The evening started with the Wind Band, conducted by Mr Eno, playing John Barnes Chance’s ‘Incantation and Dance’. This composition was one of Chance’s first published pieces, and soon became the most popular. The piece itself is split into two halves: the Incantation is a brief, sorrowful and mysterious melody that highlights the gentler side of a wind band. However, the piece quickly moves into the Dance, with its bold, percussive rhythms and a melody that gradually passes through each section of the band, growing as it does so, until the wind and brass sections become more frenzied towards the climax of the piece. Incantation and Dance shows off the impressive range of dynamic variations a wind band can achieve, and through its use of complex rhythms creates a memory that will not soon be forgotten. Following on from the Wind Band was the Brass Consort, conducted by Mr Smith, which played ‘Brass Cats’ by Chris Hazell. The original ‘Cats Suite’, which only contained ‘Mr Jums’, ‘Black Sam’ and ‘Borage’ is arguably one of the most popular original brass dectet pieces of the 1980s. However, after being commissioned by the renowned Phillip Jones Brass Ensemble, Hazell went on to write a fourth movement, ‘Kraken’. This movement, like the rest in Brass Cats, is named after one of the many stray cats that turned up at Hazell’s house north of London, and each movement is written to reflect the given cat. ‘Kraken’, the first movement, was the only female, but supposedly bossed the other cats around, despite being half their size. ‘Black Sam’ is said to have looked and purred like a New Orleans’ gospel singer; ‘Borage’ was brown and white and extremely energetic, whilst ‘Mr Jums’ was a ginger tomcat who was messy but affectionate. To round off the first half of the evening the Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Miss Larkum, played Handel’s ‘Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 12 in B Minor’. The Chamber Orchestra demonstrated excellently the contrasting styles of the ‘Concerto Grosso’. The piece begins with the somewhat heavy, dotted rhythms common to the German Baroque era, but soon moves into the brighter, Italianesque Allegro. It then explores the French Baroque dance style, followed by the beautiful Largo. The final movement returns to the dotted rhythms of the first movement, but is fresh and lively. The piece also showed off the talents of the two violin soloists, David Young and Toby Medland. The harpsichord, played by James Orford, underpins the whole music as the ‘continuo’ part. Next came Gareth Wood’s double bass concerto, ‘Deep’, a piece commissioned by the Music
Department for Charles Carey, and which was conducted by Mr Mayo. ‘Deep’ has a jazzy, almost Latin feel to it, and was inspired by an incident at the Barbican Hall involving Leonard Bernstein and an usher. Bernstein had lit a cigarette, which the usher asked him to put out due to fire regulations. By the time the ensuing row had finished, Bernstein had finished his cigarette, given the usher a big smile, and proceeded with the rehearsal. ‘Deep’ is Wood’s take on that row, and comprises of three sections, a lively opening, a romantic central episode, and finishing with a Latin feel. Charles has been learning the double bass since the age of ten with his teacher, Caroline Emery. In 2009, he gained a place at the Royal College of Music’s Junior Department, and since then has achieved Grade Eight Distinctions in double bass and singing, as well as a post-Grade Eight standard on the bass guitar. Charles’ playing on the night was fantastic, and clearly demonstrated his mastery of the music’s tricky rhythmic patterns and dynamic variations. To round off an already outstanding evening, the Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mr Mayo and led by David Young, played four movements from Holst’s ‘The Planets Suite’. Holst composed ‘The Planets’ after his brother Arnold introduced him to astrology. By 1916 the work was complete, and, unlike any other composition of the time, included parts for the bass flute, the bass oboe, six horns, a tenor tuba, and a wordless chorus of Sopranos and Altos at the end of the final movement, ‘Neptune’. The suite began with ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’. First sketched in 1913, one year before the horrific events of World War I, its startling volume and menace fully capture the attention of the listener. ‘Venus’, by contrast, is soothing and restful, with its split string effects and beautiful celeste part. Following on from ‘Venus’ came ‘Jupiter’, in which the whole orchestra brilliantly captured the vitality of the outer sections of the piece as well as the more patriotic central section. The evening was brought to an end with ‘Neptune’, with its shimmering harps and unseen chorus, sang by the Dulwich Chapel Choir as well as ladies from the Dulwich Chamber Choir Choristers. The mysterious ending to this piece never fails to stir the imagination, and is meant to cause us to contemplate the universe of which we are only a tiny part. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff in the Music department for their effort in organising the concert and putting together the whole evening. I would also like to thank the professional players who joined us for their help.
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