Army Band concert at Town Hall

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 8

Army Band concert at Town Hall

The New Zealand Army Band, conducted by Captain P. C. Milner and Warrant Officer G. A. Bremner, at the Christchurch Town Hall Auditorium, July 19, 8 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman.

Once again that troupe of energetic entertainers, the New Zealand Army Band, has triumphed. The band’s vigorous performance on Saturday evening sent a capacity crowd home full of cheer, audibly humming in appreciation.

I certainly caught myself whistling the scut-tle-them-at-Perth version of “Pokarekare Ana” that was used to close the concert I can still taste the patriotic syrup on my lips. The reasons for the popularity of the band are not difficult to pinpoint. The musicians play tunes many people want to hear, they play them well, and they overlay their musical spit and polish with lashings of visual tomfoolery. Usually their aim at the lowest common denominator has the accuracy of a heat-seeking missile. Only once. or twice on Saturday was it short of

the mark. “Gossamer Wump” was a laboured musical tale of a virtuoso triangle player. It followed the rise and fall of Wump’s career, and trousers, with heavyhanded humour and ageing Disney sound effects.

It was a silly piece, one that consistently failed to draw the laughs it was so obviously straining for. “Ave Maria,” a piece that usually entrances young and old alike, was spoilt by some rowdy, badly tuned lines from the

synthesiser. These bleak spots were easily compensated for by the warmth and carefully directed energy displayed elsewhere in the programme. The highlights of the concert were many. With “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” the band showed itself capable of producing an infectious swing sound. In Friedmann’s “Slavonic Rhapsody No. 1“ and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” it proved again its mastery of the traditional concert brass band repertoire. The collective tone was sweet, the entries confi-

dent, and the sense of ensemble playing impeccable. I question, however, the use of such super charged explosives in the Overture. With so many elderly people in the audience it was a wonder that the barrage of landmines did not trigger a cardiac arrest. A number of pieces presented featured solos by members of the band. Perhaps the most promising of these was the xylophone solo in “Czardus,” played with commendable sense of style by Andrew Raines. Of all the virtues of the band’s sound, it was that of versatility that contributed the most to the success of the entertainment An ability to sing is not a skill normally expected of a brass player. Yet with satisfactory tone and tidy pitching, the ensemble gave an accomplished choral rendition of “Cavatina.” Elsewhere, various band members offered well modulated vocal contributions. The most striking of these was undoubtedly the Manhatten Transfer medley, slickly dispatched by The Operators, a .quartet of quality singers/