Mayor’s Charity Concert

Hadleigh Temple Band
Bandmaster Ken Hillson
Hadleigh Temple Timbrels (Irene Ivory), Trillogy
Hadleigh Temple,
Saturday 1st March

To raise money for the Mayor of Castle Point’s charity fund, Hadleigh Temple Band presented what Bandmaster Hillson assured them would be the very last “Last Night of the Proms” evenings they would undertake.  

The occasion had additional significance in that the current Mayor, Councillor Beverley Egan, holds the position of Director of Social Services for The Salvation Army in the London North East Division, having previously been in charge of the Hadleigh Training Centre.  Supporting the band were Hadleigh Temple Timbrel Brigade, led by Irene Ivory, and popular vocal trio Trillogy, consisting of Vanessa Cozens, Hilary Pell and Colleen Elvidge, ably accompanied by Andrew Palmer at the piano, with Hadleigh bandsman Anthony Sommerville assisting on percussion.
 
Fine work

The programme commenced with the march “Britannia”, written by Canadian Salvationist Kenneth Smith, but featuring a number of familiar patriotic melodies including the prominent use of “God bless the Prince of Wales”, particularly fitting for a concert taking place on St David’s Day!  There was some fine work by Keith Johnston on cornet and from the band’s five-strong trombone section, although there was a tendency for the band to rush a little.
 
The band continued with the second part of Bramwell Coles’ arrangement “Treasures from Tchaikovsky”, which features the slow movement from his “Symphony No 4” and the march from the 3rd movement of “Symphony No 6, the Pathetique”.  Anthony Sommerville’s sensitive playing of the euphonium solo in the former was one of the high points of the evening, whilst the band generated a real sense of excitement in the latter.
 
Opera

Trillogy’s contributions were predominantly from the world of opera, commencing with “Love is where you find it”, from “The Kissing bandit” by Nacio.  The Spanish feel was enhanced by the contribution of Anthony Sommerville, initially on tambourine before switching seamlessly to side drum.  They followed this with an extract from “The Maids of Cadiz”, by Delibes.  Singing in French, the interchange between the parts was very effective, and typified the slick presentation of the group.  For their third item, they commandeered Hadleigh Bandmaster Ken Hillson, press-ganging him into playing the role of Count Eisenstein in “Die Fledermaus” as they presented the “Laughing Song”.  With the assistance of masks they flirted with him outrageously, and he ended up as red as the tunics of the bandsmen seated behind him!
 
The band’s featured soloist for the evening was euphonium player Bram Chestney, playing Chris Mallett’s “Travelling along”.  This lively solo calls for considerable agility from the soloist, as well as exploiting the upper register in particular.  From the initial ascending scales against the band’s fortepiano chords through the smooth rendition of “Sunshine” in the central section, and on to the final top note, Bram demonstrated consummate control over the instrument and a warm, rich tone.
 
Full throated

The timbrels’ first half display was to Arthur Gullidge’s lilting 6/8 march “Emblem of the Army”, taken at a cracking pace but kept well under control by the Bandmaster.  As always this item went down very well with the capacity audience.  This was followed by a full-throated rendition of “Cwm Rhondda”, accompanied by the piano to allow the bandsmen to join in the singing, before Heather Sheldon shared some thoughts from scripture.  Heather, who has recently relinquished her position in the police force to enter full-time service with The Salvation Army, used the story of a young girl buying back a boat she had made but lost, to illustrate the Easter Message with reference to John 3:16.
 
The West End Stage was represented by the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. “The Music of the Night“, from “Phantom of the Opera”, was played in an arrangement by the Bandmaster of the Chicago Staff Band, William Himes, the band making the most of the lush harmonies and contrasting dynamics.

1812
 
The band closed the first half with the last section of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” , written to commemorate Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in that year, defeated as much by the Russian winter as by the efforts of her armies.  The middle of the band came into its own, with its enlarged horn and baritone sections, whilst the percussion section did their best to depict the thundering of the cannons towards the end, even if the glockenspiel was a rather light-weight substitute for the tubular bells of the original.
 
