5 on the door or online https://www.wegottickets.com/event/451920
regentbrass.com  Facebook: regentbrasslondon

PROGRAMME

Elgar Howarth Music from an Elizabethan Court
Erik Leidzen Happy Day (soloist: Paul Archibald)
Richard Rodney Bennett The Flowers of the Forest
Dean Goffin Light of the World
Peter Yarde Martin Fabulous Gecko (soloist: Adrian Parker)
John McCabe Cloudcatcher Fells

It’s exciting times for Regent Brass at the moment. Based in Wembley the band are now part of the top-tier of brass banding in the UK having been promoted to the Championship section for 2019. This means, of course, the players need to be right on top of their game to maintain consistency at the highest level of contesting but, it also gives us the opportunity to reflect on the direction the band should take in the coming years.

Brass bands are not all about contesting of course. Since the early 19C brass bands have been a vibrant part of the community beginning as part of the effort to provide working class men, primarily in the northern industrial provinces of England, a social and cultural outlet. From these very humble beginnings many of today’s top class bands consist of highly skilled musicians of professional calibre.

As part of the artistic development of Regent Brass the band is focussing on original music by well-established composers and introducing and commissioning new works from young composers who are making their mark as professional writers.

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The programme begins with Elgar Howarth’s treatment of three pieces taken from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, the primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, Music From an Elizabetheh Court. Erik Leidzen’s cornet solo, Happy Day, is a real classic and one of the composer’s most well known works. Originally born in Sweden, Leidzen emigrated to the US where he influenced the next generation of American brass composers including Stephen Bulla and Bruce Broughton.

Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Flowers of the Forest, was commissioned by the BBC for performance by the National Youth Brass Band at the 1989 BBC Promenade concerts at the  Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Sir Charles Groves. The work is based on a folksong, The Flowers of the Forest, believed to date from 1513, the time of the Battle of Flodden, in the course of which the archers of the Forest (a part of Scotland) were killed almost to a man.

Dean Goffin was one of New Zealand’s most prolific Salvation Army composers and spent much of his life working as Salvation Army officer, holding the positions of National Bandmaster and National Secretary for Bands and Songster Brigades, eventually returning to New Zealand as Territorial Commander. He was knighted in the 1983 Queens Birthday Honours List. Light of the World, based on Holman Hunt’s painting of the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, is perhaps one of the most moving and emotional pieces in the Salvation Army canon.

Peter Yarde Martin is a super-talented young composer whose music has been played by orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. His compostions explore spaces connecting the disparate musical world in which he works: experimental and familiar, old and new, sacred and secular. Fabulous Gecko for solo tuba and brass band (2016) was premiered by Barnet Youth Band with Jonathan Beresford at Moss Hall in 2016 and shows the lighter side of Peter’s writing.

The final work in the programme is perhaps one of the greatest pieces written for brass band, John McCabe’s Cloudcatcher Fells. Commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes as the test piece for the 1985 National Brass Band Championships the work comprises four movements played continuously. Each movement consists of sections associated with mountainous places, mostly in the area of Patterdale in the English Lake District.

Regent Brass – British Open 94th Spring Brass Band Festival

27 Sunday Apr 2014

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20140427-061008.jpgIt wasn’t our day. After two months of careful rehearsal – of dedicated practice by all the players in the band – Regent Brass and I travelled 200 miles to Blackpool to participate in the British Open 94th Spring Brass Band Festival held in the Winter Gardens. Spirits were high, we were relaxed and morale was good as we entered the contest arena to deliver our impassioned interpretation of Berlioz’s phenomenal overture to his unfinished opera, Judges of the Secret Court.

The band played magnificently. A flew blips, a couple of panicked bars, but overall the performance was musical, characterful and an important milestone in the development of the band. Only one problem – we came last. Our adjudicators were not impressed and decided to place us 20th out of 20. The sense of injustice was palable. This decision really hurt. We played well and we gave our all but it wasn’t our day.

Despite the immediate feeling of humiliation and rejection the band will bounce back. It’s sense of family, it’s determination to push forward and develop as a group and importantly, to continue its mission to be a resource and inspiration to the local community of Brent, its home in London, will be undiminshed.

