Sax to the Max, 3rd March 2007

No "Grim" in Grimsby for the NSC!

Saturday 3rd March in Grimsby was most definitely Catherine 'Cat' Evison's day - local hero and lead alto in the sax choir, she initiated, organized (with loyal team support) and starred in its activities. (Rumour is that the lunar eclipse that night was mere coincidence, but the cognoscenti know she arranged that too, as a final dramatic touch...)

Being young and energetic Cat planned an almost unfeasibly busy 10 hours, kicking off with a brisk busking session in Grimsby's bright and welcoming shopping centre, Freshney Place. After a dash across town to the Methodist Central Hall, the day's outreach activities continued with a very well-supported workshop, led by the inspirational and energizing Richard Ingham (on spoons). This mixed ability group proved impressively responsive to his and Nigel Wood's instructions, reacting to the latter's staging requirements and demands for on-the-spot memorization effectively and without a whimper, earning instant respect from the seasoned NSC members who were all in attendance.

Grimsby's Central Hall is an attractive venue with friendly, helpful staff and plenty of space back-stage. A one-and-half hour rehearsal (kept scrupulously to time by Principal Guest Conductor Keiron Anderson in order to preserve stamina) allowed the choir to explore the hall's beautiful acoustic before the evening's concert, presented to an appreciative audience that included Grimsby's Deputy Mayor and Mayoress. (This kind of public and civic support is very important to the NSC, for whom broadening the saxophone's appeal is just as important as impressing their musical peers.)

Also present was Richard Payne, composer of an imaginative and appealing new saxophone Concerto which opened the second half and featured Cat, in stunning form, as soloist. This was its first concert airing in Nigel Wood's arrangement for sax choir (it also appears on the choir's new Sax to the Max CD); another concert first was Jen Ashley's (lead bari) stirring arrangement of Nimrod - received very warmly, and also included on the new CD.

There were other soloists too: Nigel in fine fettle and undaunted by a heavy cold in Waltzing Soprillda, Debbie Sargent on soprano in Under the Veil (reaching new heights of exoticism and virtuosity with every performance), the multiple soloists in Bolero, and all section leaders in Keiron's rattle-stop introduction to the sax family. Workshop participants added a special dimension (and volume) to Veil, Carnival and the Shetland Sequence encore, but it was perhaps Richard's Mrs Malcolm, Her Reel that provoked the most uninhibited response from the audience, with a performance driven to the extremes of exuberant, funky frenzy that only a whooping composer with spoons can achieve.

Return to past event reviews