At Your Request
Track List
Entry of the Gladiators Fucik arr. Langford
Raiders of the Lost Ark Williams arr. Martindale
Have You Met Miss Jones Rogers arr. Sidwell
(Vocal Cpl M Little)
Belle of the Ball Anderson
Tico Tico Abreu arr. Iveson trans. Wiffin
(Trumpet Cpl P Sutton)
Ye Banks and Braes Trad. arr. Grainger
Malaguena Lecuona arr. Nestico
Harlem Nocturne Hagen arr. Martindale
Widdicombe Fair Trad. arr. Stubbs
The Minstrel Boy & Toss the Feathers Trad. arr. Wiffin
(Violins Cpls Barry and Justine Stringer)
If I Loved You Rogers arr. Richards
(Vocal Cpl M Little)
The Dambusters March Coates arr. Duthoit
Fantasia on British Sea Songs Wood arr. Duthoit
Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 Elgar
Royal Air Force March Past Dyson/Davis
Programme Notes
The concert repertoire of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force is impressively wide-ranging, encompassing music of many eras in many styles but there are certain pieces which we are regularly asked to include in our programmes and which are always very well received. This CD contains a selection of just such pieces, all having evergreen audience appeal, demonstrating the versatility of the band and its soloists.
The programme opens in rousing fashion with the most famous march by Julius Fucik (1872-1916) Entry of the Gladiators - heard here in a sparkling arrangement by Gordon Langford. Film music comes next, with the main theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the many film scores written by John Williams. The Central Band's vocal soloist Corporal Matthew Little sings the first of two Richard Rodgers songs on this album, Have You Met Miss Jones. This number dates from Rodgers' partnership with Lorenz Hart and comes from the show I'd Rather Be Right. Anear contemporary of Rodgers was Leroy Anderson, a master of light music represented here by his infectiously lilting waltz Belle of the Ball. Corporal Paul Sutton then demonstrates his virtuosity on the trumpet in John Iveson's version of the popular Brazilian song made famous by Hollywood in the 1940s, Tico Tico. The eccentric Australian musician, Percy Grainger, collected folk music from around the British Isles. His setting of the lovely Scottish melody Ye Banks and Braes well illustrates the subtle side of the wind band. In complete contrast, Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena is bursting with verve and energy. Two more solo items next; firstly Earl Hagen's atmospheric Harlem Nocturne showcases the alto saxophone playing of Junior Technician Andy Hooley. Violinist Corporal Barry Stringer and colleagues in the Salon Orchestra of the Royal Air Force then join the band for two traditional Irish melodies, The Minstrel Boy and Toss the Feathers. Between these two solos Squadron Leader Duncan Stubbs demonstrates his skills as an arranger with his witty version of Widdicombe Fair. Corporal Matthew Little returns with another Richard Rodgers favourite, this time from his era of partnership with Oscar Hammerstein, If I Loved You from Carousel. Of all the requested pieces in the repertoire none is more universally popular than The Dambusters March by Eric Coates, written for the film of the same name about the daring real-life exploits of 617 Squadron.
Audiences love a concert with a Last Night of the Proms finale, and so we close this disc with just that. Sir Henry Wood (1869-1944) founded the Promenade Concerts and wrote his Fantasia on British Sea Songs for Trafalgar Day celebrations in 1905. It has become established as an essential part of the Last Night of the Proms. In 1901 Sir Edward Elgar wrote the first of his five Pomp & Circumstance marches, telling a friend "I've got a tune that will knock 'em - knock 'em flat!". In 1918 The Royal Air Force March Past was written by Sir Walford Davies, the RAF's first Organising Director of Music, who adapted a tune from a ballet he had previously written. His successor, Sir George Dyson, added the broad melody of the central trio section.