Read the Review of this concert here.

Surrey Brass present a programme of spectacular music from the former Soviet Union at 7:30pm on Saturday 19th October 2002 at Christ Church, Town Square, Woking (next to the Peacocks Centre).

The programme will feature the famous “Pictures at an Exhibition” arranged for brass, together with works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovitch, Katchaturian and less well known composers including Kabalevsky and Kallinnkov. Also on the programme will be a special arrangement of popular and film music with Russian associations by composer and arranger John Hughes, (who lives in Surrey and not Siberia).

Surrey Brass, directed by top London trumpeter Robin Smith, were formed only last year but already have gained something of a reputation for innovation and entertainment. Earlier this year they ran a Golden Jubilee Fanfare Contest, which encouraged nine local composers to write new music, which was played in several places including Woking Town Centre on Jubilee day. They have also backed the Bootleg Beatles at the prestigious Wisley Festival during the early summer.

Tickets for the concert are priced at £8/£6 concessions. Christ Church has excellent facilities for the disabled. Tickets and information is available from Christ Church (01483 727496) or from the Surrey Brass website at http://www.surreybrass.co.uk/

Poster and Handbill

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Date, Time and Venue

7:30pm 19th October 2002 Christ Church,
Town Square, Woking, Surrey, GU21 1YG

Christ Church has excellent facilities for the disabled, including easy wheelchair access, toilet and parking facilities. Please contact Christ Church Office (01483 740897) during normal hours for more information.

Map, Directions, Public Transport

Christ Church is three minutes walk from Woking station which has 19 trains per hour from Waterloo, many direct.

Woking town centre is also well served by bus services, and the terminus is also very close to Christ Church.

Parking

There is a very large amount of ticketed parking in several locations close to the Peacocks Centre, which is adjacent to Christ Church.

Tickets

Tickets are £8 and and will be available from early October. Concessions (£6) are available for Students, Disabled and OAP. Tickets can be reserved from secretary@surreybrass.co.uk or obtained direct from Christ Church Office (01483 740897) during office hours. Tickets will be available on the night subject to hall capacity limits. We advise you to book early for this popular concert.

Programme

Click on the link to get programme notes and information about the composer.

Alexander Tcherepnin – Fanfare
Serge Prokofieff – Two Pieces from Lieutenant Kije, arr. Fisher Tull
Victor Ewald – Quintet, Opus 5.
Benjamin Britten – Russian Funeral
Serge Prokofieff – March Opus 99. arr. Denzil S. Stephens
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky – Romance, Opus 5. trans. John Corley
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky – Trepak from The Nutcracker arr. Roger Harvey

INTERVAL

Aram Khatchatourian – Sabre Dance arr. Daniel Guyot
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Vocalise, Opus 34 no.14 arr. John Miller
Modest Moussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition arr. Michael Stewart
Kenny Ball - ‘Midnight in Moscow’ arr. John Hughes
The Russian National Anthem (Gimn Sovetskogo soyuza) arr. Michael Chapple

Encore - "From Russia with Love" - music from the James Bond film, to celebrate the release of "Die Another Day" - arranged by John Hughes

Reviews

"The Russian Brass concert was fabulous
and the CD is excellent."
- Peter Bryant

From Russia With Love

Concert by Surrey Brass – 19^th October 2002

Christ Church, Town Square, Peacocks Centre.

It must be said that the prospect of sitting through an entire concert of Russian brass music in a church in Woking wasn’t exactly the most stimulating choice for a Saturday evening’s entertainment. How wrong can you be! Surrey Brass presented their audience with a hugely powerful and varied programme – some familiar, some lesser known, but all thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric. Their trick was to use Russia as the theme and not to limit themselves only to Russian music by Russian composers – and it worked very well.

There is only one way to begin a concert by a 10-piece brass ensemble and that’s with a fanfare – in this case a stirring piece by Alexander Tcherepnin. There followed an arrangement of two pieces from Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije, including the famous Troika which has become as familiar as Jingle Bells at Christmas time, and rightly so as it’s a great tune, heard here in an arrangement by Fisher Tull.

Surrey Brass are anything if not versatile. Next came a quintet by Victor Ewald with conductor Robin Smith swapping baton for trumpet to lead some precise, thoughtful playing, then back to full forces, including extra horns and a euphonium, to perform the rarely heard but deeply moving Russian Funeral by Benjamin Britten. The first half ended with arrangements of Prokofiev’s March Opus 99, and two pieces by Tchaikovsky – Romance Opus 5 and the short yet brilliant Trepak from The Nutcracker.

Having only just sat down again after the interval, the audience were immediately blasted out of their seats by a superb version of Khatchatourian’s Sabre Dance, the pleasure enhanced by seeing trumpet players go purple from lack of breath and four trombonists playing rude glissandos in perfect unison. In total contrast, Robin Smith again picked up his trumpet to play solo in Rachmaninov’s beautiful Vocalise, one of those pieces that you know and love but often cannot put a name to.

Which brought us to the main event – Moussorgsky’s masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition, or rather nine of them, superbly arranged by Michael Stewart. Clever use of mutes created a startling range of colours and textures which the music demands, from the stately opening Promenade to the dramatic slamming chords of the Great Gate of Kiev. All credit to the all-female percussion section who gave it everything.

Finally and surprisingly, this Slavonic adventure ended with a bit of jazz, Midnight in Moscow, made famous by Kenny Ball in the early 1960s and specially arranged for Surrey Brass for the occasion. This was a clever way to end the concert, with a spot of light relief, as was the choice of encore, the piece that gave the concert its name – Lionel Bart’s From Russian With Love. Whatever my expectations of this evening, to end up toe tapping was not amongst them!

If you get the chance to see Surrey Brass, don’t miss them. They have not been around for long but they are a talented, resourceful group with a flair for presenting classical music in an entertaining and approachable way. They play because they love it, and that enthusiasm is palpable, be it Prokofiev, Britten or James Bond. Catch them next as they continue their musical tour of the world playing music from Venice in Farnham on 30^th November.

McKinley Morganfield

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