Conductor: Ian Porthouse
Soloist: Morgan Bland
Cedars Hall
Wells Cathedral School
Sunday 22nd September

A day of outreach educational work with pupils and youngsters from local bands culminated in this afternoon concert by Tredegar Band at Wells Cathedral School’s impressive concert hall.

The fine acoustic offered Ian Porthouse the opportunity to showcase the flexibility of his ensemble with music that spanned Holst and Rutter to Lionel Ritchie and Jimmy Webb. 

Mature rendition

The featured first half soloist was 16 year old trombonist Morgan Bland, a specialist musician student and member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain who has also been invited to attend the prestigious Javi Academy in Estonia. 

His mature rendition of the iconic Langford ‘Rhapsody’  had the unmistakable hallmark of a player appreciative of its accessible combination of testing technique and languid beauty.  He is a young performer to watch out for, and sure to catch the eye of trombone superstar Ian Bousfield on his forthcoming recital and concert appearance here in November. 

His mature rendition of the iconic Langford ‘Rhapsody’  had the unmistakable hallmark of a player appreciative of its accessible combination of testing technique and languid beauty.  

Tredegar’s slickly rendered ‘Judy Garland’  Proms set of ‘Get Happy’,  ‘Over the Rainbow’  (featuring Dewi Griffiths) and ‘That’s Entertainment’  rounded off a first half that opened with the choreographed fun of ‘All Night Long’. 

Holst’s ‘Fugal Overture’  with it's planetary echoes in its driven pulse, and Rutter’s tender ‘The Lord Bless And Keep You’  offered further flexible, polished listening.

Byrdland connections

The cleverly tenuous constructs of the band’s ‘Byrdland 400’  suite used at Brass in Concert formed the foundation block of the second half – the pick the ear-worm rhythmic dislocations of Lennon & McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’  and the wonderful flugel playing of Cerys Hughes on ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’.

Sion Jones gave ‘Varied Mood’  a frothy topping of virtuosity to update its 70s vibe, before ‘In Perfect Peace’  and ‘McArthur Park’  rounded things off, with the encore of ‘Ar Lan Y Mor’  an embracing extra treat.

Iwan Fox