Announcing the premiere of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band’s new piece ‘Wild Winds Coldly Blow’, exclusively premiered on 4BarsRest.
During lockdown the Grimethorpe Colliery Band decided to try and steer away from the splitscreen format which has become so popular, and instead have been taking time working on some alternative projects. Wild Winds Coldly Blowis the first of these projects, a tenor horn solo written by Nigel Clarke and performed by Helen Varley.
The piece was inspired by the landscape of the Yorkshire moors depicted in the Emily Brontë poem Spellbound, written in 1837. This evocative poem describes the wild and isolated nature of the moorland, conjuring up images of the rugged Yorkshire countryside. The atmospheric music begins with an opening theme of howling winds and the distant call of the music on the moors.
Soloist Helen Varley said, “It has been really exciting to work on this project, and the ambition of it spiralled as it progressed. Working with a team of collaborators to bring this project about has been a more time-consuming way of approaching a project, but we were keen to develop something a bit different, and I think it’s resulted in a beautiful video.”
The poem is narrated by actor Shaun Dooley. This is not the first time Shaun has worked with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, as he collaborated with the band on the hugely successful Children in Need album last year, and he has remained a firm supporter of the band. The Broadchurch and Gentleman Jack star also has strong ties to the village of Grimethorpe, as his father, grandfather and great grandfather all worked at the Grimethorpe Colliery.
The piece was recorded on smartphones, and aims to demonstrate that brass bands can still premiere large ensemble works during a time of severe performance restrictions. The audio was put together by Griff Hewis, who is the regular audio engineer for the band’s Brassed Off Live performances. The concept was developed as a collaborative artistic project, with stills photography by Yorkshire photographer Lorne Campbell and video design and concept by Michael Hamilton. The visuals capture the rugged landscape of Top Withens, the isolated farmhouse said to be the inspiration for Emily Brontë’s most famous novel Wuthering Heights.
Talking about the project, band manager Andrew Coe said, “The band are thrilled with the results of our latest ‘lockdown’ project which is right out of the top drawer of Grimethorpe’s creative heritage. Nigel Clarke’s music, brilliantly executed by Helen and the band, combines so beautifully with the unmistakeable and evocative imagery of Yorkshire’s own Brontë country. We are immensely grateful to our great friend Shaun Dooley for his reading of Emily Brontë’s poem and our thanks go to Griff, Mike and Lorne for their work on the imagery and video and sound production. It is a great team effort under the most challenging of circumstances. We hope that supporters of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band will love this latest recording and that we can be back playing on stage for you soon!”
Musical Director David Thornton said, “The heritage of the surrounding area is something of great importance to us at GCB, Yorkshire is so deeply rich in historical culture and brass bands have a central role. Projects like this truly juxtapose that heritage alongside something brand new – in this case the beautiful music of Nigel Clarke. Grimethorpe have always strived to be artistically ambitious and I’m delighted with the passion the band have shown throughout this project.”.
SPELLBOUND (1837)
Emily Brontë
The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go.
The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed in snow.
And the storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.
Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me;
I will not, cannot go.
https://www.4barsrest.com/news/41551/grimethorpe-held-spellbound-by-bronte