Old Ipswichian President’s Event – Thursday 16th October 2008: Review
This concert promised to be an excellent occasion with a wide variety of performances and an almost impossible number of World Premieres!
The Wolsey Consort (a choir consisting of current pupils and OIs) began preceedings with a splendid rendition of Taverner’s O Wilhelme, pastor bone, which was performed with its original lyrics, extolling Cardinal Wolsey rather than the changed version which instead celebrated King Henry VIII!
It was then time for Kathryn Parry (wife of Ben Parry OI) to perform Joseph Gibbs’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, accompanied by Andrew Leach on the piano. This was an excellent performance, showing off this former music master’s composisional skills.
Next, acclaimed singer Richard Wilson OI sang The Chesapeake and the Shannon accompanied on the piano by Ben Parry OI, both acclaimed musicians who were at the school together in the 1980s. The song was an amusing tale of Captain Broke, an old boy, which went down very well indeed with the audience.
Stanley Wilson was music master at the school from 1899-1953, and wrote excellent music at that time. His delicious Soliloquy was played on the cello by Graham Walker, accompanied by his brother Allan on the piano. This was followed by the first World Premiere of the night, when talented young singer Charlotte Walters performed James Ching’s At Grafton, which was discovered in his loft by his daughter. She was expertly accompanied by talented musician Sam Wilson, who was to take centre stage later in the night. Allan Walker then returned to the piano to play Ching’s No. 1 of Four Monographs, “A Marching Tune”, another superb piece, which was made to sound effortless.
More recent piano music followed: David Sawer was at the school in the 1970s and has since composed pieces for the BBC Proms, and three piano minatures which have been published by the Associated Board for their grade exams. I was to perform these three, L’escalier, Moebius and Diversion, which the audience enjoyed greatly, Sawer expertly writing relatively simple pieces, but with complex harmonies and background material.
There was then a complete change of style, as Martin Crowe performed his song Save Me. Martin, last year’s Head Boy, commanded the stage, and performed the emotional song well. The set-up was slightly embarassing on my part – I plugged the pedal into the output jack on my keyboard which made the amp make the most horrendous noise!
The first half ended with John “The Bear” Evans’ School Song, which was a jolly romp, performed by the Wolsey Consort.
After the interval, during which refreshments were served, father and son duo, Richard and Sam Wilson performed the World Premiere of Ben Parry’s Season Songs. This was an excellent performance, and I felt privelleged to be able to hear it. Cecil Lay’s words were conveyed superbly by Richard Wilson and Sam’s pulsating marimba playing was a joy to behold.
The Wolsey Consort successfully followed, performing two of Stanley Wilson’s choral compositions, Gibberish and To a Lady seen from the Train. The clever word play of the first, and the sheer un-political correctness of the second were relished by the singers, and both songs were successfully performed.
It was then time for the current and former Headmaster’s to perform two pieces by Peter Warlock in a piano duet. This was excellent fun, and demonstrated, not only how lucky the school has been to have two musical headmasters in a row, but also how mad Peter Warlock was! Beethoven’s Binge was a joy to behold, as was The Old Codger, whose metronome mark was the quadratic formula!
Ben Parry then performed A Musical Tribute, which was an excellent act of audience participation. By the end, the whole of the church were singing “Where do flies go in the winter time?”
The Wolsey Consort then returned to the stage, to sing two spirituals. The first was a World Premiere, conducted by the composer, Gwyn Arch, who was an OI from the time of Stanley Wilson. Ride On King Jesus will be part of one of the upcoming Faber choral compilation books, and we were lucky to be able to give it’s first performance. This was followed by Andrew Leach’s Happy Day, joyously performed by the choir.
The style moved onto jazz, with Ned Bennett and Ed Dewson leading a small ensemble in two numbers, The Penguin and Moondance. Both were expertly performed, and this led nicely up to the culmination of the night – the Big Band.
We began with the final World Premiere of the night – Backin” Town by Ned Bennett, which I think we did justice to. This was followed by Charlotte Walters’ vocal feature Cheek to Cheek, originally by Irving Berlin. The final item of the concert was a “jazz harpsicord” feature, Dangerman, featuring yours truly on the jazz harpsicord. After raptuous applause, there was of course an encore, Starsky and Hutch was performed with relish, and featured a superb guitar solo from Dave Leach.
Many thanks to Richard Wilson for organising the evening so efficiently, and allowing me to be part of such a fantastic concert. The audience greatly enjoyed what they heard, and it was a privelige to work with so many excellent Old Ipswichians.