This leg of his promotional tour for his new album Rhythmic Renaissance saw Dave Danford visit Burry Port.  As well as performing with the Burry Port Town Band, Dave spent the day working with the young musicians of Carmarthenshire Youth Symphonic Wind Band and Percussion Ensemble.

The day began with a workshop for the percussion ensemble.  The aspiring young percussionists all seemed rather nervous at working with such an accomplished soloist, although Dave soon put them at ease with his relaxed and approachable manner.  The group were immediately put through their paces learning Dave Powell’s Ensnared, the nine players pairing up to cover the four parts.  After breaking the ice with this, the group seemed to relax whilst rehearsing the marimba solo Despedida, as many had played the piece in the past.  The rest of the wind band then joined the percussionists to rehearse their programme for the evening’s concert, including Alfred Reed’s Scherzetto for marimba and wind band.  The experience of accompanying a soloist is not something that many youth ensembles get the opportunity to have: all the players seemed impressed and inspired by Dave’s playing of this light-hearted piece, whilst at the same time learning an immensely valuable skill.

The evening concert began with Burry Port Town Band under the direction of Mike Thorne, opening the programme with a stirring rendition of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture.  Next followed the Rodney Newton’s Variations for Percussion and Brass Band.  Dave met both the musical and logistic challenges of the piece with his usual high standard, navigating his way round xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, tom set-up, a set of timps up some stairs on the stage as well as a range of auxiliary instruments, all the while giving a sensitive and musical performance.  The work was warmly received by the audience who, on the whole, were not familiar with the percussion repertoire, with all the contrast in instrumentation as well as a balance between melodic and rhythmic music.  The band then continued its programme of light music including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, an interesting arrangement of the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, incorporating elements of Morning from Grieg’s Peer Gynt, and the ever-popular Cry of the Celts.

The second half was devoted solely to the County’s young players and Dave.  The wind band, conducted by Georgina Davies, opened its programme with the Arnold, before moving on to the Scherzetto.  This solo provided a marked contrast to the demands of the Newton, showing a more light-hearted side to Dave’s playing.

Then came the percussion ensemble’s big moment!  Bolstered by players from Burry Port Town Band, they performed the two works admirably, especially considering they had only seen the pieces that morning.  Carmarthenshire definitely has nothing to worry about in this department, with some exceptional talent evident amongst some of these young percussionists.

Following more from the wind band, the time came for Dave to showcase his talents with the beautiful solo marimba work, Virginia Tate (Paul Smadbeck).  This haunting piece mesmerises the listener with its minimalism and harmonies, but listening intently one can make out how various small elements work together intelligently in the piece as a whole.  Written mainly in the middle to low range of the marimba, the piece highlighted the rich, mellow low sounds of Dave’s Adams instrument.

A busy yet successful day then for Dave, Carmarthenshire’s youth musicians and Burry Port Band.  The young percussionists indeed came away feeling inspired by Dave’s abilities; it is so encouraging to see young people learning and getting involved in percussion, and hopefully the day planted in them the seeds of ambition.  Dave himself seemed to have enjoyed the occasion, in a break from the usual kind of performance that has and will characterise the rest of his Rhythmic Renaissance tour.

By Sarah Lewis