Tonight saw our series of concerts continue with our very own Pemberton Old Wigan DW 'B' Band. With the concert adopting a film theme, the band opened with Kenneth Alford's, "Colonel Bogey". Made famous in the 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai", this was a great start to our second concert of the year. The band then continued with the James Bond Collection, featuring the music from the classic 007 films such as Goldfinger, the Spy Who Loved Me, and Casino Royale. No brass band in the country can do a film themed concert without referencing the 1996 film, Brassed Off, and this was no exception. A trio of pieces followed this theme starting with the beautiful Londonderry Air featuring the bands principal cornet, Emma Barkley. This was followed by more solo contributions with the principal cornets sister, Lauren, who played Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez" on the iconic Flugel Horn. Our trio of "Brassed Off" classics finished with "Clog Dance", featured in the film as Grimley Colliery travel from their small town to compete at the national championships at the Albert Hall in London. Lets hope its not too long before this band visit the championships themselves! After the arousing trio of brass band classics, rising tenor horn star, Daniel Marsh took the the stage to play Goff Richards' stunning arrangement of "Over the Rainbow" made famous in the 1939 musical, the Wizard of Oz To end the first half, the band had a small break from the film music theme, in which they played the test piece "Rise of the Phoenix" by the late Darrol Barry. The band gained a respectable 5th place at the recent Preston Brass at the Guild contest playing this piece and will be performing it again at the North West Championships in Blackpool in 2 weeks time.
After the interval, the band resumed playing with music from the 2018 musical "The Greatest Showman". The second half also saw the first music from a Disney film to be played. The 1995 animation of Pocahontas features the beautiful song "Colours of Wind", the band played Philips Sparke's fantastic arrangement of this. The Austin Powers films were released between 1997 and 2002 in which the groovy "Soul Bossa Nova" is featured as all 3 of the films', main theme. Featuring our percussion section of Vicky Hough and Adam Roby, Andrew Duncans arrangement was an enjoyable addition to the programme. The Armed Man is a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, to mark the museum's move from London to Leeds, and it was dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. The Armed Man Film was created by film maker and director Hefin Owen, and was premiered in its current form in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2007 with Karl Jenkins conducting. "The film echoes and traces the story as told in the text of the work; the build up to conflict, conflict itself and the aftermath, finally looking forward to a better future," says Karl Jenkins. The 12th movement of The Armed Man is entitled, "Benedictus". Tony Small arranged this movement as a Euphonium solo for David Childs to perform at brass in concert many years ago. Now published, Pemberton Old Wigan 'B' Band's Euphonium player, Steve Gordon, played with brilliant contrasting accompaniment by the band. The recent blockbuster film "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a biographical film about the British rock band Queen. This was the perfect excuse to play some classic pop music from the rock band. The B Band continued with the duo of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Fat Bottom Girls" featuring fine solo efforts from across the band. After this duo of rock classics, the band played some emotional music from Tom Hanks' 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan. John Williams' Hymn to the Fallen was played beautifully by the band featuring the eerie marching drums throughout. To lighten the mood and finish the concert, the band finished with "I Will Follow Him" from the 1992 film "Sister Act". Featuring, Harry Quirk, Lesley Quirk, and Dominic Francis as a trombone trio. This was a fantastic concert with fantastic film music the audience wanted more and the band did not disappoint. From the 1954 film "The Student Prince", the band played another Goff Richards arrangement playing "I'll Walk With God". We want to thank the band for playing at our venue and we cannot wait for our next concert here in March.
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