It’s that time of year when there’s nothing quite like, or more enjoyable than, attending the showcase of a live orchestra, a show about morals and togetherness or just enjoying a good story or selection of music in the comfort of a warm cosy venue away from the cold dark evenings, as we lead up to the festive period. It was therefore a welcome invite to attend Manchester University Music Society (MUMS)’s Wind Orchestra concert at the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall within the Martin Harris Centre and, although brief, there were some really nice moments.
Just one of those moment, indeed the first, was the announcement that the collective has got through to the finals (in April next year) of a national competition - gaining a platinum award the National Concert Band Festival - with the first piece we heard: ‘Adrenaline City’ by Adam Gorb. Gorb holds the position of Head of Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and the piece is described as “a quirky opening section contrasted by a mellow theme in the saxophones before the percussion take over in the middle section.” And ending “with a brief moment for contemplation before the final climax”. High praise indeed although I didn’t sense a climax so much, maybe once the players got into the rhythm and settled in as the start of the concert did seem somewhat disorganised. In fact, the end did too - there was no encore and no-one thanked us or the orchestra for our attendance and audience members just began randomly getting up after the applause. They could have had a moment of appreciation for all three of the night’s conductors.
Speaking of which, James Gillet began with a welcome message and was the holder of the good news regarding the award, mentioned above, as he has worked with the ‘band’ to achieve this. We then welcomed Katherine Stonham - whose musicality also falls into being a violinist - who conducted a ‘Silent Movie Suite’ containing 6 movements, by Martin Ellerby. Featuring a few solo cameos from the brass section, the percussion do a great job in helping to create atmosphere and ambience to the setting of each piece throughout the concert and I always say they are unsung in these concerts but they stood prime position for the left side of auditorium as the team of five play what must be in excess of 12 instruments in rotation.
Before the interval, we were treated with Rodney Newton’s ‘Capriccio’ played primarily as a solo by the talented tubist, Rohan Iyer who hails from Singapore. The piece’s “lively, syncopated opening is followed by a soaring romantic melody, whilst cadazas interspersed throughout allow the instruments to explore extremes in register and expressive quality.” Supported by the ensemble and conductor Gillet, Rohan did a brilliant job.
Next we heard the traditional and bold and ever patriotic sound of ‘Loch Lomond’ by Frank Ticheli. For this we welcomed the most confident of the three conductors, Joe Hearson, who has a wealth of experience also as a musical director in the musical theatre field, as well as more recently for a Beethoven project which made its Manchester premiere. We then welcomed Stonham back to conduct a rather odd rendition of an extract from Kevin Malone’s ‘Godzilla’. Frankly I did not enjoy it and simply do not think that the orchestra should be made to play along to piped soundbites of dinosaur noises and people running scared from it, least of all should they have to gasp and stamp their feet! This was a bizarrely thought-up item on the programme and unwelcome in my view although Stonham and the band did well to play over the top of such a horrible recording.
Finally, as a change to the programme, a welcome piece of levity was the return of Joe Hearson, complete with green headband and tail, as he presented the iconic theme from ‘Jurassic Park’, arranged by Paul Lavender, from the great John Williams’ original score. This was a nice ending to what was, for the most part, an enjoyable concert by the 72-strong orchestra, led by their three conductors and I look forward to returning to the venue for the University Society’s Big Band concert on 6th.
Reviewer - John Kristof
on - 24/11/18
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