Anne's surprise SBBA life membership presentation
The Parish Church of St Cuthbert in central Edinburgh was the venue for a thrilling evening of music making at the end of January by Newtongrange Silver Band and the cooperation band, appearing under the banner of Brass in the Capital.
With a large audience in the stylish venue having braved the cold weather, this was also an occasion of celebration for Newtongrange musical director Anne Crookston who received recognition of her lengthy contribution to banding with a life membership of the Scottish Brass Band Association (SBBA).
The concert got off to a lively start with Newtongrange performing the opening movement from Gavin Higgins’ Fanfares and Love Songs, before a rousing performance of Rossini’s overture, Italian Girl in Algiers, in the well-known arrangement by John Greenwood, which featured prominently the band’s joint player of the year for 2024, soprano cornetist Graham Adam.
Peder Karlsson’s atmospheric Gøta featured the talents of guest solo euphonium Leighton Griffin and young front row cornetist Alex Robertson, before the other co-player of the year, Kenny Crookston, gave a tasteful rendition of the challenging flugelhorn solo by Frode Rydland, The Boatmen’s Ballad - pictured above.
Howard Snell’s arrangement of Darius Millhaud’s Scaramouche from Brasiliera added a lively Latin touch to the programme, while the same arranger’s evocative arrangement of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square proved an excellent showcase for solo trombonist Alastair Gibson as he gave his final concert performance with Newtongrange as he departs to take up the baton with Kingdom Brass – and what a fine performance it was!
Ravel’s Bolero (again arranged by Howard Snell) was a fittingly contrasting finale to Newtongrange’s programme, with terrific solo work throughout, before the lively encore, One Night Only, set the stage for the Scottish Champion band in the second half.
Appearing under principal conductor Katrina Marzella Wheeler, the cooperation band (above) opened with Bach’s In Dir Est Freude, immediately displaying the vibrant sound for which the band has become renowned. John Wallace’s arrangement of excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq D’or Suite again gave this fine ensemble the opportunity to display a full spectrum of musical colour, before a beautifully performed duet - Frode Rydland’s Love, Magic with a Capital M, with Stephanie Kennedy (flugelhorn) and Chris Flynn (euphonium) providing one of the night’s highlights.
A whirlwind performance of the Reel from Four Scottish Dances (Malcom Arnold) featured bass trombonist Andy Foden poco inebrioso, before the band really set the venue ablaze with Reid Gilje’s arrangement of Mahalageasca.
It was at this point that the event took a surprising turn for Anne Crookston when Katrina talked the audience through her musical journey, from her early days on tenor horn with Newmains & District Band through her stellar playing career on baritone with the CWS (Glasgow) Band, with which she won the National Championships in 1990 among many other achievements, and her long and successful spell at Whitburn.
More recently, Anne has been in demand as a conductor and international adjudicator, making history in 2024 as the first-ever female judge in the 170-year history of the British Open Brass Band Championships.
Additional glowing testimonials from Howard Snell, Phillip McCann and former Co-op band manager Ronnie Tennant almost – but not quite! – left Anne speechless as she received her SBBA life membership medal from Katrina, who added her own tribute having also been inspired by Anne as a young baritone horn player.
A final contribution from the great Howard Snell in his iconic arrangement of Wagner’s Procession to the Minster was a further display of the cooperation band’s outstanding quality of sound, while Andrew Duncan’s arrangement of Loch Lomond literally sent the audience home in great voice!
This was a wonderful celebration of all that is good in brass bands and it is to be hoped that this fine venue will host many more future events of the nature of Brass in the Capital!
Photos courtesy of Zach
