THE first concert of Chipping Sodbury Music Society’s 2016/7 season got off to a great start with Bella Tromba – four girls with four trumpets. Music ranging from 1695 to 2010 provided plenty of variety.

Henry Purcell’s ‘Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary’ conjured up visions of the cortège moving slowly towards Westminster Abbey. John Reeman’s ‘The Armed Man’ posed many technical challenges, surmounted by the players with apparent ease.

Favourite tunes from Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ were played with great verve and obvious affection. Stravinsky’s ‘Le Cinq Doight’, originally written for piano, bore all the trademarks of this composer. The playing was crisp and purposeful with echoes of ‘The Firebird’ never far away.

A jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Flowers’ proved a real tour de force of which I am sure the composer himself would have approved.

Arrangements of popular songs ‘Fly Me To The Moon’, ‘My Funny Valentine’ and an encore, ‘Singing In The Rain’, complete with raincoats and umbrella, proved a satisfying finale to a well-received concert in which different types of trumpets (Bass, Bb, Piccolo and Flugel horn) had been deployed.

The second concert of the Music Society’s 69th season, at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall on Tuesday 8 November 2016, will be given by the Artisans’ Quartet – a busy local string quartet. They will be playing a varied repertoire of treasured pieces as well as interesting arrangements compiled by their viola player, Ross Cohen. Tickets can be purchased from ticketsource.co.uk/csmusicsociety/ or the Box Office on 01454 315741 and further information may be found on the website at csmusicsociety.co.uk

Gerry Philp