Final school lunchtime concert takes place

Jun 5 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THIS was the final school lunchtime concert of the festival and attracted a large audience which appreciated a varied programme.

There was some nice ensemble playing from P5 and 7 St John’s School pupils, including two trumpet ones, and a number of contrasted pieces.

The orchestra, despite being short of numbers in the strings, gave effective performances of “A Great Medley” by Gibb/Farrara and the popular “Moonlight Serenade” by Miller.

The other ensemble, the Ceilidh Band (two violins, flute, bass guitar, drum-kit and piano) played “Baratach Bana”, a selection of reels and “Roaring Jelly”, with style, though some dynamic shading would have made the difference.

The soloists all gave confident performances; Aden Mazur (violin) gave a lively performance of the fourth movement from the Sonatina by Dvorak, marking clearly the mood change between the two main themes.

James Beck (baritone) gave a well-characterised account of “King Herod’s song” from Lloyd-Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”.

Alexander Leitch (saxophone) played expressively the arrangement of Fauré’s song “Après un Rêve”, his instrument being appropriate for the sad mood.

The flute trio played a neatly-phrased Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”; the arrangement by Christensen was very clever.

Kelly Strachan (mezzo-soprano) sang “Memory” from Cats by Lloyd-Webber quite expressively, but she struggled a little on low notes.

The highlight was a performance of “Chanson Napolitaine” played on the cornet by Rachel Hotchkiss; virtuosic in the faster section and well-nuanced in the slow one.