Band Put On A 'Stylish' Show

17 September 2009 

So read the headline in a recent edition of The Grimsby Telegraph www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk. The article is reproduced here in full with kind permission of the author, and The Grimsby Telegraph.

STIRRING brass band music filled the beautiful 15^th century St Mary’s Church in  Marshchapel Arts’ latest venture in promoting culture in rural East Lindsey.

East Yorkshire Motor Services Band, conducted by Stan Lippeatt, lived up to their national top-20 ranking with a stylish, entertaining and varied programme. They opened up in classical style with Saint-Saens’ stately French Military March and Berlioz’s lightning-quick The Corsair. And it left the 170-strong audience in no doubt why the Hull-based band - which contains several members from the Grimsby area - go into next month’s National Championships at the Royal Albert Hall as North of England Champions. 

Other technically-demanding heavyweights were Wagner’s majestic Prelude to Act III Lohengrin, and Respighi’s evocative description of a war-weathered Roman army’s triumphant return in the March from the Pines of Rome. The band showed its softer, contemplative side with The Catskills, a lovely arrangement of Amazing Grace, and 'Mid All the Traffic, known better as Shenandoah. And it came up with a clap-along winner with the traditional march Death or Glory, which ushered in the opening footage of the banding film Brassed Off.

As befits one of the country’s leading  bands, EYMS possess some fine soloists, with measured performances coming from principal cornet Neil Day, with Rusalka’s Song to the Moon; flugel horn Kathy Newiss, Hymn for Africa; Mark Unsworth, Concert Piece for Trombone; and Neil Johnson, principal euphonium, Song  for Ina. 

Yet the band found plenty of time for fun, with Tony Newiss joining Day for a bit of musical slapstick with Ein Schnaps, a spot of ‘Strictly Latin’ with Salsa Tres’ Prado and a brassy, showy big band arrangement of Louis Prima’s Sing Sing Sing. For sheer entertainment and cool, it was hard to beat Me and My Shadow, with Andy Kennedy joining Johnson for a Rat Pack-style euphonium duet. 

Bizet’s always-popular Farandole led to the powerhouse Pines of Rome. No wonder, then, the audience were banging their feet for more, and they were rewarded with a fast and furious Finale from Faust, by Gounod. Marshchapel Arts is raising money to improve the heating in St Mary’s but they certainly didn’t need it with EYMS, who really raised the temperature.

Email: marshchapelarts@yahoo.co.uk