Transports of Delight

Saturday 25 November 2006

Kennington Village Hall, Oxfordshire

In 2003 we performed a programme cunningly entitled Around the World in 80 Minutes, so you might be expecting a re-run of that event tonight. However, where our previous concert focused on actual geographical locations, tonight’s programme examines instead the actual means of getting from one place to another.

Clearly we ought to start our exploration of this theme with walking: man has spent far more of history using this mode of transport than any other. Not entirely predictably we feature instead In the Steppes of Central Asia, a paean to the camel, the obstreperous oriental beast of burden that nonetheless inspires exotic images (especially, as here, when seen in the distance). We cycle (oh, what a dreadful pun) through most other forms of transport that have shaped the development of civilisation, including the bicycle itself (represented by the theme from Il Postino. The postman is surely the archetypal cycle user).

Victory at Sea recalls the scale of the Pacific Ocean battles of the Second World War, while our Titanic selection brings with it a lesson in hubris and nemesis. Still, it always goes down well! If only the iceberg had been closer to shore, possibly Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Padstow Lifeboat could have saved more lives. This jaunty march is a fitting tribute, we think, to the composer who sadly died this year, just before his 85th birthday.

Trains are well thought of by composers, and we feature Vivian Ellis’ Coronation Scot and Nigel Hess’ Stephenson’s Rocket in this category. But we all know that in the 20th century the railways were superseded by the ubiquitous motor car and we have a little section devoted to this remarkable contraption. The aeroplane is almost as old as the motor car and we briefly examine the upper reaches of the atmosphere before making it into space – a most fruitful area of endeavour in fiction, if not fact. Space and Beyond brings our little jaunt to a stellar conclusion, and where in the 2003 concert we came home by bus, in the shape of Goff Richards’ sprightly Doyen, this time we open our concert with it.

Doyen – GOFF RICHARDS
In the Steppes of Central Asia – ALEKSANDR BORODIN
Coronation Scot – VIVIAN ELLIS
Stephenson’s Rocket – NIGEL HESS
The Padstow Lifeboat – Sir MALCOLM ARNOLD
Titanic: Selections from the fi lm score – JAMES HORNER
Themes from Victory at Sea – RICHARD RODGERS
Travel Notes – RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Lazy Walk – JOHN HALTON
The Devil’s Galop – CHARLES WILLIAMS
Model ‘T’ – SAMMY NESTICO
Morning Commuter – CHARLES RICHARD SPINNEY
Il Postino – LUIS BACALOV
Thunderbirds: music from the TV series – BARRY GRAY
Space & Beyond – arr. JOHN MOSS

Music For A Summer Evening

Saturday 3 June 2006

Silk Hall, Radley College, Nr. Abingdon

Welcome to Radley College’s splendid Silk Hall for this joint concert of music for band and for male voices. We’re sure you’ll all find something to your taste in a varied programme which shows off the best of the Abingdon Concert Band and the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir. The concert concludes with the band and choir working together in a brace of favourite Welsh tunes, and we hope to hear you joining in with the rousing Cwm Rhondda.

It was a real headache to decide which band pieces to include. Most are selections from recent concerts and we had as many more again which we just didn’t have room for. If you’re hearing the band for the first time I hope this programme will tempt you to come and listen to us again. Likewise, I’m sure the choir will make new friends with their choices tonight.

We’ve tried to arrange the running order to minimise as much of the getting on and off stage as we can. Please bepatient if it takes a moment or two for us to get ready to play or sing. The results, I know, will be worth waiting for!

Relax, sit back, and enjoy a programme of Music for a Summer Evening.

Overture: The Impresario – WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Singin’ in the Rain – NACIO HERB BROWN
Aubade from Illyrian Dances GUY WOOLFENDEN
The Typewriter – LEROY ANDERSON
Broadway Showstoppers – arr. WARREN BARKER
Salute to Ol' Blue Eyes – arr. JOHN MOSS
Pilgrims’ March from Italian Symphony – FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Phantom of the Opera – ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
Bohemian Rhapsody QUEEN, – arr. ALAN CATHERALL
Calon Lân
Cwm Rhondda

Broadway Showstoppers

Saturday 18 March 2006

Abingdon Bapist Church

Our programme tonight has developed in twists and turns since we came up with the title for the Abingdon Festival Brochure. We decided that playing selections from ten musicals in a row would be a bit too much, and I took that as a reason to include something closer to original music for winds.

We celebrate Mozart 250 with a selection of pieces from The Magic Flute - definitely the equivalent of a Broadway show of the time, including the Queen of the Night's spectacular 'rage' aria. This is a contemporary version for the Harmonie, the 18th century forerunner of today's concert band.

Other non-Broadway items include the lovely Entr'acte from Philip Sparke's Theatre Music and Guy Woolfenden's Illyrian Dances – based on music he wrote for the RSC's Twelfth Night. But the stars today are the great musicals, and we have samples from Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Kander and Ebb, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Claude-Michel Schönberg, covering the gamut of musicals over the last half-century.

I decided not to go further back than this because of the wealth of newer material to choose from, and some of the music from older shows and operettas is not very suitable for modern wind bands to perform. However, if you feel cheated by the lack of older works, you will be pleased to know that future plans include a nautically-themed concert, "All at Sea", which will cover some of them.

So, everything we play tonight has a strong connection with the theatre. I hope our departures into opera and straight theatre add an extra dimension to the concert for you.

Overture: Broadway Showstoppers – arr. WARREN BARKER
My Fair Lady – FREDERICK LOEWE
Illyrian Dances – GUY WOOLFENDEN
Chicago – JOHN KANDER
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue – RICHARD ROGERS
The Magic Flute – WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART arr. by Josef Heidenreich
Phantom of the Opera – ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
Entr'acte from Theatre Music – PHILIP SPARKE
Miss Saigon – CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG

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