Steven Mead & Boscombe Citadel Band “Locomotion” BOCC104

Review translated from the original Flemish

The 43 year old virtuoso Steven Mead has been for more than 10 years the most renowned and maybe even the best euphonium player in the world. With 34 CD's as a soloist or guest soloist, he is also the one with the most recordings. After a period as first euphonium for the late Sun Life Band, continued at the Desford Colliery Band, he decided in 1989 to focus on a solo career. Apart from CD recordings this involves concerts and international master classes, and he has also brought a whole series of study books on the market. Furthermore he has his own line of mouthpieces at Denis Wick and he recommends instrument manufacturer Besson. In spite of the high quality of all of his work, he kept his feet on the ground and people say he even belongs to the most likeable and most sympathetic of top soloists.

'A Tribute To My Childhood ' is the subtitle of this CD. At the age of 6 he made his debut indeed in the Junior Boscombe Band with the cornet, to switch to the euphonium later on via the alto and the baritone. But one always has to pay attention with nostalgia that one doesn't get blown into “sweetness”. Mead gets around this with a selection that contains works from the repertoire of the Salvation Army and from the classical and brass band world. There are some moments in the CD with a melancholic background, just like the pieces written for Derick Kane “Locomotion (based on a spiritual) and the filmic and heroic “There Will Be God”. Too bad for Kane, but Mead also delivers a more lasting performance. With his virtuosity Mead also succeeds making the other Salvation works “We'll All Shout Hallelujah” (the first solo he ever played with the Boscombe Band) and the difficult “My Unchanging Friend”, sound noticeably fresh, without making an outsider think of the somewhat musty image of the Salvation Army. “A Quiet Place” is an outsider: with the aid of multitracking, Steve played 5 euphonium parts without further accompaniment.

The so-called secular work contains “Deep inside the sacred temple” by Georges Bizet, that he brought several times with his father, who is still active and plays intensely. That's why it's a bit of a pity that Steven played the 2 scores of the duet himself without father Rex Mead. Peter Grahams “The Holy Well” is a wonderful melody coming from “On Alderley Edge”, the test work on the British National Brass Band Championships in 1997. Another work that undoubtedly impresses on soloist competitions, is the for the Swiss euphonium soloist Thomas Ruedi written “Banjo and Fiddle”. But the climax of this CD is the “Slavische Fantasy”. This beautiful work by Carl Hohne, an nice mix of cadenzas and gipsy music, was already arranged by Peter Graham for brass band and for the CD of the deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Black Dyke Band and it's this version on which Mead has based his.

“Locomotion” belongs without a doubt to Steven Mead's best work and remains up straight next to CDs like “Oration” and “The Essential Steven Mead”. Surely this has nothing to do with the choice of the repertoire, that can't tip to previously mentioned CDs, but with the conviction and the fun of playing with which Steven Mead and the Boscombe Band bring their story.

Olivier Verhelst - www.kwadratuur.be - Belgium CD website