Cambridge Heath Brass & Sutton Coldfield Chamber Choir

Brass, Voices & Flowers for a Summer Evening
Conductors: Roy Terry & Gordon Thornett
Soloist: Alwyn Green
Emmanuel Church
Wylde Green
Saturday 26th June

On one of the warmest days of the year a near capacity audience gathered in Emmanuel Church for a concert in aid of the Leprosy Mission.

It had been arranged by area co-ordinator, Allister du Plessis, a one-time member of Cambridge Heath Brass. The band shared the programme with the Sutton Coldfield Chamber Choir, formed ten years ago by their conductor Gordon Thornett, who himself had links with Cambridge Heath in the past.

The evening took place during the church’s Flower Festival, the aroma of the floral displays adding to the atmosphere.

African links

The band opened with Donald Osgood’s march ‘Motondo’, an especially apposite choice given that it was written for an international Scout gathering in Africa. The inclusion of the Sunday school chorus, ‘Travel Along in the Sunshine’ seemed appropriate, both with regards to the weather and the distances people had travelled in order to take part.

Hymn references

Roy Terry had chosen a programme with references to hymn tunes that would be familiar to a non-Salvationist audience, and followed with William Himes’ expressive setting of ‘Nicaea’ featuring Kevin Bradley with the cornet obligato.

The international link continued with New Zealander Thomas Rives’ ‘A Pilgrim Song’.

This set of variations is based on the tune ‘Monk’s Gate’, originally a folksong entitled ‘Our Captain calls all Hands’, but renamed by Vaughan Williams when he set it to John Bunyan’s words, ‘He who would valiant be’.

This music sounded effective in the resonant church acoustic, especially the central chaconne, although a couple of uncertain entries at one point threatened to derail the performance.

Choral classics

The layout of the church was such that the band had to squeeze in between the choir stalls, making for a rather deeper formation than usual, whilst the chamber choir were spread out to either side in front of the band.

This arrangement did not prove too unsettling, and may even have added to the impact of some of the antiphonal writing.

Four items

Their first four items were all taken from the classics and sung in the original languages, a translation being provided in the programme.

Bruckner’s short motet ‘Locus Iste’ was followed by Durufle’s  ‘Ubi Caritas’, both sung in Latin, whilst Faure’s ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ was presented in French, its sustained lines coming over particularly well.

For their fourth item, Monteverdi’s ‘Beatus Vir’, the choir was joined by Sarah Thornett and Peter Meltzer (violins), Mark Walkem (cello) and Bernard Salter (organ).

Tuba classic

Playing bass trombone with the band was Alwyn Green, recently retired from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra but still apparently as busy as ever.

He was featured in Leslie Condon’s ‘Celestial Morn’, receiving a beautifully lyrical and expansive reading proving that in the right hands it is well suited to the trombone.

The work calls for interplay between soloist and band and the slightly steadier tempos seemed to reach to the heart of the music in what can sometimes appear to be little more than a technical exercise.

Gloria

To end the first half, band and choir combined in ‘Gloria’ written by Gordon Thornett and specially arranged for the occasion.

Despite the rhythmic complexities of the music and the limited rehearsal time, the piece worked well, after an abortive start.

Choir and band frequently alternated with one another, and the placing of the choir in front of the brass ensured the voices were not overwhelmed, although the layout did mean that the timpani player was further away from the conductor than one would have wanted.

Isle of Man via Hollywood

The second half started with the stirring march ‘Youth Undaunted’, written by Gordon Thornett’s brother, David.

Bruce Broughton, probably best known for his writing for film and television, wrote ‘The Good Old Way’ back in 1972, but it has stood the test of time well.

A lively and somewhat quirky setting of the Manx revival hymn ‘O Good Old Way, How Sweet Thou Art’ it makes striking use of the tone colours available in the brass band, effectively dividing the basses at times, employing canon and crisp rhythmic figures to good effect.

Laid-back solo

For Alwyn Green’s second item he presented his own arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust’. Originally written for ten-piece brass ensemble but subsequently reworked for full band, it featured Kevin Bradley (cornet) and Paul Williams (flugel), complementing the laid-back playing of Alwyn himself.

More from the choir

After an appeal on behalf of the Leprosy Mission, the choir brought another five items, commencing with the Elizabethan motet  ‘All Creatures New’ and Stanford’s popular ‘The Blue Bird’, which featured the soprano voice of Jane Firth, soaring over the divided voices of the choir.

Thornett’s own setting of  ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ called for some particularly controlled singing in the high tenor line, whilst former King’s Singer Bob Chilcott’s take on  ‘O Danny Boy’ for piano and choir was somewhat reminiscent at times of Benjamin Britten, especially when the piano seemed to wend its own way quite independent of the vocal writing.

They then closed their set with some close harmony work in Jerome Kern’s  ‘The Way You Look Tonight’.

Organ-like sounds

The final item was ‘Prelude and Fugue: Arise, My Soul, Arise’, based around the tune ‘Darwalls’, which many in the audience would have associated with the hymn ‘Ye Holy Angels Bright’.

Cambridge Heath Brass could have been forgiven for thinking they were once again at the Watchnight Service at St Paul’s Cathedral as the organ-like sounds echoed round the church.

Event organiser Allister du Plessis offered a vote of thanks, not only to the participants but also to the audience who had come out on such a gorgeous evening, and then choir and band came together again to present  ‘The Lord Bless You and Keep You’.

It had been an enjoyable evening raising money for a very worthwhile cause, and served to dispel any thoughts of England’s forthcoming encounter with Germany. (Well, almost all, anyway!)

Peter Bale

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