Classy

They are one of my faves to record each year.  This was the RMC (Royal Military College = Duntroon) Band Woodwind Ensemble.  The whole band is wonderful, being a mix of classy, well trained musos with experience in concert bands and more.  They admitted they also like to play the Wesley gigs for the music they get to play, not concert band or pop or marches, as welcome as they are, but some classy new music and interesting classical, from Mozart to Emescu.  I knew Emescu's name but not his music and it was fascinating and complex and a busy interweaving of lines and instruments.  Mozart was just his typical inviting inevitable melodics.  Never fault Mozart!  Then Gershwin Three preludes for sax quartet, with sop, alto, tenor, bari playing very lively jazz styles.  I chatted with the baritone sax player later about the solid lung work required for the low notes and the 1-5-6-5 groove (did I hear it right?) and the swing groove at the heart of it.  She said not many talk thus, but I am a bass player and she was that role for that tune.  Then two modern Australian composers, both very interesting: Harry Sdraulig writing for two flutes, busy, obviously challenging and quick and interleaved, and a cute one about her cat, Francesca Brzoskowski Figaro's bakery.  Amusingly, for the Sdraulig, the music was spread over four stands and the two flautists moved stage right to left to read through the chart.  Then a final movement from Richard Strauss for 13 wind instruments.  Just orchestral in its busy enmeshed lines.  All done with quiet confidence.  Virtually all winds, although with one tuba taking another bass role and those horns which seem to be brass but are classified winds.  Whatever, a wonderful and welcomed gig.

The RMC Band Woodwinds performed at Wesley.

A fave outing

It may not be the favourite outing but it is a favourite outing.  That's the RMC Band when it puts on a gig, in concert band format or other.  Today it was the Woodwind group and it was widely varied with all manner of wind instruments and just one guitar.  I like it because it's just so pro.  Sometimes just a little moderate but always decently done, well trained and capable, understanding and varied.  My Mum's in town and she came to this one and asked if they are soldiers first.  No, trained musicians first, although with uniforms and some level of military training and I'm sure a responsibility to pick up arms when the latest enemy invades.  (Don't worry, we usually get there first!)  Whatever.  The music was intriguing and well played, though, and hugely varied in combinations.  Two clarinet solos and one oboe; a Celtic group, a woodwind quartet and clarinet quintet and woodwind trio and sax quartet and the combined Wind group.  Music from those Irish tunes to a modernist clarinet solo using delay with repeats on the beat and mixing octaves.  A Beethoven movement and a Bernstein overture (Candide) and a Richard Strauss Serenade.  And a string of modern pieces otherwise.  Really quite adventurous even if in matching, marching khaki.  My favourite?  Perhaps the Beethoven for the familiarity or the Strauss for the conductor-led richness of the bigger band or the solo clarinet with that effective delay or the solos with notable chops or just the delirious scalar lines that bounced through the ensembles in a few pieces.  In the end, I think the Woodwind trio playing Kaspar Kummer Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon op.32 was my favourite with the merging of tonalities and the capable playing but it was all a pleasure.  That's how I find a capable, workmanlike, prof gig like this: a huge pleasure, as always and as expected.

The Woodwind Group of the Band of the Royal Military College (Duntroon) performed at Wesley.

Hip hop?

I enjoy the various outings of the RMC Band.  They are good musicians who are paid to play lots.  And they are varied, playing as big band or brass band or smaller groups, with or without rhythm section, or even playing for dignitaries and pollies and Last posts and the likes.  I was chatting with one of the leaders and he was saying a how he will play the Last post at Villers-Bretonneux and how this is a great honour.  I can understand.  The only higher honour is that at Gallipoli.  But this was neither.  It was the Woodwind group and they were playing Ibert, Mussorgsky, Nielsen and Goodwin in the Wesley concert room in various combinations (high wind trio, clarinet quartet, woodwind quartet and sax quartet).  And they were great.  I particularly liked the first part of the concert.  Ibert's Cinq pieces en trio... with 5 short pieces played by flute, clarinet and bassoon.  The bassoon has a fabulous, fat, tone and plays the bass register and I love it, and the paring of clarinet with flute was magical.  Then the clarinet quartet (bass, alto, Bb and Eb) played Pictures at a (small) exhibition, an arrangement of Mussorgsky by Rossi. This is wildly popular and I loved playing it in an orchestral format and again I loved this quirky piece.  Then the Woodwind quartet (flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and cor anglais/oboe).  Mmm, not my favourite piece on the day.  Somewhat divergent to my ears, but maybe I should listen more.  It was Nielsen Wood quintet op.43, mvm.3.  Then a strange but modern and lively Diffusion for sax quartet.  The saxes were soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and the movements were Allegro, Waltz, a fabulous Swing and a strangely non rappy Hiphop.  It was composed in 2008 so rap was with us, but this did not feel like hop hop it me.  More like a funky groove with melody over.  I wondered about hop as in dancing, Lindy hop etc, but not that either.  But what a fabulous outing from some classy players.  Strange in their regulation uniforms and ordered stage presence perhaps (hip hop?) but such good and challenging music so well played.  Many thanks.

The RMC Band Woodwinds played at Wesley.

Vif?

