MITCHAM CITY BRASS
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DIARY DATES:
Events - Review
Goin’ Solo II ‘08
The band opened with a rousing rendition of ‘Hymns of Praise’ arranged by Goff Richards. This is a piece that the band has recently acquired and thoroughly enjoys playing. The piece covers hymns such as Shine Jesus Shine, and the Prayer of St Francis 
This was followed by several soloists, the first being Colin Smith who delighted the audience with his version of ‘For the First Time’, by Freedman / Rich / Howard, arranged by Alan Fernie, and played on the Soprano Cornet. After this the band highlighted two soloists – Josh Mayne showing that the rarely featured Baritone is truly a beautiful instrument. Josh played a delicate rendition of ‘Let me try Again’, by Caravelli / Romuald, arranged by Alan Fernie, which was an absolute delight to listen to. Lisa Pointon was up next, soloing for the first time with the band with ‘Only Love’ by Vladimir Cosma, arranged by Alan Fernie.
Before launching into the next round of featured soloists, the band presented a swing arrangement of the hymn ‘Morning Star’ by Ian Robinson.
The bass trombone section staring Ian Collins, James Paltridge, and Grant Eaton were the next to get a go with their crowd pleasing version of ‘Wandering Star’, by Frederick Lowe, arranged by Alan Fernie. One could hear the faint clip clopping of their horses as they played this old favorite. 
The first half was finished off with the ever-favorite James Bond Collection’, arranged by Goff Richards. This loud soundtrack highlighter was a great way to end a perfect first half, moving into the interval which allowed the audience time to digest what had just been played and prepare for what was to come.
The band opened the second half with a rousing rendition of ‘Moses Get Down’ by Barrie Gott which featured the low-brass and percussion, this was followed by the next soloist Luke Lambert. Luke played a Neil Sedaka / Philip Cody classic, ‘Solitaire’, arranged by Stephen Corbett, on the Bb Cornet delighting the audience with this popular number.
Next to feature were the band’s two Euphonium players Peter McIntyre and Tamina Judd. They proved that in this case, two is definitely better than one with their version of ‘Perhaps Love’, written by John Denver and arranged by Alan Fernie. 
Not to be outdone was the band’s solo cornet player Craig Smith-Ellis with ‘You Raise Me Up’ by Rolf Lovland, arranged by Andrew Duncan. The playing of this beautiful melody by Craig was well supported by the Flugel Horn, Bill Richards and Tenor Horn, Andrew Robinson.
‘Big Band Classics’ arranged by Osterling, transcribed for brass band by Stephen Packer featured three Glen Miller classics. This set the tone for our next soloist, Andy Greatbanks on Eb Tuba with the whimsical TV theme from ‘One Foot in the Grave’, by Eric Idle, arranged Darrol Barry.
The band finished up the solos with a magnificent version of ‘What a Wonderful World’, by Weiss / Douglas, arranged by Alan Fernie. This was executed beautifully by the band’s Flugel Horn player, Bill Richards. The final number for the night, an old classic ‘Can Can’, by Jacques Offenbach, and arranged again by Alan Fernie capped off a wonderful night’s entertainment, giving the audience an absolute feast of not only entertainment but variety as well.
The Musical Director stated that “this was the best overall performance that the band had produced since he took on the band in 2003”.
Concert reviewed by Tamina Judd
2007 Carols by the Creek
The Mitcham City Council's 'Carols by The Creek' was another great success on Sunday 2nd December.
As is tradition Mitcham City Brass provided the opening and closing entertainment, lead the community carol singing and provided accompaniment for Brian Gilbertson and the Australian Girls Choir. This year other guest artists included Etypejazz, Rock Chick and Science Geek as the children's entertainers and Jazz singer Liz Tobias who also joined Brian to lead the Carols in her first appearance at the Creek. The Australian Girls choir were in great voice and assisted the community choir and the audience with the carol singing. Of course the man with the white beard made an appearance on the roof and the light show drew gasps from the 4000 plus crowd before Mitcham City Brass sent them on there way a modern arrangement of Joyful, Joyful.
