Even in the middle of October Bournemouth was the place to be. Leafy boulevards, sleek and expensive yachts, an array of regal cars … and, of course, the music of Mantovani as interpreted by Paul Barrett and his musicians at the Pavilion Theatre on the 16th. For this year’s concert, titled “Hollywood to Broadway”, Paul and co-promoter Franck Leprince engaged Gavin Sutherland as conductor, John Bradbury as leader and Jack Maguire as co/leader and “fixer”. With stellar names such as those at the helm you knew it was going to be a great show. And so it came to pass … undoubtedly, the best in the series so far.
Familiar to JIM readers through his many recordings, Gavin Sutherland placed his own special mark on the orchestra. Relaxed yet alert, he brought forth a deep rich mellow sound from the celli, basses and violas situated to the right of the stage. He was no less successful with the bank of strings on the left, coaxing from the players the special type of performance that defines “The Mantovani Sound”. Augmented by the superb brass and woodwind sections spearheaded by Mike Lovett (trumpet) and Russel Howarth (trombone), and assisted by the ever reliable accordionist Eddie Hession and a fine new guitarist Max Brittain, the “Sound” was rounded off by a five star performance from Paul Barrett himself.
Situated on a three foot high raised dais, Paul gave us a virtuoso perfomance on his array of percussion instruments. This time you could see exactly what he was up to in the “kitchen sink” department without anyone else getting in the way, and his empathy with the conductor was a joy to behold. Paul seemed even more confident than usual, with his work on tympani during the climaxes to several pieces a real eye-opener. The use of vibraphone was judicious and his sense of timing was spot-on; his mentor Charles Botterill, Mantovani’s percussionist for so many years, would have been proud of his dexterity on the dais, were he alive today.
With the jaunty Ed Stewart in charge we began with a Fox movie fanfare, accompanied by dancing searchlight effects in imitation of Hollywood, which was linked to a very pleasing Franck Leprince arrangement of the Carl Davis/Alfred Newman “Hollywood” theme. Franck was part of the much changed orchestra string section; at this point we should perhaps note that there were as many as 35 personnel changes from the last concert at the Bournemouth Pavilion. All praise then to Jack Maguire, whose choice of players enhanced the evening.
We next encountered Tara and Lara, the former from “Gone With The Wind”, the latter from “Dr Zhivago”. Both were beautifully rendered with Roland Shaw’s unusual arrangement of “Lara’s Theme”, so modern at the time it was done, still sounding fresh and vibrant. Traditionalists in the audience were then entertained by the orchestra’s version of one of Mantovani’s big hits, “Where Is My Heart? (The Moulin Rouge Theme)” in which accordionist Hession was strongly featured, Ed Stewart reminding us at this point that Eddie was featured in a quartet in the film “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”.
Ed introduced us next to 25 year old pianist Samuel Hanson for a stirring version of Charles Williams’s “The Dream of Olwen”. More than just a pianist (he is director of music at St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth and a member of the rock band Oposium), Samuel was one of the stars of the evening. He “attacked” Williams’ classic (originally arranged by Cecil Milner) with a terrific keyboard flourish, and later in the first half repeated the vigour of his performance on “Jealous Lover”, another Williams piece. Both of these performances were thrilling to watch and to listen to, with able support offered up by the accompanying orchestra.
Some fine xylophone work by Paul on “Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo” lit up the night before we moved into a very smooth arrangment of the “Love Story” Theme. Trumpeter Mike Lovett then filled the auditorium as only he can with one of those very special solos he is so expert at giving, the song on this occasion being “Let Me Be Loved”, from “The James Dean Story”. The overture and main title theme from “Lawrence of Arabia” followed, Paul Barrett donning an Arab headdress for the occasion. A mighty performance was given by all on this stirring piece of music that we all know and love before we relaxed to the Roland Shaw scoring of “Three Coins In The Fountain” complete with its plop, plop, plop finale administered by Paul’s glockenspiel. We may add here that on the overhead screen at the back of the stage you could see simultaneous footage from the movie of the Trevi fountains in Rome where, of course, you cast your coins and make your wishes. I must say it looked a lot quieter then than when I was last there a couple of years ago! Incidentally, the use of the screen to display highlights of the original movies as the orchestra played was a clever touch which didn’t really detract from the stage performances.
