Old Hall Brass

Conductor: John North
Southport Little Theatre
Saturday 4th July

As an ex-player with Old Hall, I have to say I am a biased listener, and I went to Southport expecting to be royally entertained. I was not disappointed.

Varied selection

The programme contained a varied selection of music that was well-chosen for the band. John North is an excellent conductor and his linking jokes and patter joined the music together like a thread in a tapestry.
 
The soloists in the band coped very well, giving particularly well-rounded performances of such favourites as ‘Blaydon Races’ and ‘Georgia On My Mind’.

Pleased

I was especially pleased with Sue Sudworth’s rendition of ‘Goodbye to Love’. She has transformed from a particularly expressive solo baritone to a wonderfully warm and tender solo horn.
 
The first half of the programme could have been written with me in mind – traditional, but with a twist.

Favourite

The ‘Victory March’ from ‘Lord Of The Dance’ is an unusual opening march and it was followed by the not too frequently played ‘Nabucodonosor’ overture by Verdi.

After the solo by Sue came ‘Jurassic Park’ and my favourite piece of the first half, ‘You Raise Me Up’, in a rather stunning arrangement by Andrew Duncan. There was barely a dry seat in the house after that one.

Matthew Smalley, an ex-pupil, played a fantastic rendition of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ and then followed a really jolly version of Stevie Wonder’s classic ‘Sir Duke’. Vaughan Williams’ rarely performed ‘Henry the Fifth’ closed the first half.
 
Lighter music

The second half featured much lighter music which gave the band chance to show off their more modern side.

A rock version of ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’, which I have to admit I didn’t like. Then the band showed their vocal talents by singing ‘'Happy Birthday’ for Harold Turpin - whose birthday it was - and who's been at every one of Old Hall's Southport Concerts.

This then led into ‘Blaydon Races’ – a very old favourite of mine and which was played with verve and flair by John Sudworth.

Wallowing

Philip Wilby’s arrangement of ‘St Clement’, which also features the euphonium prominently, followed and I found myself wallowing in the band’s sound, as the acoustic of the Little Theatre really suited their playing of that piece.

A very old arrangement of ‘West Side Story’ themes came next and, as usual, I found myself tapping along and humming the tunes.

After a bit of light relief with ‘Abba Goes Brass’ and ‘The Lone Arranger 2 Goes Brass’  (I counted 27 different tunes) the band finished off the evening with the brass band classic arrangement of ‘Nimrod’ and ‘Slaughter On 10th Avenue’ arranged by Sandy Smith.

All in all a very satisfying programme of music and entertainment.

Mike Lyons

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