After a break since 2019 caused by all the problems with Covid, it was great to have Shipston Town Band and their friends from Coventry reunited in concert at Townsend Hall in Shipston on Saturday evening. This was to be the last concert by Jaguar Landrover under its current title and the first under its new identity as Brass Band of Central England. The quality remained undiminished.
As usual, both bands played separately before combining as a massed band.
Shipston, conducted by Howard Gibbs, opened proceedings with a programme largely inspired by film music. The Parade Of The Charioteers from Ben Hur provided a thrilling opener with John Barry’s atmospheric Out Of Africa and the thrilling opener to Oklahoma leading on to a solo feature by the horn section of The Carpenters hit, We’ve Only Just Begun. A selection of music from the film score of The Lion King drew the section to a close.
Brass Band Of Central England were conducted by their newly appointed conductor Iain McKnight. They opened with Richard Strauss’s Vienna
Philharmonic Fanfare followed by a cornet solo by their newly appointed Principal Cornet Christopher Oddy who gave an excellent performance of Bellstedt’s Napoli from memory. The 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams birth was marked with a performance of My Bonnie Boy from his English Folk Song Suite. Seaside Rendezvous by Queen had the audience entranced with its various special effects before William Walton’s Crown Imperial brought their contribution to a stately conclusion.
The concert concluded with the bands united as a massed band beginning in splendid style with William Rimmers classic march The Avenger followed by an arrangement of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes as used in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. An arrangement of the hymn tune Crimond was followed by the spirited theme music from He Man and the Masters Of The Universe by Shipston’s own Eb Bass player Ken Smith.
The concert drew to a close with the first performance of God Save The King.