Brass Fanfare: A Tribute to John Wallace, Usher Hall, five stars

For this concert – a joyous memorial to a well-loved man – his own ensemble, The Wallace Collection, and The Cooperation Band, was flanked by a large number of young people to perform two movements of his symphony, 50 years in gestation, and celebrating locations in his native Fife.

One glorious passage in the Methilhill Scherzo had one tuba soloing over the pulse of four more, and the Ragtime-influenced finale rattled through 14 colourful variations on the theme before the tutti finish. It was dizzying stuff, but then the man himself was often full-on like that.

Apparently Wallace knew the shape of the programme, and approved it, before he died. It was introduced by EIF director Nicola Benedetti and included a moving speech of thanks from his son, Cosmo. It is telling, however, that the Edinburgh Festival is one among many with a Wallace remembrance event, including Orkney’s St Magnus Festival, the East Neuk Festival, Sir James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst and the Lammermuir Festival.

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In his stellar career as a player – which included a globally-broadcast turn with Kiri Te Kanawa at the first wedding of King Charles – Wallace made the premiere recording of Elgar Howarth’s glorious brass arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and that piece had a terrific performance at the heart of this concert.

Conducted by Clark Rundell, the ensemble featured players from all of Scotland’s orchestras and was of the very highest quality, with the trumpets absolutely on point in the Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells and the Market at Limoges. Special mention has to go to chief executive of the RSNO Alistair Mackie, returning to his own storied playing life on flugelhorn, and opening the suite with the first Promenade and the lead line in The Old Castle.

The fanfare opening of the early evening programme was Wallace’s arrangement of Cesare Bendinelli’s Sonata 336, an early 17th century piece by the Verona-born court musician who wrote the first tutor for trumpet, with young brass players from St Andrews Music Participation (StAMP) and the RCS Junior Conservatoire also onstage.

The finale added East Edinburgh’s Oi Musica and many more youngsters to the mix for the ebullient Lament, Hope & Stomp. Not quite hidden amongst them was Scottish Chamber Orchestra chief executive Gavin Reid, another lapsed trumpeter who felt compelled to dust off his instrument after 25 years to join the celebration of John Wallace’s remarkable life in music.

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