Reg Vardy Band

Conductor: Graham Tindall
Leeds International Concert Season
Best of Brass series
Morley Town Hall
Saturday 27th October

The Reg Vardy Band had the honour of giving the opening concert in this new series sponsored by Leeds City Council. 

Grandest

The 2011 Grand Shield champions opened up with the grandest of all contest marches, ‘Ravenswood’ by William Rimmer - played at a nice tempo, whilst the tricky overture to the opera ‘Die Fledermaus’ that followed revealed some splendid ensemble and solo work, with the delicate waltz structures performed with wit and delicacy.

Splendid form

Principal cornet Mike Lumsdon was on splendid form with a rousing ‘Cleopatra’ before being joined for a real whip through the old trio standard of ‘Trumpets Wild’ – delivered with just the right amount of excitable aplomb.

Music by Salvationist composer Kenneth Downie with, ‘In Perfect Piece’ provided a lovely contrast, whilst there was a slightly quirky sense of style to the rather quick romp through Alan Catherall’s clever take on ‘Oklahoma!’

Composed

Flugel soloist Stephen King was a wonderfully composed voice on ‘Be Thou My Vision’, played with subtle phrasing and warm tonality, whilst the first half closed with a touch of fruity South American tango and a reminder of the great tunes of the Broadway show ‘On the Town’.

‘Olympic Theme and Fanfare’ opened the second half - not surprising after the events the year, whilst the trombone solo ‘Autumn Leaves’ was given a suave rendition by Kevin Chisholm – a great contrast to the rasping glory of ‘Frolic for Trombones’ that joyfully followed!

Balanced

The hymn tune ‘Horsley’ named after a village in Hampshire produced some of the warmest, beautifully balanced playing of the evening, before the rousing Sousa march ‘Nobles of the Mystic Shrine’ injected pace and purpose into proceedings.

Paul Robinson gave an excellent account of the timeless favourite ‘Grandfathers Clock’ – played with just the right appreciation of tasteful artistry and technical wizardry before a large dollop of audience participation came with the crunching lollipop of ’Monstrous Munch’.

Spirit

The old upbeat arrangement of Bach’s ‘Toccata in D Minor’ was played with spirit and stamina before a neat encore of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ rounded off a highly entertaining, and very well delivered concert by a band that was on cracking form all night.  

David Tinker

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