With three of the top four bands from Saturday’s contest taking to the stage in a nicely relaxed atmosphere, this year’s Sunday Gala Concert offered a feast of high-class entertainment.
Black Dyke trophy
Newly crowned champion Black Dyke, dropped their planned opener in favour of ‘Queensbury’, followed by the appearance of the recently acquired trophy.
Richard Marshall picked up the trumpet for a scintillating ‘Flourish’, written by Paul Sharman for Philip Cobb. It was the first outing for him with this solo, which is likely to prove very popular, with sparkling technique and thrilling high register work.
Peter Graham’s take on ‘Crimond’ to follow showed great control and discipline throughout the ensemble, whilst the big band set of ‘The Song of the Volga Boatmen’, ‘Wonderful World’ and ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ allowed several soloists their moment in the limelight, including Gary Curtin, John French, Adrian Hirst, Katrina Marzella and Brett Baker (fulfilling his last engagement). His successor, Chris Binns completed a four-man trombone line-up.
A committed account of ‘Fire in the Blood’ rounded things off with bold passion - aided by a delighted composer in the percussion section.
Rather naughtily (but who could blame him with a big gold shield by his side, Prof Nicholas Childs encouraged the audience to request an encore, but then led the band off stage.
Foden's reminder
Foden’s provided a timely reminder of the qualities of Ralph Vaughan Williams with ‘Overture to Henry V’, with its pre-echoes of William Walton’s later score.
That was followed by ‘Aurora Borealis’, which won top prize in the band's recent composition competition. It was good to see it getting an outing before such a large audience, and it is certainly a work that would benefit from repeated performances.
Introducing John Barber’s solo item (delivered with such authority especially in the high register), Allan Withington encouraged the audience to purchase it immediatley, although there appeared to be no one selling any when the break came. What a pity!
This was followed by ‘Paquito’, a cornet feature with some tricky unison figures handled with aplomb before a nicely-paced ‘The Lost Chord’ preceded their finale, the ‘Hungarian March’ from ‘The Damnation of Faust’, with crisp rhythms and finely-observed dynamics leading to an impressive climax.
Razor sharp Cory
Cory started with the colourful film score to ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ - its brilliant opening featuring prominent work on xylophone, before Tom Hutchinson was put through his paces with the Harry James take on ‘Carnival of Venice’ - a fine showcase for his razor sharp technique.
A real highlight though came with ‘Li’l Darlin’’; nicely laid back and unhurried, with Tom Hutchinson playing the harmon mute solo at the side of the stage in a gem of a performance.
Chris Thomas, whose section had made a fine impression in the contest, chose to play Henry Geehl’s ‘Romanza’, with its lovely sotto voce section enhanced by his wonderful control.
Cory closed with the ‘Finale’ from Rachmaninov’s ‘Piano Concerto No 3’, a tour de force that allowed for many notable individual contributions, not least from Richard Davies, Owen Farr and the flamboyant Steve Stewart on soprano.
Menace to close
Foden’s joined Cory for the massed finale, with a sparkling account of ‘Le Tricot Rouge’ revealing Wilfred Heaton’s individuality, particularly in the closing section, before a quieter interlude was provided by ‘Hymn to the Fallen’, with Tom Hutchinson and Mark Wilkinson playing the duet from the left stage balcony.
The afternoon ended with ‘Baba Yaga’ and ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ - making good use of all eight available percussionists and with real menace in the opening figures.
The breadth of sound towards the end was quite stunning, and the two soprano players seemed to be having great fun as they divided the work between them - leaving a lasting impression on a well satisfied near capacity audience.
Peter Bale
