Tenor horn player charms
❚ Who: New Plymouth Brass with Sheona White ❚ Where: St Andrew’s Church ❚ When: Sunday July 23 ❚ Reviewed by: Allan Purdy A large audience was privileged to hear a performance by Sheona White, top tenor horn player in the brass band world, on Sunday afternoon in St Andrew’s Church.
On a flying visit to New Zealand from the UK she gave only one other concert, in Wellington.
After a punchy, powerful opening by New Plymouth Brass with Starlight by Scotsman Alan Fernie, White started brilliantly with lightning-fast playing in Goedicke’s Concert Etude.
She produced very expressive tonal variations and the band, with Leigh Martin in charge, were very sympathetic to the soloist.
The familiarity of Over the Rainbow touched many heartstrings in the audience I’m sure. Music from the film La Storia had nicely shaped cornet melodies and warm harmonies before White returned to charm us with her innately musical phrasing in Demelza by Hugh Nash.
Two band members, Bryce Gordon and Morrine Martin, had a chance to shine with suave solos in Legends of Cyfarthfa, and the slapsticks were pretty impressive too.
Morrine stepped up again to conduct the training JAY Band in three numbers, with excellent cohesion, great dynamic contrasts and in Signal from Mars confident leads and counter melodies and very good supportive percussion.
Neil Overton produced great tone way up there on his soprano cornet in Love and Let Die and Leigh was very supportive and encouraging with impressive swelling sounds from the lower instruments in the march, Manchester.
Star soloist White was so true to the title of Capriccio Brillante that the band did amazingly well to keep up. Ballade by John Golland had superbly sustained melody lines and gorgeous tone from the soloist before the flying fingers, lips and tonguing returned for The Piper of Dundee, a brilliant display over the whole range of her instrument.
Keen applause brought the beautifully shaped A Time for Peace as an encore.