On 3rd October the Band travelled to Dr Challoner’s High School for Girls in Little Chalfont for a joint concert with the Lemon Tuesday ladies choir from Rickmansworth. Joint concerts are a good way of adding variety to the programme for both groups.
As this was our first concert together, we didn’t risk combining to perform a work for choir and band, instead the choir performed some of their own pieces in each half of the concert. Some of the pieces the band played were familiar from recent concerts such as the Vale Park Proms, but Little Chalfont is far enough away from Aylesbury that few of the audience would have heard them before. So, the concert opened with Strike up the Band and the first half included Broadway Showstoppers by Warren Barker, and New York by Nigel Hess. However, there were some new items, such as Jubilee Overture by Philip Sparke, Black and White Rag, and two movements from Puszta. This is a set of four pieces in Hungarian gypsy style written by the Dutch composer Jan Van der Roost. The choir sung two pieces in the first half, The Rose by Amanda McBroom, and Day by Day fromGodspell.
The second half of the concert included Bones in the Store, a novelty arrangement by Rob Wiffin of The Quartermaster’s Store for trombones and tuba. The choir sang Lean on Me, It was almost like a song, and Something Inside So Strong, and the sax. section were featured in In the Miller Mood. Again, by popular request, the concert ended with a “Proms” finale: Jerusalem, Fantasia on British Sea Songs, and Land of Hope and Glory.
The audience wasn’t as big as we would have liked, which was a shame, as we were treated to some fine singing by the choir. However I’m sure there will be more occasions in the future for us to come together to make music.
Sadly this was the last concert Duncan Stubbs will be able to conduct this year due to pressure of work with the RAF, so leading the Christmas season will fall to deputy conductor Robert Wicks, starting as soon as 29th November at Waddesdon Manor.