AMSTERDAM STAFF BAND Facebook bulletin 051 – May/June 2014 CONSETT, UK The last weekend of May, the Amsterdam Staff Band could be found in the United Kingdom! The band was invited to celebrate the 135th anniversary of the eldest Salvation Army band in the world, the Consett Corps Band. To hit two birds with one stone, the ASB brought with them Ben van Dijk, the bass trombonist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as guest soloist in conjunction with the release of his new solo recording ‘World Concerto’ where the ASB is the accompanying band! Both the ASB as well as Ben looked forward to this weekend for quite some time. Friday 30 May This day the band gathered together at Schiphol Airport in the early morning. A smooth flight to Newcastle followed where the band was welcomed by some corps members of the Consett Corps. A quick ride to the Consett Salvation Army hall, a very interesting and extended presentation about the Consett Corps and band and a short rehearsal followed to set our minds towards the things yet to come. The coach then brought us to the Durham County Hall for our first concert of the weekend. The Durham County Hall is a nice building and the hall where the ASB was to play was really cool (picture upper left). Many representatives of surrounding cities and counties were present as well as invited people (the English called them the ‘chain gang’), including descendants of bandsmen who formed the first Consett Band in the beginning of the Salvation Army. Soloists during this concert were Mark Onstwedder (Jesus Shall Conquer), Michel Arnoldus and Arend Pietersen (Synergy) and Menno van der Woude (They Shall Come from the East). Saturday 31 May This was to be the heaviest day with two concerts coming up. First the coach brought us to Durham, where we were taken to the SA Sanctuary21, a shelter for homeless and addicts, run by two familiar faces, Lt. Cor and Angelique van der Woude, as Dutch as we are! Here we could leave our gear in preparation to our concert in the majestic Cathedral of Durham(see picture top right), about a 3 minute walk from Sanctuary21. This ancient building, over 900 years old (!!) is definitely one of the greatest buildings the ASB ever played in. The building is also known as it is used to film several scenes of the famous Harry Potter movies and I am sure I saw professor Dumbledore in the audience. In meantime our guest soloist for the weekend, Ben van Dijk, had joint us, and we were off to the DurhamCathedral. Hundreds of people were eagerly waiting for our concert. The band opened with Edward Mylechreest’s ‘He is exalted’, and when the last chord had fade away, everybody realized we were in for a big treat here in this special, beautiful, old building. In particular the more ‘quiet’ pieces, such as Olaf Ritman’s ‘Tu Es Petrus’ (now also on the repertoire of the International Staff Band) and Lux Auremque (arr. Andrew Poirier) were absolute gems to play in this environment. Ben van Dijk excelled in Shenandoah, Danzone and Na Sopkah Manchurrii (all by Steven Verhelst, and all on our new CD) and left the listeners in awe. They Shall Come from the East, is certainly one of the biggest crowd pleaser of recent years and also here the people really enjoyed it. Even the last ‘BOOM’ by Leslie Stastra on bass drum, which sounded in this Cathedral like if it was an explosion, was appreciated! The final piece –The Amsterdam Festival March- written for the bands 1992 tour of Canada (and also used last year during the Canada tour) with its unmistakable ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ left the audience satisfied and pleased according the many responses. The venue for the evening (picture left), a theater on 100 yards from the corps building was the place to be for the evening. This was quite a tough hall to play in, with very dry acoustics. The first people already entered the hall during the sound check and it took only minutes before the hall was filled with anticipating people. When the band came up, a huge applaud was given, and during the way to our chairs, the bass section took a deep bow already, what was a clear example of the great atmosphere not only here in the theater, but which was also obvious for the whole weekend. The band set off with Martin Cordner’s Call of the Gospel, followed by Brian Bowen’s Lord, with my all I part. Two contrasts but both with a great message. After the usual introductions our guest soloist treated the audience with a flawless rendition of World Concerto, an almost 15 minute tour de force for soloist and band. The following piece, Letter from Home, would become one of the highlights of the weekend. Somehow people appreciated this quite unusual and certainly not known piece within SA circles. This was also the evening of which the ASB would give the world premiere of Mansions of Glory. Written by the principal solo horn of Black Dyke Band, Jonathan Bates, who, although our bandmaster ‘was sure he was in the audience’ was obviously not there, but in Germany instead! Two main tunes are featured in this new work, the Coventry Carol, which was one of the first tunes the Consett Band ever played and ‘I know thou art mine’ which also had a significant meaning to the people of Consett. Written for the Consett Band, the premiere of this fine work was appreciated by the audience. Prior to the interval was the official release of the new solo CD by Ben van Dijk, and so also our new CD as we are the accompanying band on it. The CD is now officially available from Ben’s website (basstrombone.nl) as well as via the ASB, and soon will be available via World of Brass too amongst other resources. The ‘only’ other soloist this evening, next to Maestro van Dijk, was flugelhorn legend Menno van der Woude who gave a scintillating performance of Children of Sanchez. Sunday 1 June Sunday morning saw the band teamed up with the Consett Band for a joint march to the place where the first Consett Band used to rehearse. It is always great to march with a lot of people and/or another band and so also here on this sunny and shiny morning, it was no different. The ASB is used to march, however to do this in the hilly surroundings of Consett was sweat provoking, I can asure you! After the morning meeting in which our guest soloist also showed his incredible and controlled skills, it was only a ‘wind up’/Praise meeting, before we would leave for the airport and go home. This short informal concert as it really was, featured (amongst others) the world premiere of our bandmaster’s first ‘big’ piece, as he told the audience. ‘Vain Resistance’ will be, I am sure, popular amongst the SA bands around the world. Fun and interesting to play, great to listen too, once again our bandmaster succeeded in writing a ‘winner’! All in all this was a weekend which will be in our memories for a very long time. All the pictures of the weekend can be found here: https://facebook/media/set/?set=oa.10152055010096193&type=1 Thank you to all who click on the ‘Like’ button of these Amsterdam Staff Band bulletins. The band continues to be encouraged by the interest shown in it via the Facebook group confirming their readership by clicking the ‘Like’ button. So, if you have read this bulletin, we’d be delighted to receive your ‘Like’!
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 12:17:30 +0000
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