The Winter Concert held on Monday evening brought together singers and instrumentalists from across all year groups in a wonderful array of musical performances. Opening with the first movement of Tchaikowsky’s Symphony No. 5, the Symphony Orchestra gave an assured and beautiful performance of this work.
This was followed by the lighter performances from the Dixieland Band, under the direction of Miss Martin. They played Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, followed by I can’t give you anything but love. Sinfonia took to the stage next, with Handel’s lively La Rejouissance. The ever-growing Chamber Choir gave performances of Tallis’s O nata lux, and the first of Parry’s Songs of Farewell, entitled My Soul there is a Country. Much of the Chamber Choir’s repertoire is being learnt in preparation for the tour in the summer, when we will be visiting Paris and the Rhineland. The last item of the first half was the Chamber Orchestra, who performed Morton Gould’s Elegy. The Big Band began the second half, first playing Splanky by Neal Hefti, and afterwards playing Pick up the Pieces. Both had an infectious vitality, and showed a great sense of ensemble amongst the boys, under the direction of Mr Gathercole. Wind Band followed Big Band, with an arrangement of the Beatles’ Yesterday, before Taylors’ Brass gave a performance of Jim Parker’s The Chrysler Building. No concert would be complete without the Concert Band, and for the finale of the concert they played the first and third movements of Holst’s Second Suite in F for Military Band. The first movement draws inspiration from folk songs, and melds them together in a stately march.
The second movement, Song of the Blacksmith, features an anvil, and Aryan D (U6ths) fully entered into the character, cladding himself in helmet, apron, and gloves. It was a noisy but evocative end to the evening – the only complaint was that the anvil was not visible enough. At the end of the concert, the Head Master praised the Concert Band and the masterful anvil-playing, as well as the “funky” drummers in the preceding pieces.
We look forward to the next few concerts of term, the first of which is the Teatime Chamber Music Concert this Friday at 4.30pm, with tea and cakes from 4.00pm. The next major concert of the term is the Joint Concert on Monday 31st March, for which tickets may be purchased here https://www.trybooking.com/uk/EHCS
