St Kilda Brass Festive Brass
8-Dec-2006Saturday 2nd December saw St Kilda Brass give their final concert of 2006 at the Kings High School Performing Arts Auditorium and what a high note to finish on.
The concert started with the obligatory military like entrance of the band before the arrival of conductor Steve Miles and straight into Walter Hargreaves arrangement of Camille Saint-Saens French Military March from the Algerian Suite. The band showed a great sense of poise in this piece and some wonderful sounds, especially from the back row Cornets and Trombones.
Next came the evenings Overture which came in the form of Peter Kitson's arrangement of Shostakovich's Festive Overture. Written in the 1950's – when Shostakovich's compositional output was at an all time low due to a very heavy performance schedule. Shostakovich was commissioned to write the piece just 3 days before the first performance and the product, a very fine piece of music indeed. St Kilda Brass has obviously not been slacking off with the end of the year in sight as I don't think I have ever heard them on finer form than during this number. The technical brilliance of the soloists, the balance of sound and the pure excitement made this a pleasure to listen to.
John Lewis, who is no stranger to the Dunedin public chose to play William Himes' Jubilance. A cracker from the Salvation Army repertoire and John showed his usual mix of sublime technique and musicality. Then the first disappointment really of the evening as the Knox Church choir took to the stage or not! The choir was invited to take to the stage by the bands conductor Steve Miles and there seemed to be lack of communication somewhere along the line as it took literally 5 minutes for the choir to be in place, ready for the first carol Hark the Herald. This really was poor presentation and slowed down what so far had been a well paced concert.
The Knox Church Choir under Karen Knudson performed with a very beautiful, easy listening tone. This could have been enhanced by a little introduction to each piece though. Nevertheless, the choir displayed why they are a well known organization in Dunedin and it was impressive to see members as young as 6 or 7 and as old as 75+.
After the second carol The First Nowell came the finale to the first half, Phillip Sparke's Year of the Dragon. Written back in 1984 for the Cory band in Wales this piece is still a real tour de force for any band, full of venom and beauty. Again I was impressed by the performance and as the Otago Daily Times' Elizabeth Bouman put it; ‘The frantically busy contemporary Year of the Dragon abounded in energy, with conductor Miles in complete control of big bombastic blasts, subtle muted softs and everything in between. Great stuff!' - Elizabeth Bouman (Otago Daily Times)
I agree completely and Principal Trombonist Dr Dan Bendrups was in great form with his slightly jazzy interpretation of the solo in the 2nd movement. There were however, one or two moments of insecurity in the technical solo lines during the 3rd Movement, thankfully this was not enough to detract from a thrilling performance.
The second half was a little lighter and after the opening carol O Come all ye Faithful the band started into a number of pieces of music taken from films. First up was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed by For the Love of a Princess from Braveheart, opened beautifully by Marty Kibble on the Flugel Horn.
The guest soloist of the evening was Nigel Seaton, 10 time New Zealand Tuba Champion and Principal Tuba of the New Zealand National Band, Nigel had chosen to play Phillip Sparke's cheerful arrangement of The Sun Has Got His Hat On. This was just outstanding as Nigel covered more octaves on the Tuba than is supposed to be possible and with seemingly the greatest of ease. To encore the solo Nigel invited his wife Cyrenne Seaton to join him in Steve Miles arrangement of Dueling Bombardons (theme music from the film Deliverance). Outstanding technique on display once again, together with some light musical humor during the initial cadenza. I love the way the banjo style was created in the accompaniment!
The Knox Church Choir took to the stage once again for a shorter set with a number of sing along Christmas tunes for the audience before the band continued their film theme with Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter.
Before the band played their last number tribute was paid to St Kilda Trombonist Alan Briesman. 80 years of age and still playing regularly with the band – an incredible achievement.
Tribute was also paid to Steve Miles and Gina Todd for their forthcoming wedding on the 9th December. This bodes well for St Kilda Brass as it will probably keep Steve in Dunedin for a little while longer!
The finale of the concert was The Gael from the film Last of the Mohicans. Some lovely balanced sounds again from the band with a nice touch added by the electric keyboard playing various different voices throughout. Some very nimble Horn playing was a feature through the middle section and the power of full band, Electric Keyboard and 3 Percussionists was awesome. I don't think the building (or my ears) could have taken much more! Great stuff!
A much requested encore came in the form of Shostakovich's Folk Festival which put the talents of the Cornet section on display once more. Exciting stuff which left me very satisfied but wanting more! Well done St Kilda and roll on 2007.
Sean McDonald
Dunedin
