Dizzying Heights from the Deepest Depths
Another successful outing for Flowers Band sees us claim 3rd place at this year’s Brass in Concert with a fantastic programme of brand new music, depicting a deep sea adventure by Captain Nemo abaord his nuclear powered Nautilus submarine.
With MD Paul Holland letting his imagination run free, we developed a thrilling story of discovery and danger beneath the waves. Dan Price was the chosen composer to lead us into our set with Dawn Of A Voyage setting the scene and capturing the excitement of a departing vessel into the unknown.
With Captain Nemo and his crew searching for deep sea, we segued into our second piece, The Descent. Jamie Smith rose to deliver the premiere of Christopher Bond’s new work for Solo Cornet to a packed Concert Hall of The Sage. Juxtaposed to the title of the work, the solo part got higher and higher, leaving our soloist floating above the band with a stillness and calm. A mesmerising performance of control and subtlety held the audience from start to finish. Bravo Jamie!
After descending, the animation above us showed Nemo’s journal entry after something had set off the Nautilus’ alarms… Paul Saggers new composition Monster Thrash launched Flowers Band into the midst of an almighty struggle at the depths of the ocean, where huge Jurassic creatures fought to the death. This was a brave programme choice as the extreme dynamics combined with the strange choice of instruments (knives, forks and spoons!) awoke the audience with a start after the calm of the descent. This piece featured many different soloists throughout and certainly lived up to its name.
Atlantis! Have we discovered the actual Atlantis? Nemo pondered this very question as we evaded the monsters of the deep and came across a hidden world. La Cathedrale Engloutie led us on a Debussy journey, arranged by Dan Price. The chiming bells rang out as the crew of the Nautilus donned their diving suits and walked through the submerged Cathedral. This piece served to be the inspiration for our programme and featured Coco Chan and Craig Saunders on the Tubular Bells.
After we had explored, Captain Nemo turned his Submarine back to the surface. Through the inky blackness of the depths, we could make out a large figure taking an interest in us. This time, we had no choice. Escape the Kraken by Dan Price gave us a thrilling finale as we battled and ultimately evaded our foe to return our journal.
A fantastic result of 3rd place behind Cory and Carlton Main led to cheers on the return journey to Gloucester.
Bravo to the entire band! A great year sees us ending on a high and giving us an incredible footing on which to build for next year. Make sure to keep following us on Facebook and Twitter.
We also have some Christmas concerts before our year ends. Check out the link here to check out our Christmas Celebration at the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham!
4BR Review
It's been music inspired by Jules Verne for Flowers — and the excitement that came from an unearthed forgotten journal of another journey 20,000 leagues under the sea with the saturnine Captain Nemo.
All that was missing was him playing the nuclear steam powered organ — (as in the famous Disney film) although the band made up for that at times with the wattage of power they expelled.
The opening Dan Price work set the scene — all bubbles and blasts of oxygenated air as the ensemble plumbed into the depths.
It was followed by a lyrical interlude of clear water beauty from principal cornet Jamie Smith — a descent that rather incongruously got higher in timbre as it went along. Some player though — so secure and tonally assured.
The 'Monster Thrash' was that and more — two huge leviathans of the deep grappling against each other for supremacy — all aided by some pretty spectacular solo interventions from the scuba divers on cornet and sop in particular.
Debussy's sunken cathedral had a bold mystical quality — bubbling (literally) in evocative spirit as the Nautilus meandered amongst the sunken columns. Clever that.
The final battle with the awesome Kraken is surprisingly light of touch, but then it got into a WWE wrestling match that knocked lumps out each other all the way to a great close.
Overall:
A bold story told in exciting fashion by Flowers with each page of the journal brought to life in musical technicolour. Lots of super high quality playing emerged from beneath the waves.