BRASS NIGHT

The Music of Alan Fernie

The Fodens (Courtois) Band

Conducted by Nicholas Childs & Alan Fernie

 

Compact Disc only £12.95

 

A superb CD by this Championship band, formerly called ‘The Britannia Building Society Band), one of the best in Britain. This CD is one of a series produced by Swiss company Obrasso who are music publishers, therefore most titles on the CD are available to purchase as a score or score and parts.

 

They have chosen a well-balanced programme from the compositions and arrangements of Alan Fernie, (see below for a biog), a name very well-known in brass band circles.

 

Playing time 70 minutes 54 seconds

BRASS BAND

ALAN FERNIE

Alan Femie was born in 1960 in the Scots mining village of Newtongrange. At the age of 13 he started to play the trombone at school, soon joining the local Brass Band. From

1977 to 1980 he studied at Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow winning the Governor’s Recital Prize for Brass the subject price for Trombone playing twice, as well as benefitting from tuition from Percy Cook and Peter Oram. During this time, he was a member of National Youth Brass Band of Scotland, and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. After post-graduate studies with Harold Nash at Golds College, London, where he appeared as a concerto soloist, he retumed to Scotland to play with the Scottish National Orchestra and both Scottish Opera and Ballet. In 1983 he joined the instrumental music staff of Edinburgh Schools, and since 1991 he has been teaching in the socially disadvantaged area of Wester Hailes. He began conducting in 1986 with Selkirk Band has gone on to work with hands all over Scotland both as player and conductor enjoying considerable contest success, including four Scottish Championships, three Scottish Trombone Championships and the 1990 Mineworkers Trombone Title. From 1991, he took Kelty and Blairadam Band from 3rd Section championship in successive years, subsequently repeating this notable feat with Dalkeith and Monktonhall Colliery. He has also worked as a conductor, teacher and soloist in the USA and Switzerland. He began writing whilst still at college for the quintet ‘Caledonia Brass’ and his compositions and arrangements are now played by bands of all grades throughout the world, many having been recorded and broadcast by Europe’s finest Brass Bands. He also writes for Wind Band, Big Band and Choir, and combines this with teaching, conducting, playing and adjudicating throughout the UK and beyond.

NICHOLAS J. CHILDS MA, FLCM, ARCM(hons)

From the age of eight– when he started his musical career on euphonium with Tredegar Junior band – to the present day, it is fair to

say that Nicolas been ‘upwardly mobile’. Benefitting from the expert guidance and tuition given to him by his gifted father John, and the early example set by his older brother Robert, Nicholas quickly made his mark as one of the world’s finest brass instrumentalist. This sublime level of excellence manifested itself in a variety of ways: as Champion Euphonium Player of Great Britain; Welsh National Solo Champion; the first euphonium player to win the Champion of Champions award; the 1986 Euphonium Player of the Year; Principal Euphonium player with Grimethorpe and the Britannia Building Society bands; as a soloist who has performed to great critical acclaim all around the world and as a member of the sensational Childs Brothers duo. Although in great demand as a teacher Nicholas also nurtured academic ambitions of his own and these have been realised in a Fellowship from the London College of Music; an Associate of the Royal College of Music; and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Salford where be majored in Conducting.

The skill and musical understanding gleaned from his international solo career together with his intensive academic studies have been hamessed, and are now reflected, in his relatively short but exceptionally successful conducting career. The many successes gained on the contest platform, were placed into context when Nicholas was recently appointed the Professional Conductor of the world famous Fodens (Courtois) Band and the National Youth Brass Band of Denmark. The skill and insight Nicholas has always exhibited in his musical endeavours have also found an outlet in his entrepreneurial activities. For example, he has elevated Doyen Recordings Ltd. to a pre-eminent position in the world of brass band recordings and he is in great demand as a producer for the BBC and other leading recording Labels.

THE FODENS (COURTOIS) BAND

(formerly Britannia Building Society)

The origins of the hand go back to 1900 when the village of Elworth near Sandbach, Cheshire formed its own band, having been let down in its attempt to secure the services of the nearby town band to feature in the celebrations to mark the Relief of Mafeking in the Boer War. After a couple of years the village band was wound up, but from this base local industrialist Edwin Foden formed the Foden Motor Works Band.

For a few years the new band had modest ambitions, but in 1908 a fundamental reorganisation took place and, by the following year, it had achieved Championship Section status, a prestigious position which has been maintained ever since.

Thirty-one times the band has been a prizewinner at the coveted British Open Championships, and nine times it has won outright – including a hat-trick in 1926-27-28. Thirty-six times a prizewinner at the National Championships of Great Britain, eleven times winner, including an unparalleled double hat-trick in 1932-33-34 and 1936-37-38.

Under its former title, the band was ordered to play by Royal Command on three occasions: in 1913 for King George V and Queen Mary, in 1938 at Windsor Castle for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and most recently in 1983 when the band had the honour of playing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In wartime the band toured Europe for ENSA, and in peacetime has toured Canada, South Africa and Israel.

In July 1986 the band accepted sponsorship of the Britanoia Building Society and from 1989 proudly assumed the name of its sponsor, to become the Britannia Building Society Band. The Band has maintained its position as one of the country’s leading bands, becoming BBC Band of the year in 1990 and 1992 and European Champions in 1992. The became ‘All England’ Masters Champions in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1995, emerging as the consistent band in this field, and in 1993 the band became the first British band to win the Swiss Open Championship. In 1997 the band accepted sponsorship from the French Instrument Manufacturer Antoine Courtois which also allowed the band to go back to its original name of Fodens.

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