Pemberton Green
19-Feb-2002
The Pemberton Old Wigan Band
Conductor: John Maines
Soloists: Joanne Ashley, Brian Halliwell, Stephen Hyde, Alec Timms, Claire Munford, Gareth Brindle
Amadeus Recordings: CD041
Total Playing Time: 65.45
Making a CD for any band let alone a lower section band is a huge undertaking at the best of times. Finding the money, the facilities to record in, making sure the players are all available for the recording and getting together a programme of music that will showcase your bands talents is very hard work. It may be easier if you are Black Dyke or YBS, but even they find the process exhausting, but when you are a lower section band with many other concerns on your agenda, releasing a quality CD to help raise both the profile of your band as well as raise all important funds is one heck of a task.
Pemberton Old Band is a famous old band with a glorious past (including a British Open title in 1903), but it's only since 1995 when they combined with the ailing Wigan and District band that they took the full name they use today and the bands fortunes improved dramatically. They now boast a very successful "B" band, have a thriving Junior outfit and have got a band club to boot, so things are certainly on the up. Based on the outskirts of Wigan, they have now built a very solid foundation for themselves and under the experienced baton of John Maines they seem set to enjoy a bright future. This CD release confirms that they are not short of talent.
17 lightweight tracks, carefully chosen to show off the bands strengths rather than expose their weaknesses is a good 65 minutes or so of music making and should hopefully bring in much needed revenue to the band coffers.
The title track is an upbeat march that celebrates not a patch of Wigan grassland, but a stalwart member, Derek Green who has put in over 40 years sterling service for the organisation and is rewarded with neat bit of playing for posterity, whilst the band continue on the same vein with a competent run through "Jubilee Overture" by Philip Sparke.
All the soloists perform very well indeed and all have a good sense of musical style to go with quality-rounded tones, whilst the cornet feature "Trumpets Wild" has lots of sparkle. We particularly liked Eric Ball's "Star Lake No. 2" which we heard for the first time performed by Grimethorpe after the British Open last year and is a quirky little number that comes across as something you wouldn't have expected from the great man and Alan Fernie's "Singing in the Rain" features a very good percussion team doing a pretty nice soft shoe shuffle a la Gene Kelly and not Eric Morecombe as many do it.
The other offerings reveal plenty of detailed playing and a welcome attention to dynamic detail, but a couple of items sound a little too hard for the band - Brave efforts though with lots of good individual playing and some of the items suffer a few blips and blobs that come with tired lips, but overall this is a well thought out extended concert programme.
Nicely produced by Amadeus and some excellent programme notes about the band and the contents. A real professional offering and a good example of how many bands should approach such a venture. Congratulations to one and all.
What's on this CD?
1. Pemberton Green, Maines, 2.512. Jubilee Overture, Sparke, 6.29
3. One Starlit Night, Hughes, 4.04
4. Divertissement, Ibert arr. Westwood, 1.37
5. Arioso, Bach arr. Snell, 3.23
6. One Day in Your Life, Brown and Armand, 5.02
7. Punchinello, Rimmer, 2.45
8. Hymn to the Fallen, Williams arr. Woude, 5.48
9. Trumpets Wild, Walters, 2.50
10. Romance From the Gadfly, Shostakovich, 3.08
11. Midwest, Richards, 3.00
12. Aubade, Sparke, 4.29
13. Victory from Cry of the Celts, Hardiman arr. Graham, 3.30
14. Irish Blessing, Bacak arr. Bradnum, 3.07
15. Star Lake No. 2, Eric Ball, 2.48
16. Singin’ In the Rain, Brown arr. Fernie, 4.24
17. Festive Overture, Shostakovich arr. Kitson, 6.24
Total Playing Time: 65.45
