Celebrations a personal view - Nigel Boddice

Trials, Tribulations and Celebrations

Two years ago I applied to the Scottish Arts Council for a sum of money to record a CD of contemporary Scottish wind band music.

Very little is known about the excellent standard and regard for Scottish composers in the wider  world other than perhaps Thea Musgrave, Thomas Wilson and more latterly the new  Scot’s hero James Macmillan. The money application was to pay a professional based freelance unit of highly admired players to meet for a week and  hopefully produce something special. The SAC knocked back the project without explanation and disappointment hung over myself and my close associates for the loss of this project  and as well for the chance to boost some young performer’s careers.

A few months later and over a couple of beers my close colleague and mentor Brian Duguid stated unequivocally ‘’ we have to do this project Nigel , we  must ! ‘’.

 Enter the backing of the West Lothian Council Arts team to fund my chums at Doyen and to provide hospitality and recording facilities,  percussion equipment , transportation and an after sales marketing system. ‘’ All I had to do ‘’  was to beg and borrow the intended music and get a band of  fifty professionals to volunteer for a weekend’s rehearsal and a weekend’s recording........ Nae problem!.

As it happened, it was of little trouble because  all the composers backed me from the outset providing substantial quantities of their music. In fact six out of the seven living composers attended the recording sessions and sat in the recording van, subjected to sub zero temperatures, in order to comment on precedings. The one missing composer became a grandfather incidentally the day before and was                ‘’ otherwise engaged ‘’ [ probably as a newt ].  The Scottish Music Information Centre in the West End of Glasgow were kindly and helpful . A fine quality band was constructed from around Scotland [ and one special oboist from my Royal Norwegian Navy    connection ]. The volunteers were indeed a wonderful mixture of  trusty friends  and   students [ past and present ] and of course only when faced with adversity were strong arm tactics employed !. Only one refusal to report and that exceeded my wildest imagination especially when you think I decided the best time to rehearse was a couple of days after Xmas and  recorded a week later just after the New Year [ an especially dangerous time to work here in Scotland ! ].

All turned out well with the arrangements and the West Lothian Celebrity Winds   were on their way. Nine composers were selected by myself and Brian Duguid and their finest work chosen.

 The  operation began with A Plain Man’s hammer by  Martin Dalby. { Martin is undoubtedly  one of the smartest men in Scotland. I only mention it because it was he who originally invited myself in 1975 to join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra } Of course there is no connection  with that statement and this CD. His ‘ Hammer ‘ is indeed one of the finest works the wind band scene possesses. It is an episodic tribute to his hero Pierre Boulez and succeeds in educating the ‘ common man ‘  [ or the plain man ] by drawing  the listener toward the most complicated and chaotic  of  textures in a most sympathetic way. If more evidence is needed of this composer’s integrity recall Music  for Brass Band written 40 years ago when Dalby was a student of Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music.

Alan Fernie is already renowned throughout the brass fraternity for his fine arrangements. He is featured on this exercise with a movement from A Portrait of a City written for the Edinburgh Schools  which refers naturally to their beautiful and beloved city with its spectacular castle on the rock vista. The music is in the form of a  ‘ hoolie ‘ or  a frantic Ceilidh  finale with only few moments to relax during  exposed cadenzas from various wind soloists.

Thomas Wilson was a real hero to me. He kindly advised me when I took up full time conducting and through regular visits became a friend and  a mentor. He never wrote for wind band, however, since his death I have set in motion an arrangement of his string music Pas de Quoi, which will be premiered in the RSAMD in March 2002. On this project I planned for a recording of Cartoon in my brass ensemble arrangement with West Lothian lassie  Angela Whelan as soloist.  Aficianados will know the original version was written in 1969 for Robert Oughton and the old Scottish CWS band. What people must of thought  of this ironic witty sketch then I don’t know, for although it is the oldest music on this CD it sounds like the most contemporary. The solo line is naturally virtuosic  and highly dramatic from this genuine, truly international man of musical integrity. Reflect momentarily on his fine energetic Sinfonietta and the emotive Refrains and Cadenzas, and get a taste for Cartoon.

 I wrote earlier that I planned to record this music. Come the actual weekend and  a most distraught soloist rang me to cancel due to ill health. What a disaster !. ...........

enter  my colleague Bryan Allen from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama who quickly understood the situation and offered to set up a recording  two, weeks later for Angela and myself and  then in due course for it to be submitted to the CD . Thank you Bryan and  phew ! on with the show.

