The venue for our last two CD recordings was St. Luke’s Church in Birmingham, and so, as a thank you, the band offered to do a concert.  The contemporary buildings have an excellent acoustic and the band always seem to enjoy playing there.  

 

Starting with Cordner’s Fanfare and Flourishes, the cornets and trombones encircled the audience before returning to the typically band formation after the fanfare opening.  Other music featured on the programme included Eric Ball’s Songs of the Morning and Paul Sharman’s A Psalm of Thanks, written for BCB in 2008.

 

After the interval the band started with a small ensemble playing amongst the congregation in Alan Fernie’s dixieland jazz arrangement of Just a Closer Walk.  As the band will be touring Canada this Easter, Bandmaster Lamplough featured several pieces of music associated with this time of year and this also provided the catalyst for the time for reflection.  Particular highlights were Dean Jones’ Written in Red and the timeless classic Easter Glory.  The band finished the programme as they started: amongst the audience as they played Stephen Bradnum’s beautiful arrangement of The Irish Blessing.