| The Fountain City Brass Band from the USA was formed less than 8 years ago, but are
the current North American and U.S. Open Brass Band Champions, having won an
unprecedented five consecutive national titles. A joint festival with Boscombe Band of the Salvation Army
proved how one group of players, motivated by their spiritual base, can effectively unite with another
group with different reasons for performing, and still make an impact. Both individually and in massed
playing the two bands produced music of superb quality.
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| Under the leadership of Bandmaster (Dr) Howard J Evans, Boscombe's short programme was
intentionally geared towards portraying the essential role of a Salvation Army band. They opened in traditional
style with a march written by the doyen of all march writers, John Philip Sousa (and arranged by Ray Steadman-Allen)
which he dedicated to and titled simply, The Salvation Army. This was followed by meditative music, an arrangement of the
Welsh tune Myfanwy by Ken Downie, and an Erik Leidzen classic, The Call, interspersed with prayer. In contrast with
the controlled and soulful playing required by this music, to which many of the listeners did not feel the need to
applaud, Boscombe Band concluded with a spirited performance of Paul Lovatt-Cooper's Vitae Aeternum.
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| Much of the music played by Fountain City was arranged by their young solo Euphonium player and founder,
Lee Harrelson, and this included their opening number, The Limpid Stream by Shostakovich. The band's conductor,
(Dr) Joe Parisi, explained how, by listening to Brighouse band playing a march, he has tried to perfect the art,
and the band proceeded to give a stirring performance of Charles Andersons' s O.R.B. (Oldham Rifle Brigade).
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| From somewhere on the 3rd cornet bench Raquel Rodriguez, a university professor, stepped
forward and gave an outstanding performance of Carnival of Venice, receiving tumultuous applause before returning
to her seat on the back bench! It was no surprise to hear that she was a U.S. Open soloist winner. Contrasting
items followed with Len Ballantine's 'Mid all the Traffic and Feelin' Good by Anthony Newley and Lesley Bricusse.
What a surprise when a group of the band rose to sing the opening bars of Ave Maria, before joining the other
instrumentalists in this beautiful setting by Franz Beibl. The band concluded this segment of the programme with
an outstanding performance of Malaguena by Ernesto Lucuona, arranged by Bill Holman and Lee Harrelson, when cornets
were exchanged for trumpets and other soloists emerged throughout the band with scintillating effect.
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| The massed bands of Boscombe and Fountain city brought this exciting evening to a
conclusion with Eric Ball's march Star Lake, which Howard Evans described as bringing together the two
traditions of the American and U.K. brass banding, the music having been written to commemorate the early
Salvation Army Music Camp in New Jersey, USA. A moving performance of Ken Downie's In Perfect Peace
preceeded the finale when both bands received sustained applause following their playing of William Gordon's
arrangement of Tchaikovsky's The Little Russian. Howard Evans presented Joe Parisi with two CDs in
commemoration of the American band's visit and Major Peter Mylechreest offered a final prayer. |
| Ramsay Caffull
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