“The Magnificent Seven” Theme was performed with great energy, followed by the aforementioned “Jealous Lover”, then the accomplished string effect on Richard Rodgers’ “Lover”, “accompanied” by a young looking Monty on the overhead screen, was a bonus. Behind Monty’s bowing arm you could see his father Benedetto playing violin, which provided a family link with Kenneth Mantovani, son and grandson of both musicians, who was in the audience. It was a nice touch which nearly brought the first half proceedings to a close. Almost, but not quite for there was a simply gorgeous version of “Begin the Beguine” leading us into the interval with Paul on maracas and vibes simultaneously! He told me afterwards that maracas form part of the original Mantovani score but did not feature in his Decca recording for some reason or other which escapes us now. Whatever, it is a stunning arrangement, one of the highlights of the entire show.
Turning to the Broadway portion of the programme, we encountered the bouncy, powerful “Give My Regards To Broadway”, one of eleven scores contributed by the talented Cecil Milner, Monty’s mainstay arranger. That perennial Ronnie Binge classic setting of “Some Enchanted Evening” was a string highlight as always, drawing excited applause from the audience, and Mantovani’s own scoring of “I Could Have Danced All Night” turned out to be a real gem in which percussionist Barrett made use of chimes in the appropriate places. Samuel Hanson then returned to render a lovely piano solo on “When I Fall in Love” before the strings joined in with him.
The overhead screen was now showing an appropriate image from “West Side Story” of one of its stars excitedly trying on a hat as Gavin took the orchestra through the delicious Mantovani-Milner arrangement of “I Feel Pretty”. “If I Loved You” from “Carousel”, always a crowd pleaser, included a fine trombone solo from Russel Howarth who also featured strongly in the haunting Vernon Duke song, “Autumn in New York”, a couple of numbers later. In between, we were entertained by an exciting version of “Cabaret”, driven along by some splendid brass.
Another fine piano solo on “Blue Star” by the youthful Mr Hanson reminded us just what a good tune this is, then the effervescent “If I Were A Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof” took us through to the last piece on the printed programme, a rousing Milner scoring of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in which the entire orchestra excelled. As well as the chauffeur’s hat donned by Paul Barrett, the original motor horn used by Charles Botterill was in evidence, providing a tenuous link with the original stage rendition by the Mantovani musicians.
The first of two encores was the Milner setting of Michel Legrand’s enchanting “I Wish You Love” in which there were some interesting vibraphone improvisations, then we concluded with, of course, “Charmaine”, a most successful version played at exactly the right tempo with lovely string work (although no violin solo this time), adorned by Mike Lovett’s muted trumpet solo and a fine trombone contribution from Russel Howarth.
The attendance was ten short of a thousand, which is no mean feat in these austere days when light orchestral music is shunned by the broadcasting authorities but, fortunately, not by Bournemouth’s loyal public. It was a really special night made possible by the kind assistance of the Mantovani family, who made the original music available, and the principal sponsors, Poole Audi. Ed Stewart was his usual engaging self, keeping proceedings going with great humour despite having had hip and knee operations in recent times, as he so cheerfully reminded us. Paul Barrett’s many helpers came up trumps and the musicians covered themselves in glory. It was encouraging, too, to hear Gavin Sutherland enthuse about Mantovani and his music after the concert was over, and Mike Warburton, one of the violinists, added beforehand that it was good to play this type of music, as he and the others did not get the chance to do so very often these days.
It’s a pity this time around, for reasons too complex to mention here, that we won’t be able to relive the performance on DVD. Instead, however, RFS members Timothy Milner (Cecil’s nephew) and Alan Dixon and all the other attendees will have vivid memories of a wonderful feel-good occasion to sustain them throughout the winter months. Congratulations to all involved in this terrific value for money show.
Colin MacKenzie