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2007 South Australian Band Championships Retrospective 6 October 2007 Tanunda ~ Adjudicators: Selwyn Holmes A & B Grade The Results: C GRADE Philip Sparke’s Tryptich (a brass band favourite of many a bandie) most definitely tested each and every band in C Grade today. Like many of Sparke’s works, attention to detail is required to make good use of effects and stylistic features within the 3 movements. The technical aspects of the piece provide a great challenge for all sections within the band, but those who mastered the 2nd movement, Fantasy on One Note, would surely prove the champion today. Mitcham City Brass, though only 1-point victors, stood out in this reporters mind as clear winners. A band that was obviously well trained by it’s MD, Peter Smith,who had really done his homework, were mostly tight and accurate, but what stood out above all was their attention to detail. Mitcham’s hymn, Who is He arr Richard Phillips, highlighted their wonderful control and outstanding dynamic contrast. The quality of sound at both high and low volumes was exceptional. The test piece was blemished by a few tuning issues in horns and trombones early on in Mitcham, but the style was spot on. Attention had been taken to highlight every line and dot, an important thing to remember when playing anything by Philip Sparke. The final movement showed how much the bands were tested so far, as they all at some stage began to sound tired and out of breath. Enfield conducted by Geoff Magin, who came in a close second, too had some fine moments this movement, but soprano again sounded alone and in need of support from the rest of the back row. Marion City Band led by MD Veronica Boulton, also had some great principals but perhaps weren’t consistent down the line, which may have led to some balance issues in the last movement. Enfield chose CWM Rhonda by John Gallard as its hymn whilst Marion City Band chose a Himes arrangement of Festival Prelude Ellacombe. Fatigue seemed to feature in all bands, which perhaps led into the march as well. That said, Enfield’s march impressed the most with The Cossack and some good ‘punchy’ trombone work, but Kevin Cameron obviously had other ideas. Mitcham were deserving winners, producing fine band sounds and lovely balance. Again, dynamic contrast is by far and away the most impressive asset and combined with great balance left hairs standing on the back of my neck in that 2nd movement! Bravo! Here’s to looking forward to C grade Nationals in Brisbane ’07. Chris Lee for 4barsrest |
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Winter Cabaret ‘07 ~ Goin’ Solo |
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On a cold frosty night in the Belair Community Centre, Mitcham City Brass presented their annual winter cabaret to an appreciative audience who braved the 4ºC temperature to feast on the hot soup, great company and exciting music. 33 players (lucky some were away) and instruments squeezed onto the small stage to present ‘Goin’ Solo’ featuring some of the bands talented regular soloist’s and a few making their debuts.
The evening commenced with a ripping cornet and trombone feature ‘Gone My Care’ by Ray Steadman-Allen, the melody-line and flourishes bounced back and forth across the stage like a tennis match and happily finishing as a tied-rubber. The first two soloists highlighted were Josh Mayne (Baritone) with Stephen Bulla’s arrangement of ‘Anything But Lonely’ and Luke Lambert (cornet) with ‘He Ain’t Heavy’ an arrangement by Bobby Scott. Both players have been with the band for about 7 years and normally play a supporting role when it comes to solos, but this time it was their turn to shine, and they took full advantage of the opportunity.
The band then broke into a familiar audience favourite ‘Floral Dance’, this piece was first written in 1911 by Katie Moss for the Furry dance in Cornwall UK and is still a popular number today. Back to the soloists, James Paltridge (Bass Trombone) joined the band about 1 year ago and was making his debut as a soloist with Stephen Sondhein
familiar number ‘Send in the Clowns’. This is no easy piece to play, with tricky timing and rhythm for both band and soloist and the added issue of the low sounds of the instrument which needed to penetrate above the band, I think everyone was relieved when it was all over with the knowledge that it all came together on the night.
The next piece featured the back-row cornets with a double-duet ‘Something Stupid’, featured were Brenton Stewart and Lisa Pointon and new to the band this year Sean Hennesy and Brenton Miegel. This melodic piece requires good tonal quality and synchronised tonguing clarity for it to work and the four players handled it with ease and delighted the audience. The first half was concluded with an arousing version of Elmer Bernstein’ ‘The Great Escape’ which was followed by everyone enjoying the warmth of the 3p’s soup on offer (Pea & Ham, Pumpkin, Potato & Leek).
The second half commenced with the popular ‘I Will Follow Him’ from the movie Sister Act which broke through the sounds of chatter and soup slurping before featuring Chris Francis (Percussion) with Barrie Gott’s ‘Daniel’, over the preceding weeks the drum solo went from 2bars to 16bars on the night as Chris over came his fears and went for it, he would most likely still be going if the MD hadn’t intervened and brought the band back for the conclusion of the piece.
Craig Smith-Ellis has been with the band for about seven years and principle cornet for the last five of these. On this occasion he was featured playing Krister Lundvist ‘This Is My Story’, an arrangement of the Fanny Crosby hymn ‘Blessed Assurance’ but this version is given an uptempo Latin-American feel and a real crowd pleaser. The music of George Gershwin was featured next with ‘Gershwin for Brass’ which included tunes like I’ve got plenty of nuttin’, Love is here to stay, A foggy day, Love walked in, and Nice work if you can get it.