The RMC Band is always a pleasure, in large format or small as I catch them at Wesley. This was a Wesley gig but not a small one, comprising almost 20 players over a range of musics. And a range it was! The first tunes were Pastorius'/Pee Wee Ellis The Chicken and Corea's Spain with drums and e-bass behind a wind quartet. It was very unexpected on the stage at Wesley Music Centre, but it was a blast. Then to the classics: Poulenc, Debussy and a string of lesser known names, Henry Bishop, Siennicki, Agay and Fucik. Plenty of clarinets including a bass clarinet, some piano accompaniments, but not always, some flute and bassoon (I'm coming to love the flatulent bass tone of the bassoon) and oboe and French horn. This later part was more sedate, un-improvised, all as expected. But they shared rhythm: the first set had groove but there was dance here, too. Agay was a string of five dances (polka, tango, bolero, waltz, rumba) and that was an interesting lesson. The final Fucik was a cute march, Florentina march. The Poulenc and Debussy were more modern, floaty, impressionistic. The Poulenc was in three movements: Presto, Andante, Vif. Vif? I looked it up: Quickly or Lively in French. So an education and a pleasure and a tour through styles. There's something about the professionals that's all in a day's work but so capable. I like that and I liked this.

Woodwinds from the RMC Band played at Wesley Music Centre.

Always dress up

They must be the niftiest dressed band around Canberra, but that's part of the gig. The Woodwinds of the RMC (Royal Military College, Duntroon) Band were playing at Wesley but they could have been playing for the GG or pollies or even the Queen, so the dress is formal and expected. Short blazers, black with crimson piping with a chain to join the front, badges of rank and other insignia, red cummerbunds and black bowties. Natty. But off stage were some others who weren't playing on the day and they were in jeans and a photographer in camouflage gear. Quiet a range, from the very formal to extremely practical. I just wondered what the women would do with their long skirts if the war came to Wesley, but it didn't. I jest. But I really liked this concert. Another incongruity was the music. I tend to think of a military band as playing pop tunes or marches, but this was Bach, Poulenc and Dvorak, so it showed my uninformed preconceptions. They are all trained professionals, so not surprise they can do it all, and no surprise they would cover the field. And they did more. The Bach was his Keyboard Concerto no.4 mvt.III but it was played on Cor Anglais by Carl Brumfield who had arranged it for this format. Congratulations. Skills that cover the waterfront. That was played by a sextet led by cor anglais with clarinets, harpsichord continuo and bass. Then a duet, Poulenc Flute sonata, three movements, played by flute accompanied by piano. I was impressed by flute, flighty and birdlike sometimes, but also strong and full, and the piano that drove through the various changes of tempo and style with admirable firmness. Nice. The the major, longest work, Dvorak Serenade for wind instruments Dminor. This group was large with visitors: 12 players on oboes, clarinets, horns, bassoons, cello and bass. Cello was a invitee from the School of Music (there are no cellos in the RMC Band, although there is bass) and presumably the horns were invited from the brass players. This was nicely together, led by one clarinet, nice intonation, convincing swells and satisfying dynamics, and some nice deeper lines from cello and bass, and perhaps joined by the contra-bassoon. So, a very satisfying lunchtime concert. Next RMB Band outing at Wesley is Pictures at an Exhibition by the Brass Ensemble.

The Woodwinds of the RMC Band played Bach, Poulenc and Dvorak at Wesley. The players were Carl Brumfield (cor anglais, oboe), Nerida McCorkall (oboe), Kirsty Bird, Steve Wylks and Natalie Dajski (clarinets), Lenore Evans (alto clarinet), Suan Waterman, Josephine Smith and Carly Brown (french horns) Laura Long and Lizz Affleck (bassoons), Mark Jones (contra-bassoon), Elspeth Forster (flute), Andrea Clifford (piano), Carla Allmich (continuo), Thomas Powles (cello) and Barnaby Briggs (bass). Escuse no ranks.

Wood

The woodwinds are a select group with their own sounds but I don't often get to hear them arrayed like this. The breathy flutes, the sinuous clarinet and their deep bass clarinet brothers and brooding double-reeded oboes and bassoons. There was piano and horn, too. Was the horns a ring-in? It's certainly brass not woodwind, it fit nicely. These were various combinations from the RMC Duntroon Army band playing music of the the Twentieth century. Apparently most woodwind music has been written in the last hundred years, after the development of the instruments as chromatic in all keys. The Clarinet quartet (flute, clarinet, bassoon, oboe) started with Wiberny Ulla in Africa, all African rhythms and jazz/improv-like lines. Then my favourite, Poulenc Sextet for piano and wind quintet (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn). This was a complex piece with feature lines and melodies passed throughout the group through several movements of varied feels and tempos. Great stuff. Then two Ross Edwards pieces, Binyang mimicking birdsong and Interior mimicking the sound of the Australian bush, played by solo clarinet with light percussion. Intriguing and a performance tour-de-force. Then Malcolm Arnold Divertimento played by the Wind Trio (and apparently every other wind trio) - flute, clarinet and usually bassoon, but this time, oboe - and a lovely discovery Alfred Reed Pastorale, a light country lyric on flute with piano accompaniment, and to finish, Canberran Nick Gilbert Creative compounds played by the Reed Quartet (oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon). This was modern, all compound time signatures and seriously satisfying to my ear. So a vary varied program with a range of fascinations and some nicely professional playing. Very nice.

The RMC Band Woodwinds performed at Wesley. They comprised (excuse the missing ranks) Lisa Agnew and Kylie Simpson (flutes), Carl Brumfield (oboe), Matthew O'Keefe, Jacqui Broomhead, Natalie Dajski, Lenore Evans and Steve Wylks (clarinets), Lizz Affleck (bassoon), Tim McCabe (horn), Sean Henderson (piano) and Dick Cutler (percussion).