Chosen by you it's the WCB "By Request" Concert

Thanks to everybody that voted for their favourite music to be played by the Woodley Concert Band on Saturday 13 October at Bearwood College Theatre, Sindlesham, near Reading.

We had literally hundreds of different pieces suggested,and it was really great to go through the list and count all the votes. But as we can't play all night, we've had to take the top 12 from all your requests, and not in any particular order, here they are:-

Crown Imperial - William Walton
Crown Imperial is an orchestral march by the English composer William Walton and was performed at the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and substantially revised in 1963. It's written in a ABABC form: An exciting march in C major over Waltonesque long pedal points is followed by an Elgarian trio section in A flat major. Then both march and trio reappear in C again and come to a conclusion in a small heroic coda.
Thames Journey - Nigel Hess
A 10-minute work which follows the journey of the Thames, from its origins as a few drops of water in Wiltshire to the point where it meets the open sea. Along the way, Hess draws upon many musical links along the Thames, such as an old Wiltshire melody, morris dancing in Oxfordshire, boating songs from Berkshire. With such rich and diverse sources of music across several counties and centuries, this has quite understandably become one of Hess's most popular wind band works to date.
Free from his Fetters Grim - Gilbert and Sullivan
Taken from Act Two of Gilbert and Sullivan's Opera "Yeoman of the Guard", first performed on October 3 1888 at the Savoy, this beautiful ballad is sung by the character Fairfax.
La Donna e Mobile - Guiseppe Verdi
La donna e mobile" is probably the best known melody from Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto." In the song, the Duke of Mantua sings that women are fickle, changing their minds and affections like a feather in the wind. Of course we realise that isn't true!
Gaelforce - Peter Graham
Gaelforce follows in Cry of the Celts style, and using three traditional folk tunes exploits the colour and variety of the modern wind band. Firstly, the slip jig, The Rocky Road to Dublin features the woodwind section. The Minstrel Boy, and the final reel, Tossing the Feathers, have both recently enjoyed renewed popularity courtesy of The Corrs. The Minstrel Boy here features the solo flugel horn in contrast with woodwind choir and mellow voices, while Tossing the Feathers is something of a tour de force for drums, woodwind, and eventually the whole band.
Cornet Carillon - Ronald Binge
Ronald Binge was born in Derby on 15 July 1910 and was largely self taught, though he did have early lessons in piano, organ and harmony. His first job was as composer, arranger and organist to a silent cinema that had a small orchestra. He is credited with creating the "cascading strings" sound used by Mantovani and insomniac BBC Radio 4 listeners will know his composition "Sailing By" which precedes the late night shipping forecast. His Cornet Carillon for four cornets and band is one of the most popular items ever composed for bands.
Dances with Wolves selection - John Barry
John Barry is a film music legend responsible for much of the best loved film and television music of the post-war era. Best known for his exciting music for the James Bond films, he has written music for over a hundred movies including sixties classics, musicals, historical dramas, wartime dramas, film noir revivals, biopics, modern romances and literary adaptations.This Medley from the Oscar-winning soundtrack includes a huge selection of themes from the movie "Dances With Wolves". The sweeping style and lush grandeur of the orchestral score have made it a natural choice from our audience.
Fanfare for the Common Man - Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was the pioneer of American music, born in 1900, when Americans were rarely recognised as composers in the music world. So Copland went to Europe for serious study, and, in the 1920s, wrote pieces with the flavour of jazz. When World War II began, the Cincinnati Symphony needed a patriotic American hero, and Copland, by now one of the most famous composers in America, created his noble Fanfare for the Common Man, first performed in 1943.
Stardust - Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish
Written in 1928, Stardust is probably the most recorded American song of all time. Hoagy Carmichael had only just finished his law degree, and was expected to enter the world of business, perhaps becoming the President of a railroad in due course, when he discovered jazz. The song is reputed to have been partially composed on a piano in the Book Nook store across the street from the Indiana University School of Law. The Woodley Concert Band version features a smooth and sexy saxophone solo.
Phantom of the Opera selection - Andrew Lloyd Webber
The recent hit movie has rekindled interest in this enduring Broadway favorite. This powerful medley features The Phantom of the Opera, Angel of Music, The Music of the Night, All I Ask of You, Masquerade and more.
Soliloquy - from Carousel - Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
In 1999 Time magazine Carousel was named as Best Musical of the 20th Century. It's no surprise then that our audience selected a song from this musical, first performed in 1945. The song Soliloquy comes from the end of the first act, when the character Billy is considering whether to take part in a robbery with Jigger, and imagines how he will provide for his future child.
Pineapple Poll Suite - Arthur Sullivan
The ballet “Pineapple Poll” is a spoof of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In 1950, the copyright on Sullivan’s music expired. One of the first to exploit this opportunity was Sadler’s Wells, who staged the ballet set exclusively to music by Sullivan, arranged by a young Charles Mackerras. During the war, Mackerras had played oboe in the pit of a Sydney theater, where they produced all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas except for Utopia and Grand Duke, the only two not represented in the ballet. Every bar of music, even the short bridge passages, is taken from some opera. The plot is based upon “The Bumboat Woman's Story” of Gilbert's “Bab Ballards”, which was later developed by Gilbert into “H.M.S. Pinafore”. The story evolves around Pineapple Poll and her colleagues, who are all madly in love with the captain of the good ship H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun. In order to gain admittance to the ship, they disguise themselves in sailors' clothes, a fact which is kept secret from the audience until near the end of the ballet.


	WOODLEY CONCERT BAND ARE PLAYING AT WOODLEY CARNIVAL, WOODFORD PARK, WOODLEY ON SATURDAY 14 JUNE at 5.30pm 5 weeks, 21 hours, 14 minutes, 8 seconds until your next chance to hear the band