The Barrie Concert Band is set to play again next week, with conductor Peter Voisey giving the downbeat on works that cut a swath through your mind – venturing through the Windmills of Your Mind.
Michel Legrand is one of those composers you hear all the time, but may have trouble placing his name. But, in his time, he’s won three Academy Awards (Best song, for Windmills, Best score, Summer of ’42 and Yentl). Voisey agrees Legrand’s stuff haunts us, even if his name escapes us.
“He writes great, memorable melodies,” the Concert Band maestro tells BarrieToday. “They were hits in the films they were written for, and then stayed popular on the radio and in recordings without the film.”
Perhaps more visible to the general public – certainly here in
“I think that everybody, myself included, loves the theme for The Pink Panther, with its iconic tenor sax solo. Andy Mitchell, our band’s tenor saxophone player, does a fabulous job of capturing the original sound from the film.”
Also being featured at the concert at
“The themes of the original Les Miserables book (by Victor Hugo) are very depressing, I think, but the music from the musical transcends this, and makes the story much more uplifting and hopeful.”
Mary Poppins came out of the 1960s, but has since been given a second life by a Broadway stage treatment, and the Disney biopic Saving Mr. Banks, with Tom Hanks.
The more familiar material, Spoonful of Sugar, Chim Chim Cheree, may be heard, but, unfortunately for Voisey, not his favourite.
"Practically Perfect was added to the live theatre version in 2004. I had the privilege of performing the first Canadian production for three months at the Princess of Wales Theatre in
The concert begins at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at The Gathering Place,
