The CORUS BRASS ENSEMBLE, who entertained us so well in September, deserved full house notices for a programme of quite brilliant music. That they did not get a full house notice was a disappointment but it was good to see friends who had travelled some distance to be there – like all the way from Elswick – and ‘new to us faces’ amongst the familiar who had been drawn in by the advertising.
Under musical director, Nigel M Taylor, we must remember the middle ‘M’, the ten musicians who are the Corus Brass Ensemble provided a programme which showed their full range of accomplishments. From the opening with Karl Jenkins’s ‘Mare Crisium’ to a spirited ending of an arrangement by the ensemble’s French horn, John Parkinson, of Malaguena, which was just short of a climax ‘Ole!’, the audience was enraptured. There is no doubt that we must have the Corus Brass Ensemble back and our church provides a very fitting concert venue.
PROGRAMME
Mare Crisium …. Karl Jenkins
Don Quixote …. Telemann arranged by Howard Snell
1. Overture
2. Attack on the Windmills
William and Mary ….. Derek Bourgeois
1. Fanfare
3. The Achievement
Elsa’s Procession ….. Richard Wagner arranged by Alwyn Green
A Londoner in New York (Part 1) ….. Jim Parker
1. Grand Central
2. Chrysler Building
3. Echoes of Harlem
INTERVAL
Overture “Candide” …. Leonard Bernstein, arranged by John Parkinson
A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square ….. M Sherwin arranged by John Parkinson. Soloist: Simon Talbot, trombone
A Londoner in New York (Part 2) ….. Jim Parker
1. Central Park
2. Radio City
Three Brass Cats ….. Chris Hazell
1. Mr Jums
2. Black Sam
3. Borage
On My Jacques ….. John Parkinson
Malaguena ….. Lecuona arranged by John Parkinson
The evening made a modest profit thanks to the generosity of a sponsor who had agreed to underwrite the evening.