Band and Choir on Top Form for St. George

27 Apr 2010

Nottingham Concert Band (Robert Parker) and the Nottingham Bluecoat Singers recently staged the 2010 St George"s Day Concert at the invitation of the Royal Society of St George in the city’s own Albert Hall. Compère for the evening was BBC Radio Nottingham commentator Colin Slater MBE.

The 60-strong band performed an English-themed programme for the evening (St. George is England's patron saint), blending traditional patriotic favourites with a selection of light classics and popular music from the last 100 years.

After Kenneth Alford"s Standard of St George heralded the entry of flags and banners, the band filled the Albert Hall Westminster Meditation by Hucknall-born Eric Coates, and Walton’s challenging Crown Imperial march. Johann de Meij’s arrangement of James Bond themes took the audience by surprise, though the mood changed quickly again with Albert Ketèlbey’s light-hearted In A Persian Market. The band was joined in this by the Nottingham Bluecoat Singers before they stepped into the spotlight with their own delightfully eclectic selection, which included pieces by John Rutter, Edward German, Gilbert and Sullivan and Sting.

The second half opened with more from Eric Coates: a full and enthusiastic percussion section means that Nottingham Concert Band’s interpretation of The Dam Busters March is always a crowd-pleaser, and it was made all the more exciting for St George’s Day this year by the overlay of rarely-heard words sung by the choir. A medley of Sea Shanties, Nimrod from Elgar"s Enigma Variations and Allan Street"s local favourite Goose Fair then set the scene for a stirring finale, with an exciting evening brought to a close in flag-waving fashion by Rule Britannia, Jerusalem and Elgar"s Land of Hope & Glory.