REVIEW:

Weyhill Electronic Organ Society, Daniel Watt

MOST, if not all, musical tastes were satisfied when Daniel Watt, from Northampton, made his fifth visit to Weyhill to perform for the WEOS June concert. Daniel has many years of professional experience as a concert musician and has appeared on the international stage alongside many of the top organ and keyboard stars – in Germany, Spain, Holland, Canada and the USA.

The evening began with a couple of hits especially associated with ABBA and Adele, followed by a Big Band number and a Latin American tune. The sounds of strings and brass were prominent for a song recorded by John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, after which a typical James Last arrangement of What Now My Love was heard. Classical music was represented by The Second Waltz (Shostakovich) before the modern technology of today’s instruments was well demonstrated, as Daniel accompanied the recorded voice of Sarah McLachlan. He then introduced his own arrangement of the Karl Jenkins composition, Palladio (as performed by Escala), followed by another Big Band tune and arrived at the interval with the Vangelis film theme for 1492: Conquest Of Paradise.

The second half began in dramatic style as the voice of Richard Burton preceded Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War Of The Worlds. Flute and piano featured with John Denver’s Annie’s Song whilst a performance of Mr Blue Sky reminded everyone of Jeff Lynne and ELO. Classical music returned with Schubert’s Ave Maria and, by way of contrast, Daniel continued with Can’t Take My Eyes Off You . The variety of music continued with a delightful Roy Orbison number titled A Love So Beautiful and Prelude In Classic Style – a 1988 composition for which Daniel introduced the sound of the classical organ.

A further collection of popular music was played, leading up to the final number – for which Daniel selected a rarely heard piece titled Caledonia – a Scottish song for which the sound of pipes was employed. Music from the musical Hair was the choice of encore.

On July 19, David Thomas will perform at the Fairground Hall.

Terry Trevett