LP L--Band concert

Having heard the finest orchestras in the world, seen the finest shows, heard amazing choirs, organs, piano concerts, and every kind of soloist imaginable, I still felt a gap in my listening experience in London. But I filled that void with a band concert. It was the Massed Bands serving Her Majesty's Royal Marines and it was an incredible concert. The concert was in the beautiful and stunning Royal Albert Hall and our seats were under the pipes of the magnificent organ. As I sat in the hall, I remembered the scene in A Man Who Knew Too Much when Jimmy Stewart attacked the assassin as the conductor cued the cymbal crash. Doris Day screams, the assassin's bullet misses and after a brief tussle with Jimmy Stewart, the assassin falls to his death out of the box in Royal Albert Hall. Quite a scene and filmed across from where we sat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRyrDahMLOM

Three United Kingdom Marine bands combined for the concert designed as a fund raiser for the bands' charitable trust fund. Like any good band concert, it began with the National Anthem God Save the Queen and we stood with everyone else as the 5,000+ audience sang with zeal. What followed was an eclectic mix of music for all ages, from traditional marches through classical and even rock. The three hour program which included an intermission...oops, I mean interval...was full of musical energy and played at a top level from beginning to end. Especially exciting was the arrangement of Barry Manilow tunes with a driving trapset and an electric guitar and bass to support the band.

Just as the band seemed to become a hard rock band, they would shift gears into a traditional march followed by an orchestral transcription. We heard the Olympic Fanfare by John Williams, Stravinsky's Firebird, and the wonderful Crown Imperial by William Walton. A nice set of television detective themes was balanced with a beautiful vocal rendition of My Heart Will Go On from Titanic. Near the end of the concert the band broke into Land of Hope and Glory by Elgar which we know as Pomp and Circumstance. Much to our surprise, all around us people lifted British flags and began to wave them in rhythm. Obviously a long tradition, I could not help but think of yet another graduation ceremony.



I now feel complete. I heard a band concert and what a glorious treat it was indeed. Seeing the drums and fanfare trumpets surrounding the hall doing regimental drumming gave me a further sense of the pride of this country, a pride that points to the past with its royalty and its arts culture. But also a pride that insists on excellence at all levels as it embraces the developing future. While there may have been a few pieces that not everyone loved, there was enough variety to cast a wide net of musical love on the people. Perhaps this is the future of music, to love it all and do it all well regardless of the genre, to perform expressively and give each note, each sound, each moment its due, and to love what music can do for the human spirit.