Under the direction of newly appointed resident conductor Stig Maersk, this enjoyable concert was based on the musical theme of ‘East Meets West’, and opened with Shostakovich's ‘Festive Overture’ played with plenty of brio and free flowing style.
Principal cornet Alex Foy Kerwin, then delivered a waspish account full of colour and texture of ‘Slavische Fantasie’ by Hohne, which segued neatly into more Russian melody making with the famous ‘Adagio’ from ‘Spartacus’ and the frenetic ‘Folk Festival’.
Green with envy
‘From Russia with Love’ was superbly sung by band member Iben Maersk in a rendition that would have made Matt Monroe green with envy, whilst Dvorak’s ‘Slavonic Dance No 8’ led into an upbeat version of the Russian National Anthem entitled ‘Glasnost’ by Dizzy Stratford.
The first half finished with the exciting ‘Coronation Scene from Boris Godunov’ by Mussorgsky.
Move east
The musical move to the opposite side of the Iron Curtain saw Hepworth open the second half with Irving Berlin’s ‘No Business like Show Business’, before Mike Kilroy rolled back the years with a wonderfully controlled performance of ‘La Belle Americaine’.
The beautiful ‘Shenandoah’ brought a nice aura of calm to the evening before the upbeat ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.
Iben Maersk returned to give a moving account of the song ‘People' from the musical 'Funny Girl’.
Decadence
The final few items of ‘Breezin Down Broadway’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ led an appreciative audience in to the finale of the Eric Cree arrangement of ‘West Side Story’ and the obligatory western decadence of ‘New York, New York’!
No wonder everyone went home with a broad smile on their faces.
Dave Tinker