Back to some old hands to conclude our featured solo items with some beautiful melodic sounds from Peter McIntyre and Tamina Judd (Euphonium) featured playing the duet made famous by the Childs brothers ‘Softly As I Leave You’ and followed up with Concerto de Aranjuez by Bill Richards (Flugel), some fantastic writing matched by equally fantastic playing.
All that was left was to get the feet moving again and encourage the audience to venture back out into the cold of the night, we first tried this with the Rocky3 number ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ but more encouragement was required so the favourite march ‘Death or Glory’ was called into play with greater success, particularly as the MD left the stage a few bars into the piece and headed for the doors.
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Adelaide Fringe ‘07 ~ three4one |
Mitcham City Brass - Combined Concert also featuring T-Bones Unlimited (Bill Broughton) and Soul Factor Gospel Choir
The annual Fringe Festival held in Adelaide is the biggest arts festival of its kind in Australia and impressively the second largest Fringe Festival in the World.
Adelaide Fringe 07 boasts 406 events spread over a three week period in March, with 323 Performing Arts events and 83 Visual Arts exhibitions. A strong contingent of 60 events have been registered from a variety of countries including Portugal, Japan, Ireland, Italy, Canada, USA, UK and more.
A total of 346 Australian artists have registered, with 219 from South Australia and 128 from interstate. All art forms have been strongly represented with comedy making up 99 of the total events.
Music came in strongly with 89 events and Visual Arts was not far behind with 83 exhibitions.
Indeed the Fringe Festival program covers every possible artistic genre.
In 2006, we reviewed Three4One. That year it was the triage of Mitcham City Brass, Holdfast Bay Concert Band and Soul Factor Gospel Choir. In 2006 Mitcham City Brass was the only Brass Band to register and take part in the Fringe Festival.
One year on, with the festival in full swing we are to be treated to 5 Concerts featuring Brass Bands as part of the Fringe Festival 07.
For this years ‘Three4One' Concert, Mitcham City Brass, teamed up with T-Bones Unlimited (Bill Broughton) and again Soul Factor Gospel Choir- MD Sharon Raymond. Venue was the Dom Polski Centre in Angus Street, Central Adelaide. This is a more sizable venue than last years Adelaide German Club. The band opted for Cabaret seating and a sizable audience gathered.
Mitcham City Brass and Musical Director Peter Smith, are creating a fine reputation for quality Brass Band performances. In 2005 Mitcham took out the C Grade title in the highly competitive C Grade section of the SA State Competitions.
In the intervening period, the band has embarked on a recruitment drive to underpin its continued development and with some success has filled positions that will provide a more solid platform in the middle section of the band.
With all this in mind, we were keen to check where Mitcham City Brass had progressed.
Mitcham City Bass opened their Three4One performance with Phantom of the Opera (overture Act 1) Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber arr. Keith Wilkinson. The band obviously enjoys this piece as they also performed it in their 2006 Three4One Concert. Breezin' Down Broadway arr. Goff Richards followed.
In an interesting move, Musical Director Peter Smith selected to perform Oregon by Jacob de Haan. This piece was the set Test Piece for the C Grade section of the South Australian State Competitions in 2006. The opening was well executed and immediately evident was a more full and a rich sound from the middle section and the bass section of the band. Overall the piece flowed well and Musical Director Peter Smith payed careful attention to the dynamic markings.
Memory by Andrew Lloyd Webber arr Goff Richards was next and the 1st half bracket concluded with a wonderful performance of a The Man from Snowy River - Bruce Rowland arr. Joe Cook
Mitcham opened their second segment with the Theme from Jag - Bruce Broughton arr. Roland Kernen.
Born Free - John Barry arr. Alan Catherall followed and in one of the strongest indicators yet of where the band in now sitting musically, presented an immaculate performance of Pirates of the Caribbean - Klaus Badelt arr. John Blanken
The band then treated the audience to another Andrew Lloyd Webber piece with Close Every Door arr. Ray Steadman-Allen and ended the show with Grease and the well known Clog Dance.
This was a very different Mitcham City Brass.
In 2006 when we reviewed Mitcham's Three4One we said the band was: ‘…evident from their on-stage performance, their deportment and the nature and scope of pieces that they are willing to perform on stage that they are a band with a future'.
One year one and in 2007 for Three4One we witnessed a polished, well rounded performance.
