Christ Church Cathedral: Symphony Club of Waterford

There’s a ‘summer proms’ feel to tonight’s concert in Christ Church with the Symphony Club hosting the Gwynedd a Mons Schools Music Service Senior Brass Band and Folk Choir from Wales.

Actually, we have two brass bands with the City of Waterford Brass Band opening the concert with a superb set of tunes from their own repertoire. 

Musical Director Julie Quinlan sparkles with humour and anecdote as she introduces a rip-roaring opening medley of our home-grown opera composer William Vincent Wallace arias, arranged by William Rimmer. 

It’s just the ticket to set us on our way on a glorious summer’s night.

It’s not often that we get to hear a Euphonium solo and Geoff Richard’s, ‘Midnight Euphonium’, proves to be such an easy listening piece, played with great sympathy by soloist Daniel Mernin, to listen to. 

Gentle, flowing and romantic and, supported by the entire band, Daniel’s playing filled the cathedral.

‘Ejale’ by Jan Magne Forde delights with its African rhythmic energy and a hypnotic stand-up drum beat that sets us all thinking of Norwegian footballers at their oars.

Guest soprano Katie Fitzpatrick sings with the Irish Youth Choir and has just achieved her Grade 8 in singing. 

Her performance of Handel’s ‘Lascia Chiopianga’, with its beautiful, haunting, mournful melody, captures the character of the opera’s heroine Almirena as she begs for freedom from captivity. 

Gavin Somerset’s ‘The Essence of Brass’ is bouncy and tuneful, with lots going on in side-bar rooms, as the main theme sweeps along until that dramatic full stop reins in the band.

The Gwynedd and Môn's Schools Music Service Senior Brass Band and Folk Choir (Gwasanaeth Cerdd Ysgolion Gwynedd a Môn) is a youth ensemble from Wales that is funded by a charitable trust and managed by the National Music Service of Wales.

The choir and brass band – drawn from 96 schools in Gwynedd – tour and perform Celtic and Welsh folk music, alongside traditional brass pieces and are currently on a performance tour here.

Their folk choir is a huge hit with the audience. 

Entrances and exits are clean, diction and phrasing are spot on, dynamics make the pieces interesting and musical direction is fluid and tight. 

Despite the fact that the pieces are all in Welsh, the sense of the songs all come across.

The follow-on lines in ‘Poorly Girl’ delight; ‘The Old Maid’ is quirky and witty and full of ‘foggy lollies’ that make we wonder what the old crone was up to; ‘Give me your Hand’ is gentle with murmured support from the altos; ‘A welcome Poem’ radiates warmth in the most accurate of harmonies and ‘As we go from Drio to Tywyn’ has great attack and merriment.

The joy of song through the Welsh language is a huge statement tonight. 

The feeling of who we are, the core values of the shared heritage of Welsh people, the pride in the jersey of who and what we are and a strength of mind that asserts ‘this is us, Lord, Welsh and proud of it’ make us all proud of what we witnessed tonight in the old Cathedral.

The Gwynedd Brass Band’s programme for Act , under the baton of uber-cool Gwennaut Pyvs, is a complete performance with up-tempo compositions – Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Queen’s 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Hairspray’s, ‘You can’t Stop the Beat’, Michael Flatley’s, ‘Lord of the Dance’, along with Elton John’s, ‘I’m Still Standin’, has the audience rocking. In between, the band showcase their individual talents with solos from singers, flautists and trumpeters.

Both bands combine to see us out the gap with an ‘Irish Blessing’ and ‘Men of Harlech’ into the balmy sunshine of July with a song on our lips and pride in the young talent we had witnessed from both bands and the choir.