At the recent Helen Wareham Brass Performance the standard of playing was excellent throughout, and a widely varied program made for a highly entertaining evening.
In the Senior section both Jonny Marsh and Christian Oldfield put on excellent performances, with both thoroughly deserving of a place in the final. Christian’s rendition of Barat’s ‘Andante and Scherzo’ was full of technical flourishes played with great tone and musicality. Jonny played ‘Villanelle’ by Dukas, a very substantial piece showing off the full range of the instrument.
The Junior section was fiercely contested and the standard overall was very high. Ben Wili was placed first with an arrangement of two of Gershwin’s ‘Piano Preludes’. These were played with great maturity, and were the ideal vehicle for Ben’s excellent musicianship. Second place went to Louis Jenkin who played ‘Andante et Allegro’ by Guy-Ropartz. This contained some beautiful tone quality and phrasing in the andante section, and some thrilling fanfares in the allegro.
Third place was taken by James Thornton-Wood. He showed great ambition by tackling Saint-Saens ‘Morceau de Concert’. This lengthy and technically demanding piece showed James’ command of the full range of the horn, and was played with great attention to detail. Special mention should also go to Cameron Reader, whose lively performance of Bissil’s ‘March of the Gimps’ was perhaps the most entertaining performance of the evening.
On the basis of the whole evening, brass playing at Cranleigh is in great shape.
David Eaglestone
Acting Head of Brass