Musical Director Peter Smith will no doubt want to consolidate and continue to build Mitcham City Brass from where they now are on the SA banding scene.
May we speculate a move to the B Grade?
Overall it was great to see Mitcham City Brass in the ‘Three for One' concert as part of the Adelaide Fringe 07. There should be more of it.
Three4One was reviewed by Andrew Stone
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State Championships Dress Rehearsal ‘06 |
Mitcham City Brass and Musical Director Peter Smith, presented a wide ranging program in their ‘State Championships Dress Rehearsal Concert’ - Marion Salvation Army Hall Sunday, 29 October.
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Timed perfectly, almost to the minute one week out from the SA State Championships, Mitcham City Brass presented an entertaining program for a well attended audience in the Marion Salvation Army Hall.
This concert, was, at the end of the day, an opportunity for the current SA ‘C’ Grade Champions to test their mettle & present this years set Test piece and their selected Hymn and Stage march for the State Championships.
‘Oregon’ by Jacob de Hann was performed with distinction and with nice interpretation of the rhythmical features of this piece. There were no major blemishes and the band truly seemed to enjoy the piece. The same can be said, for their selected Hymn ‘Nothing Do I Bring’ and Stage March ‘Rosehill’. Both pieces performed to a high standard.
Mitcham City Youth Brass presented a program under the Musical Direction of Danny Dielkens. Following the format of senior counterparts, the Youth Brass performed the Test Piece ‘Moses’, March ‘Let’s March Again’ and Hymn ‘Sandon’. The performance of Sandon was particularly impressive.
Danny Dielkens who has a long association with the Mitcham Banding scene, was stunning in his Solo performance accompanied by Piano of ‘Rapsody for Soprano Cornet’.
Dielkens later captivated his audience with the ever popular ‘Misty’. He then teamed up for a duet, with Bill Richard’s on Flugel, for Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Pie Jesu’
There was something for everyone in Mitcham’s Dress Rehearsal Concert. This was an ensemble very much at ease in their public performance and evidencing good form under the accomplished musical direction of Peter Smith.
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Winter Cabaret ‘06 |
Last Saturday 12th August 2006 Mitcham City Brass helped blow away the winter blues in the Mitcham Village Institute when they presented their Winter Cabaret to a packed house.
The enthusiastic and very appreciative audience enjoyed a smorgasbord of fine music, a selection of ‘P’ soups (Pea & Ham, Pumpkin and Potato & Leak) superbly cooked by three ladies within in the band, and the launch of the bands new website – www.mitchamcitybrass.org.
The concert commenced with a vigorous arrangement from peter Smalley of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ‘Superstar’ before launching into Alan Catherall’s arrangement of ‘'Born Free’.
The first of our soloist’s followed featuring our principle cornet Craig Smith-Ellis with some delightful sounds playing a song made famous by Nana Mouskouri, ‘Only Love’.
Considering the fantastic sun and blue-sky day, the MD thought it appropriate to remind the audience that it was in fact winter and should be raining, hence the next always popular piece ‘Singin’ in the rain’ featuring percussionist Heather Walker.
In amongst the lighter side of brass band music, room was still found for Henry 8th ‘Pastime with good company’ who I’m sure would have been pleased with the addition of the drum-kit, this was prefaced with the MD reading the words penned by Henry for this song.
Darrol Barry’s ‘Way out west’ was next on the winter menu which depicted a wagon train feel through the differing rhythmic patterns and contrasting melody lines.
To bring the first half to a conclusion the band presented a rendition of ‘In the mood’ which was preceded with much laughter as the MD recited the words to the song “Who’s the lovin daddy with the beautiful eyes, what a pair o’ lips, I’d like to try them for size etc”.
After everyone had polished of the last of the soup the second half kicked off with the theme from ‘Jag” followed by Goff Richards’s arrangement of Memory and then Barrie Gott’s ‘Let there be praise’.
Bill Richards on flugel horn was in excellent form and was our next featured soloist with a superb performance of ‘Feelings’.
The band was well and truly warmed up for the highlight of the night which was John Blanken’s arrangement of ‘Pirates from the caribbean’. This is a big exhilarating number demanding precision and strong rhythmic drive, and the band lifted to the occasion with the audience wanting more, no one was cold after this piece.
Giving the band a breather our 3rd soloist was featured with a crowd pleasing item preformed by Corinn Teng on Xylophone with Happy Mallets. To the amazement of the audience Corrin performed this piece without music and were astonished when the MD apologised for the slow pace (not) and demanded that Corrin increase the tempo of which she obliged and handled without missing a beat.