The second half opened with Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No 1”, with the familiar words “Land of Hope and Glory”.  Although the audience – as usual! – failed to heed the directions as to when they should hum and when they should sing, they joined in most enthusiastically, earning a well-deserved reprise of the last section.
 
Build up of nerves

Introducing Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”, Bandmaster Hillson explained about the prominent piccolo solo, and how although the brass band did not have any piccolos, the audience should watch out for that section of the march.  When it came to it, soprano cornettist Dave Harrison overcame any build-up of nerves as he stood up at the appropriate point to do the honours.
 
The second item from the timbrels was presented not to band accompaniment, but to a tape of Jools Holland and his band playing “Rock me!”  Standing in the aisles down either side of the hall placed the players right in the middle of the audience as they gave a new twist to a very old expression of praise.
 
There was more music from the classics, with the “Largo” from Dvorak’s “Symphony No 9 (From the New World)”, drawn from the selection “Gems from the Masters” arranged by Albert Jakeway.  This extended extract included some lightly-scored passages that left the band slightly exposed, and all the dove-tailing of parts did not always come off as it should, but there was some particularly fine playing from Brendan Still on horn and Alex Campbell on flugel.

Tribute
 
In what could have been seen as another tribute to St David’s Day, given Wales’ current standing in the Six Nations, Trillogy presented “World in Union”, commencing with only bongos as accompaniment, before their talented pianist Andrew joined in.  This was followed by Arthur Sullivan’s “Three little maids from school”, complete with Japanese fans and suitable choreography, although it did seem strange to have a silent bar where the bassoon (or euphonium) feature usually occurs. 
 
They next commenced a sequence of vocal exercises until called to order by Andrew at the piano, whereupon they moved into “I want to sing in opera” (Worton David and George Arthurs), complete with exaggerated vibrato and extravagant gestures, and including the immortal line 'Signor Caruso told me that I should do so'!  Their final item, the 'Waltz song' from Gounod’s 'Romeo and Juliet' showed just how well their hours of rehearsal had paid off, as they vied with one another, jumping in to complete phrases and each trying to upstage the next.
 
Opportunity

Strauss’s 'Radetsky March' provided the audience with a further opportunity to clap and stamp their feet before the final sequence began.  Henry Wood’s “Fantasia on British Sea Songs” has been a traditional part of the “Last Night”, although in recent years the BBC has chosen to replace certain well-loved passages with rather incongruous folk-songs from around the UK.  On this occasion, however, the audience could relish “Farewell and adieu to you fine Spanish ladies” and “Tom Bowling” along with the rest. 

Spanish Ladies

After “Spanish Ladies”, played by a quartet of flugel and three trombones, the euphonium cadenza was a team effort: first a display of circular breathing from Anthony Sommerville, which left the Bandmaster wondering if the music was ever going to move on, then various melodies played by Anthony and his colleagues Bram Chestney and Chris Carter, home for the weekend from his studies with David Thornton.  Having gone through various pedal notes, chords and squeaks – not forgetting Anthony’s regimental march, “British Grenadiers” the band was eventually able to continue into “Home sweet home”. 
 
A pause at the end of “Lo, the conquering Hero” allowed for the entry of Trillogy, resplendent in Union Jack hats and sashes, for a trio rendition of “Rule Britannia”. Taking a verse each, with the audience joining in the chorus, an encore saw the three of them joining together before being presented with flowers by members of Hadleigh Temple’s Singing Company.
 
Albert Jakeway’s transcription of Parry’s “Jerusalem” may lack the sweeping strings of Elgar’s version, but it seemed to matter little as the hall echoed to Blake’s stirring and challenging words before the evening closed with the audience rising to their feet once more to sing Frank Wright’s setting of “The National Anthem”, preceded by a fanfare for the whole band.
 

Peter Bale

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