William Sweeney has one of the most unique compositional styles to date in Scotland. He has three works for windband and I chose the Lost Mountain. Sweeney writes in a Gaelic influenced style haunting, desolate and compelling. The shape of a  mountain is suggested by starting with winds only, adding brass in the middle and finishing with a peaceful coda of wind players in repose. It was inspired by poet  Sorley McClean based on  a poem referring to the lost generations of the Highland clearances in the eighteenth century .......a political statement which still gives off a certain chilling feeling.

A Galloway Bouquet by John Maxwell Geddes has a strong tartan image. It is a theatrical portrayal of Scotland in the Scot’s Wha ‘ Hae anthemic style. Stirring brass tunes [ quasi Dr Finlay’s Casebook  ] are linked to whimsical wind scales, evoking winds blowing through the mountain passes. As a work this is not beyond  a good youth orchestras ability and is worth noting.

Day two began with a work dedicated to Brian Duguid from when he worked in Glasgow some years ago. It is called Symphonic Ode by Peter Inness. Peter is now a   ‘’ highheidyin ‘’at the RSAMD, but equally a respected composer in his own right. The music is truly symphonic  and cerebral. It takes on a couple of  fragmented germs and develops  them with compositional tricks such as augmentation, inversion and diminution and  they sit easily within  the expected form of  exposition, development and exposition. Rhythmic problems frequent but equally excite.

Cedric Thorpe Davie will be known to the brass world for all fifty ‘’ Variations on a theme of Lully ‘’. In the windband world he is noted for one humorous  skit on The Wee Cooper O’Fife [ nickety nackety noo noo noo ] It looks harmless, but don’t be fooled for it should carry a government health warning . Written in a busy Fugue and variation form it is of a six eight conception with multiple rhythms and syncopated issues played at high speed. It is neurotic,  witty, simply brilliant and electric. It was written originally  for the National Wind Ensemble of Scotland  which I have had the pleasure of directing for the last five years and from where I met so many of the performers engaged on this mighty project.

I am not allowed favourite pieces of course so as  to be fair to all,  and to be intensely professional about it all, but do try Sirrocco by Eddie McGuire. Eddie ,who can be found in the folk world as easily as the Scottish symphonic scene, is a flute player to trade and founder member of the Whistlebinkies. He has a series of works named after well known titled winds for example Mistral and the above mentioned Sirocco. It is a collage of free music mixed with conventional writing to give an organic composition which traces a journey from the Sahara Desert where the wind emerges and travels over Spain ,France, England  ,Scotland,  disappearing finally over Ireland. The music reflects nationalistic traits of each country in  dance form or in atmospheric timbres. The wind ‘’ eddies ‘’ around, coming and going, bringing into phase musical identities  before eventually running away, always  leaving deposits of a fine sand tilth over  wherever the  Sirocco has  passed. Of course the bagpipes are in evidence representing Scotland. They are masterfully  played by  16 year old Clare Lynas, now studying at the new traditional music school recently opened in Plockon, the chocolate box village with palm trees  and highland  ‘ coos ‘ wandering on the beach situated somewhere in the wilds of the far North West.

Finally, the music of Bruce Fraser from the Kingdom of Fife was chosen in the shape of Celebrations. This is a fine work dating from 1984,  commissioned by the Glasgow wind band  which readers may well know through the  brass band arrangement made later , and is nowadays often selected for test piece  competition. It is in three movements of which the first  catches out the unwary with an 11/8 dance. The cor anglais and alto saxophone are exposed in the second of these movements in a whimsical film like pop ballad  which wouldn’t go amiss in  a Geri Halliwell video. The finale is a whipped fanfare declamation which dominates the third movement  through to its natural climax.

Celebrations seemed  especially appropriate to call the CD for a variety of reasons. The fruits of this project will be released to coincide with a very large birthday of mine in 2002.

A finer present nobody could  wish for............ to see and hear so many old friends playing exceptionally’’ weel ‘’ in the true spirit of music making has brought about a heartfelt dream of promoting  this Scottish music to the world in thanks, admiration and respect. Check it out for yourselves in due course with belated compliments of the season from North of the Border in Bonnie Scotland.     

[ Nigel Boddice  17/01/02 ]