Glittering brass concert

Press, 29 November 1976, Page 6

Glittering brass concert

The visual glitter and sparkle of a concert brass band under bright lights was duplicated musically by the Skellerup Woolston Band in! the Town Hall last evening. Thirty-five maroon dinnerjacketed bandsmen under the musical direction of Mervyn Waters enthralled a small audience of enthusiasts.

whose applause belied their numbers. A vivacious, fast-moving polonaise from RimskyKorsakov’s opera "Christmas Night” set the initial mood, ■quickly contradicted by the .solemn pomp of the prelude I to "Dream of Gerontius” by ! Elgar. Handel’s majestic "Messiah” provided two choruses — ’Worthy is the Lamb” and ("Amen" — arranged by Ball, ,and conveying all the suppressed passion of the .original. Two guest artists, Dobbs Franks and Ruth Pearl, introduced a contrast to the essentially extroverted brass band sound, with two pieces ■by the American composer Aaron Copland. Ruth Pearl’s violin delicately expressed the gentle subdued nature of “Nocturne," with Franks at the piano. Then, from the sublime to the apparently 'ridiculous — Copland’s deliblerately discordant “Ukelele Serenade.” written to be played off-key. ‘•Tombstone Arizona,” a concert overture by another American, Gareth Wood, maintained the contemporary

itrend when the brass resumed to the stage. A lighter vein was introduced after the interval, with a march, “Sospan Fach;” a euphonium solo by Bob Neil, “I dream of Jeannie;” and the traditional melody “Blow the wind southerly.” Ruth Pearl and Dobbs Franks then reappeared with I four pieces by Dvorak, beIfore startling the audience [with another sudden change of mood: Scott Joplin’s “Pineapple Rag.” Finally, the band brought the evening to a climax with “Fantasia in F Minor” by Mozart, arranged by Sir Malcolm Sargent. —Mark Bensemann