But that’s contesting for you. It didn’t work out as we hoped but we’ll be back again. We’ll pick ourselves up and look forward to pushing ahead with some exciting plans that we have in the pipeline. What do those adjudicators know anyway…

 

Regent Brass April 26 2014

26 Saturday Apr 2014

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20140426-171146.jpgIt’s Blackpool today with Regent Brass. I’m here with the band to compete for the Senior Trophy at the 94th British Open Spring Festival being held in the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. We’re staying in the Blackpool FC Hotel which is a fine establishment – faring a little better than the club itself which, unless they win a game out of the last two this season, will be relegated to a lower division.

Now, I’m not suggesting there are any analogies there, but contesting is a rather like competitive football except you don’t really get a point for a draw. It’s win or lose, thumbs up or thumbs down.

We’ll see how we do today. We’re competing against 19 other great bands from all over the UK. It’s a blood sport but it’s good-natured and good-humoured. Kind of…

The band travelled up from London yesterday and we’re here for the weekend. I travelled up late last night following a concert with the London Mozart Players in Bradford-upon-Avon and will be driving down to Cambridge tomorrow to audition some talented kids for the Britten Sinfonia Academy. A busy weekend.

But good luck to my band, Regent Brass, today. They’re a passionate band, committed, considerate and deserve success.

English Brass Academy

  • Brass Band Boot Camp June 6-8 2014. Some thoughts… 0
  • English Brass Academy (website) English Brass Academy 0
  • English Brass Academy Wellington School Easter Course 2014 0
  • My Year As A Euphonium Player 0
  • Performamce Anxiety: 4 Bars Rest Hits the Spot 0

English Brass Ensemble

  • English Brass Ensemble Widor Symphony No 5 in F Minor The 30th anniversary of a recording made by English Brass Ensemble in 1990 0

English Music Academy

  • A New Venture in Hong Kong 0
  • A New Venture in Hong Kong 0

Life in Thailand

  • Moving On – A New Life at Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok A new appointment as Head of Woodwind and Brass at Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok offers a great opportunity to focus on teaching and developing new projects at the school 0

London Mozart Players

  • Exciting Changes at the London Mozart Players 0
  • Milton Keynes Marathon vs Me 0
  • Mozart / Stephen Oliver – Goose of Cairo UK premiere of a classical/modern operatic masterpiece 0
  • The London Marathon (and my part in the Milton Keynes Marathon) The LMP Relay Marathon Teams in action… 0

Personal

  • Anna Segal Requiem to the Old World (1st Movt) The first movement of Anna Segal’s Requiem to the Old World. Composed during the Covid-19 pandemic 2020 0
  • Arban Bootcamp Arban Bootcamp: the ideal practice regime for brass players to keep in shape 0
  • Arbanista No 1 A revamp of a classic study by Jean Baptiste Arban 0
  • Ave Verum A rather different version to `Mozart’s original but, hopefully, still the master wouldn’t be too offended… 0
  • ‘Götterdämmerung’ at La Scala 0
  • Bytom High School Paul’s visit to Bytom High School 0
  • Concert: Waterbeach Brass – Carry On Cornets An entertaining concert given by the fabulous Waterbeach Brass 0
  • Following the Science? Or sacrificing the Arts? 0
  • Kolbuszowa Music School 2-day Brass Course at Kolbuszowa Music School 0
  • La Scala, Milan 0
  • My Thank You To Roger Williams A personal reflection of a friend and colleague. 0
  • Toru Takemitsu Paths – In Memoriam Witold Lutoslawski A lockdown recording in memory of the great Japanese composer 0
  • Victor Tam, Chris Moyes and the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia 0
  • Žywiec Music School Workshop and Recital Workshop and recital at Žywiec Music School 0

Regent Brass

  • Interview on Brass Band Radio Talk Live 0
  • Regent Brass April 26 2014 0
  • Regent Brass – British Open 94th Spring Brass Band Festival 0
  • Regent Brass: An English Autumn 0
  • Those Magnificent Men and Women A tribute from Regent Brass to NHS and Key Workers 0

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