TRACK OF THE WEEK
Every week Frank selects his own favourite track of the week from our weekly Music Podcast, and it's completely free to listen too, here on Frank Renton on Brass. As he says this week,
"I can vividly remember seeing West Side Story for the first time in the original London production and being absolutely thrilled by it all, and until that night I had never heard of Stephen Sondheim who wrote the words that Leonard Bernstein’s music brought to life.
Years later, I saw A Little Night Music at the National Theatre with both words and music by Sondheim and found the whole show so moving. By then of course we all knew of his work and his ability to bring works of great emotion and great fun to the world’s stage.
Along the way his fabulous songs provided the basis for a whole stream of arrangements for the brass band, which since its very beginnings has thrived on a repertoire of music from the theatre.
One of my favourites is the Track of the Week here at Frank Renton on Brass. The first time I heard it played by Fodens, with arranger Howard Snell conducting them, and Nick Hudson playing the wonderfully lilting trombone part, it just knocked me out, and I’ve included it in as many of my own concert programmes as I could.
I still think it’s one of the best arrangements of a show tune I’ve ever heard. It’s the title song from Anyone Can Whistle by Stephen Sondheim, arranged by Howard Snell and played by Fodens. My Track of the Week here on Frank Renton on Brass and my little tribute to a great genius of the theatre who has just left the stage."
We hope you’ll enjoy our free track of the week that's below - and then will join us to hear all our many programmes, interviews and music podcasts. It’s a lot less than a cup of coffee a week!
