Dobcross Silver Band

Conductor: Dennis Hadfield

Shaw Playhouse
19th September 2003

Saturday the 19th of September witnessed the Dobcross Silver band and the World Whistling Champion David Morris join up for a wonderful night of music. The intimate surroundings of the Shaw Playhouse was packed to standing room only, as the 300 plus audience enjoyed a night of breathtaking dexterity and technique, as well as sonorous sounds and an "on the edge of your seats" program, well chosen and directed by the band's Musical Director Dennis Hadfield.

After a brief introduction, David Morris introduced the band onto the stage, and they went straight into their signature march "Dobcross" by Alan Ingham. This ditty little march has become a huge hit with the audiences and it is easy to see why the band use this as a bright start their concerts. "The Force of Destiny" was the band's chosen overture and this highlighted the bands quality, as the music moved along. The big opening sounds were massive; the soloists on top of their game, and the band more than matched the technical difficulties faced by this wonderful piece of music by Verdi.

Rebecca Crawshaw is the band's soprano cornet player, and at just 15 years of age she has a great future ahead of her. She is currently the principal soprano for the NYBBGB and on this form it's not hard to see why. She chose to play "On with the Motley" and what an inspired choice it was. She had the audience at her mercy with her sweet sound and understanding for the instrument she plays. The band showed sensitive backing to a delightful performance, and one that she should be proud of. Rebecca is one to watch for in the future.

David Morris who already had the audience in fits of laughter during his introductions between pieces then took centre stage. Backed by a backing CD he had made, featuring his All Star Brass group that performed on his "Whistling down the wind" CD, he started with an exercise in triple tonguing called "Trumpet Triplets". This is amazing stuff folks. Anyone who can whistle in tune and with that sort of clarity is gifted. Every note was there and in tune. David then followed this up with the haunting and very emotional "Londonarry Air". This was beautiful. David produces a wonderful sound and this really added to the music.

Dobcross Silver then carried on with the Derek Borgeois musical joke "Serenade" which was written for a bride to march down the aisle to at a wedding, but it is written in such awkward time signatures, that the bride would end up limping down it. This is a very amusing piece of music and is a wonderful addition to the bands repertoire.

Principal cornet Laura Hirst wooed the audience with her technique and considerable skills with her rendition of Goedicke's highly demanding "Concert Study". Laura is an extremely talented cornet player who leads the band very well and it comes as no surprise that her name is being mentioned amongst the higher tiers of the banding world. The band then finished the first half in the same way they started, with a march. "Trelawny" is of Cornish origins though it also features the Grand old Duke of York. It is also as tricky as trying to eat spaghetti with a spoon and the band play this with relative ease. A great toe-tapping end to the first half.

The band opened the second half with Mephistopheles, and it was clear from the first four bars why the band has had a lot of success on the contesting area playing this march. The performance just oozed quality, with the bottom end showing what they can do to great effect. They then sunk their teeth into Tchaikowsky's "Capriccio Italien", which was once again very well tackled by the band. The big fanfare at the beginning screamed out and the sounds got bigger and bigger as each section came in. We were then treated to some wonderfully tuneful playing from the flugel, euphoniums, baritones and horns as the cornets and the bottom end kept the performance ticking over. This was well appreciated by the audience who enjoyed the bands rendition.

Carly Thorp then stood up to play the tenor horn solo "Who needs to dream" which is arranged by Dave Timmins. This was originally from Barry Manilow's "Copacabana". Carly has a wonderful sound and a very musical brain, allowing her to transport her feelings through the horn, which she does to great effect.

David Morris took the spot light again as he gave another tuneful performance, this time with " The sunshine of your smile". Most players would die to be able to play like he can whistle. He really is that good. And just to prove it he concluded with Monti's "Czardas". This was stunning and everyone knew it. He brought the house down. The band then took to the stage for one last time.

The trombone section were next up to play another band favourite, "The Blades of Toledo" by T.L Sharpe. This really brings home a taste of Spain and was given a wonderful reception as the trombones showed off to great effect. The bands penultimate item was the very rarely heard "Poem" by Fibiche. This requires some highly controlled, quiet and very sensitive playing and the band handled this really well bringing this wonderful old "yellow copy" music to life with Laura Hirst and Euphonium soloist John Collins once again shining through.

The band finished the program with Phillip Sparke's arrangement of the final two movements from Mussorgsky's "Pictures from an exhibition". With the first note startling some of the audience out of their seats, Baba Yaga went at a really high tempo and the band showed its real strengths. With some fine quality technical playing from all concerned the band showed that they are really capable of performing to the highest standard, before going into the Great Gates of Kiev.

The band showed why it is ranked as a highly placed championship standard band with a great show of stamina and sound for the final rousing cords to finish off an exhilarating concert that had been well directed through out the night by Dennis Hadfield. The audience wouldn't let the band go without playing an encore and so they chose their "other" signature tune, "Zambezi" This brought the house down again, and the band were given a rousing show of support as they left the stage.

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