Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland

A Centenary Gala Celebration
Royal Albert Hall
Friday 29th April
Band of the Scots Guards, Major R J Owen
Band of the Coldstream Guards, Major G O Jones

Coldstram Guards

For 100 years Rotary International has been raising money for charitable causes.  In the British Isles alone, £20 million was raised last year.  For an organisation like this a 100 year celebration would have to be big and the players for this celebration included the Band of the Scots Guards and the Band of the Coldstream guards.

The concert began in full force with 'Fanfare trumpets and Organ' (David Bell) accompanying the band to 'Fanfare and National Anthem' (arr. Gordon Jacob).  The visual display of the fanfare trumpets marching on with their bright red uniforms and trademark bear skin hats was as powerful a visual treat as the was the ensemble.

Frank Renton then took over the role as compere.  I would say he was in rare form tonight, but Frank is always quite clever and entertaining.  In his opening remarks to introduce 'Festive Overture' (Shostakovich), he suggested than it was appropriate to play it because of the impending general election and the fact that Festive Overture had originally been written for the Bolshevik Revolution.  From the start, the brilliance of the fanfare trumpets and the rock solid tempos (even when basses were on the off-beats) showed why these are some of the finest bands in the Great Britain.  I even started to think that a string bass would be a nice addition to a brass band after hearing how well it blended with the tubas, euphoniums and bass trombone on various occasions.

For her first feature of the evening, Mezzo-soprano Heather Boyd sang 'Aria Voi Che Sapete' from the 'Marriage of Figaro' (Mozart arr. Renton).  Her beautiful voice ascended through the hall, while the lovely woodwind accompaniment (did I just say lovely woodwind?) kept the pulse with some well played arpeggios.

After a few heavy numbers Echoes of an Era. 'The Beatles' (arr. John Higgins) was a welcome addition to the programme.  The piece start with the trumpet section featured in ‘With a Little Help'.  After hearing the power and edge of the fanfare trumpets earlier, it wsa nice to hear a mellow, much softer and controlled tone they supplied in playing the melody.

The brass solos were not finished though.  A French horn played ‘Lucy in the Sky' (although it lacked some emotion without vibrato), and there was a euphonium and piccolo trumpet solo in ‘Penny Lane' .

The trombones took over the melody later in the piece and did not sound spectacular in unison.  However, once it broke out in to 3 part harmony it was quite a fat, in-tune sound (perhaps part of that was a function of having parts double with 6 trombones).  There was a nice flugel solo and in ‘When I'm 64' the solo trombone had a nice background filler.  The woodwinds were featured in ‘My Michelle' and the brass had very clean pyramids in transitioning to ‘Eleanor Rigby'.  The piece wrapped up with ‘Yellow Submarine' and the finale ‘Hey Jude'.  ‘Hey Jude' began with a jazzy trombone solo that may have been a bit out of character, but the smooth tone of the trombone made up for that.

Since the chosen charity of the evening was Leukaemia Research, the world famous Calendar Girls took the stage for a brief interview by Frank Renton.  They later lead the hall in the singing of 'Jerusalem' (Parry arr. Elgar).

When the concert resumed to full force euphonium soloist John Storey (of the Coldstream Guards) took the stage to play 'Bravura' (Peter Graham).  John had a clear full sound and the clarity was evident even in the fastest of passages.  They ease with which played the octave jumps throughout the piece were dazzling as was the resonance with which he filled the hall during the cadenza.  His vibrato was very controlled and not over done and fit the wind band sound.  John is truly one of the hidden gems in the euphonium world, possible only because he has not chosen to play in the top brass bands.

Heather Boyd returned to the stage to perform 'Habanera' from 'Carmen' (Bizet arr. Renton).  The bassoon set the mood at the beginning and the brass section did a splendid job playing their four note exclamation points at the end of the musical phrases.  While some might argue that Heather's singing was not quite as lovely as it had been earlier, I enjoyed seeing her ‘acting' the part even if it did come at an expense to her tone.

The fanfare trumpets and organ returned to close the first half with 'Coronation March', 'Crown Imperial' (Walton).  Unfortunately, this piece didn't seem to lock in quite as well as the others, but the strong ending made up for it.

The second half of the concert kicked off with a a marching display by the Coldstream Guards to 'Fanfare for a Festival' (Malcolm Arnold) and then 'Stars and Stripes' (Sousa).  It was great to see this group in action.  Both pieces were accompanied by the fanfare trumpets.

The band then played Music from 'Les Miserables' (Schoenberg).  The basses provided warm, well-tuned chords for the rest of the band to play above, including the French horns which had some lovely moments.  Heather Boyd returned to sing ‘I Dreamed a Dream'.  Her singing was once again wonderful and brought back memories of the Broadway Show.

In the 'Finale' from Symphony No. 3 - 'The Organ Symphony'  (Saint-Saens arr. Slocum)  the power of the organ was displayed.  It was a good thing there were two bass trombones in the band to balance the sound!  The piece felt like it ran a bit long as it lacked some sparkle.

Next was the 'Variations on The Carnival of Venice' (Giulio Briccialdi).  This version was quite unique as it featured a flute soloist.  The flute soloist put out a wonderful sound and dazzled the audience with the double tonguing and fast fingers only a true virtuoso could have.  Unfortunately, on a few occasions, some of the finer details in his performance were covered up by the band being just a bit too loud.

The band concluded the main portion of the concert with the 'Rotary Centenary March' (Peter Graham). This piece was especially commissioned for the event and can be found on the recently recorded ‘Essential Dyke Volume V – Celebrate Rotary' CD.

There was a short break at this point in the evening as the President of RIBI, Gordon McInally, announced that Rotary International were presenting a £40,000 check to Leukemia Research.

Finally, the flag waving, patriotic portion of the concert began with 'Fantasia on British Sea Songs' (Sir Henry Wood).  There was a well played violin solo that got the audience clapping along.  The audience was then invited join Heather Boyd in singing 'Rule Britannia' (Arne arr. Sargeant) and 'Land of Hope and Glory - Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1' (Elgar).  Both were enjoyed so much that they were repeated so the audience could sing another verse.

While the massed bands provided a very good musical performance, I think it may have been all of the featured personnel (the organist, the vocal and instrumental solos, the fanfare trumpets, guest speakers and the compere) that made the concert an extra special event.  It is really a shame that Rotary International can only have a centenary concert of this calibre once every hundred years!

Patrick Herak

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