By this time the audience needed settling down and the piece to do it was Alan Fernie’s ‘Hey Jude’ which featured the trombone section.
The final number for the night was Goff Richard’s ‘Breezin down broadway’ which took the audience through an extremely quick trip down memory lane of broadway hits.
The exhausted players thought they were finished, but the audience won out after demanding more. As an encore the MD chose the ever popular big band number ‘New York, New York’ and during the playing coaxed one young would be MD out to the front to complete conducting the number.
Everyone ventured out into the night with uplifted spirits wanting more.
Classics in Brass ‘06 Mitcham City Brass (SA) delighted their community with a performance of ‘Classics’ in the Mitcham Village Institute, Sunday 27 May 2006.
In February when Mitcham City Brass performed as part of the Adelaide Fridge Festival, it was reported that they were deserving of their 2005 ‘C' Grade Crown. It was also said that there was ample evidence to suggest that Musical Director Peter Smith was prepared to test the membership with pieces showcasing the bands principals and indeed the band itself. Accolades one may say a little arrogant to extol. So on Sunday 27 May, when Mitcham Brass performed their ‘Classics in Brass' concert in the Mitcham Village Institute it was not disappointing to check on their progress. Musical Director Peter Smith set Mitcham City Brass a demanding programme of classical numbers. This opening number was brightly played and set the set the scene for the remainder of the concert. Next up featured the works of Handel. Hornpipe from the Water Music and Concerto Grosso – 4th Movement Allegro followed. More attention to dynamics was required for these two pieces. The Mitcham Village Institute is after all a ‘bright' venue. Vivaldi's Winter was next and this piece is based on the beautiful largo movement from the Winter Concerto. Danny Deilkens on Soprano was stunning throughout and the Cornets played superbly. Craig Ellis on Cornet was a delight. Overture – The Magic Flute by Mozart featured next. Mozart wrote this piece in 1791, after the French Revolution and just before he died. Bill Richards on Flugal was wonderful however the Tenor Horns struggled to be heard. The bass line shone through. This was a ‘huge' piece. Gustav Holst's Jupiter Theme was an opportunity for Peter McIntyre and Tamina Judd on Euphonium to showcase their classy playing. The Planets Opus 32 is one of the best known compositions of Gustav Holst. This piece, is based on the beautiful melody from Jupiter The Bringer Of Jollity a part of the work The Planets. There was some lovely intonation in this piece and what a difference an extra tenor-horn made to the middle of the band. Danny Deilken on Soprano excelled again and the piece benefited from no over-blowing throughout. Air From Suite No3 in D by Bach, and Shubert's Marche Militarie saw a quintet performance from Peter McIntyre – Euphonium , Musical Director - Peter Smith also on Euphonium, Peter Mitler on Bass, Josh Lane on Euphonium and Tamina Judd on Euphonium. This was an impressive performance from the lower end of the band. Well done. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu was stunningly undertaken by Danny Deilken on Soprano and Bill Richards on Flugal. Little wonder when this piece is played so well, that it climbed to the top of the popular music charts in Great Britain. Serenade from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart followed. We all had a chuckle at the expense of Musical Director Peter Smith and his pronunciation of Rondeau by Mouret. Mitcham ended their ‘Classic's in Brass' Concert with Mozart's Ave Verum. A difficult piece at the best of times and well handled generally by the band. Again we could have expected more from the Tenor Horns but this needed to be kept in perspective and with some wonderful Euphonium playing. Deilkens on Soprano was superb. Mitcham City Band has a proud tradition of supporting local musical talent and providing community entertainment. They have done this since 1901. The Mitcham community that turned out to support their band in the Mitcham Village Institute received a quality performance of classical pieces. Well done to Musical Director Peter Smith for continuing to set his band with a difficult programme to showpiece the very obvious talent within the band. In the post concert wrap up, Peter Smith agreed, that more warmth in the middle section of the band would be achieved with the addition of extra tenor-horns and/or baritones. Something perhaps for Mitcham to consider for their recruitment or development programme. The concert was held in a very ‘bright' venue, and at times the band didn't always play to the venue. Nonetheless it didn't detract from a very fine overall performance. Mitcham City Brass will continue to be the band to watch for at the forthcoming State Competitions to be held in Tanunda on November 5 later this year. Andrew Stone
Mitcham City Brass conducted by Peter Smith
The performance kicked off with the Fanfare and Flourishes by Charpentier. Composed by James Curnow, this piece is based on Marc-Antonie Charpentiers Te Deum. Charpentier wrote his mighty and majestic Te Deum to commemorate the French victory at the Battle of Steinkerque on August 1692.