Aldbourne Band - Immanuel Church

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Tuesday 31st Jan 2006.

REVIEW JANUARY 31, 2006, SWINDON: This was the Aldbourne Band's 43rd consecutive annual concert at the Immanuel Church in Upham Road, Walcot. It was also my second visit to the building in a space of two busy weeks of reviewing.

Immanuel Dramatic Society won the battle of the pantos in my opinion by the way. I saw four of them in the area over the space of those two weeks.

The Immanuel Church Choir, under the direction of conductor the Rev Geoff Gleed, were the guests performing with the band.

The concert opened with the band, under the control of musical director Steve Sykes, playing a selection of famous British marches including Rule Britannia.

We were treated to a wonderfully slow and controlled trombone solo, Wind Beneath My Wings, played superbly by Stephen Sykes who is to take part in The Young Musician Of The Year finals on television. No surprises there then.

Rev Gleed introduced his choir with a sense of pride and enthusiasm. He also has a great line in humour.

After listening to the first song I could see why he was so enthusiastic about his music.

The choir has a wonderful sound, far better than I expected, in fact.

So a 10-out-of-10 score to the Rev Gleed and his choir.

A euphonium solo from David Johnson, who also plays the cello, was well received. I wondered where he got all that breath from.

I just love the mellow sound of the Flugel Horn and wasn't disappointed as soloist Claudia Tomkin played Adagio.

The band triumphed with their rendition of Gypsy Festival the pace and precision flowing in the fast fingers of all the musicians.

Immanuel Church Choir sang a less serious set in the second half the Teddy Bears Picnic, complete with teddies, and an ode to the band with lyrics cleverly written by the Rev Gleed.

The concert finished with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture always a favourite with the bands in the area.

This year on November 17 the Aldbourne Band are to play a concert at the Colston Hall in Bristol with world-renowned solo percussionist Evelyn Glennie (mwww.aldbourne-band.co.uk/evelynglennie) Foot-tapping music, pleasant singing voices, amusing introductions and the band raising the roof a pleasant evening.

Ros Hollands

Archive Home