A MULTI-TALENTED musical salute to the Queen’s diamond
jubilee celebrations attracted a very large
audience to the Hall for Cornwall on Saturday (June 2). The variety and quality
made a joyous curtain-raiser to the weekend of events throughout the county.
Compered by Bruce Taylor of Miller Countrywide, the sweep of
popular entertainment, smartly presented, was combined with a high level of
performance, from Cornish favourites to show hits.
And who better to form the centrepiece and link than
Alastair Taylor, in brilliant vocal and keyboard form.
He maintained the vigour and dynamic of this charity
tour-de-force with personal highlights that ranged from concerto themes and
ragtime to Gershwin to the emotional finale ‘This is the Moment’ and with his
accompaniment of many of the guests.
Everyone gave of their best and who better to fill the stage
than over 100 voices of the combined forces of two of Cornwall’s leading male
voice choirs, Four Lanes under conductor Michael Uren and Mousehole with
Stephen Lawry. With lyric singing in the traditional ‘The Old Woman’ and ‘The
Night has a Thousand Eyes’ they also swept to power and resonance with the
exciting ‘Christus Salvator’ and ‘Deus Salutis’.
The audiences loved this massed male singing, especially in
the great anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. There is great potential here for
future concerts with a wider repertoire.
The crowd also took two youngsters to their hearts and hands,
brothers Matthew and Charles Secombe – and little wonder as they are the
grandsons of the late great national jester and tenor Sir Harry - whose timing
and flair in their duets ‘Together
Wherever we Go’ and ‘Anything you can Do’ were a delight.
Another young man to watch and admire was pianist Jack
Callow who must have a fine professional musical career ahead. His composition
‘Prologue’ and his combined work with Alastair brought waves of applause and
pleasure.
Two well-established singers, Syd Mitchell and David
Rashleigh, filled the auditorium with their excellent duets. Accomplished and
admirable, their high-spot came with their polished ‘Without a Song’. And the
splendid voice of tenor soloist Ben Hoadley also charmed, particularly with his
‘O Sole Mio’ and his touches of humour.
Add to this a selection of Cornish songs that the audience
joined in, led by Alastair, and their singing
of ‘God Save the Queen’ to open and ‘Trelawny’ to conclude, it is not difficult to recall the enthusiasm
that swept the hall.
This was the eighth Miller Countrywide concert and the
compere revealed that in recent years over £16,000 had been raised for charity.
Ahead lies the return visit of Black Dyke Band, the European champions, at HfC
on Saturday 29 September – and already a sell-out can almost be assured.