Memorial concert to man who contributed much to musical life in Sunderland

Lashed by Storm Boelo, a large audience nonetheless ventured out last Saturday night and into the welcoming sanctuary of St Gabriel’s Church for Sunderland Symphony Orchestra’s Autumn Concert, with the city’s Mayor in attendance.

Alan’s Legacy

Relational Lead and Co-Founder of SSO Mark Greenfield introduced the concert as a memorial tribute to Alan Price (1944 - 2025) in recognition of his contribution to the musical life of Sunderland.

Alan was Head of Instrumental Services in the Schools Music Service from 1979 until 1995 and ran Sunderland Schools’ Youth Orchestra, encouraging hundreds of children and young people to excel as musicians.

Following the closure of the Schools Music Service, he became Musical Director of the Seaham Music Academy.

Mark Greenfield praised the dedication of Alan in bringing music instruction, and choral music in summer holidays, into Sunderland’s primary schools; in establishing from1981 onwards an annual Youth Orchestra ‘Mayor’s Invitation Concert’ at the Sunderland Empire to showcase talent and celebrate the musical achievements of young people.

He also organised international summer tours giving opportunities to hundreds of aspiring musicians to travel and perform on continental stages, cementing twinned relationships between Sunderland, Essen, and Saint-Nazaire.

The Memorial Concert

Musical Director David Milner introduced Edward Elgar’s much-loved Pomp and Circumstance Military March No. 4, arranged by Adolf Schmid as the first and crisply played opening piece of a concert drawn in part from programmes selected by Alan Price for his final concerts.

Featuring the familiar central ‘trio’ of horns, clarinets, and violins, very smoothly played and evocative of victory processions, royal celebrations, and stirrings of patriotism, the performance was enthusiastically applauded by the St Gabriel’s audience.

At just 46 bars long and scored for choir, strings and organ, Ave Verum Corpus is Mozart’s shortest composition,

Musical Director David Milner told us in his introduction to the second piece of the evening, promising to turn the orchestra into a choir and asking us to listen out for the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices in this very sensitive orchestral arrangement by Charles Woodhouse.

We did indeed hear all those voices, and many including myself may have recalled singing the piece in church choirs as we listened to this delicately slow and touching piece of beautiful builds and falls which Mozart composed within six months of his own death that year at the age of just 35.

The third piece of this concert in tribute to the life of Alan Price was Mozart’s Divertimento in D, K131, 1st Movement, (Allegro), composed in Salzburg in 1772, when Mozart was just 16.

The performance demonstrated how well-practiced, precise, and coherently the orchestra is playing under David Milner’s dedicated and masterful musical direction. There were playful conversations between the woodwind of Sheila Rayson’s flute section, Paul Judson’s and Steph Ames’ bassoons, Diana Whaley’s and Gareth Williams’ oboes; and a tight string section led by Helen Armstrong.

Bassoonist and one time Musical Director of SSO, Paul Judson, had shown the fascinated David Milner his own arrangement of Stephen Sondheim’s Send In The Clowns, originally written for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, and this well-known piece was duly programmed as the fourth for this concert in celebration of Alan Price’s enthusiasm for wide diversity in musical programming for youth orchestras.

Paul’s sensitive arrangement of this touching piece featured the evocative cor anglais of Diana Whaley with virtuoso Sheila Rayson’s flute in this poignant piece - to extended applause from the very enthusiastic audience.

It’s not often that SSO have the opportunity to perform a complete symphony at its public concerts, although I am reliably informed that this does more frequently take place in rehearsal.

The final piece chosen by Musical Director David Milner was Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 - ‘The Clock’.

Under David Milner’s baton, this performance of the symphony in four movements was delicate, precise, and playful.

The very delicate, precise strings under Helen Armstrong’s leadership evoke playful balletic dance steps contrasting nicely with the more formal courtier minuet evocations of the third movement - these in turn contrasting with folk-like rustic humour.

The fourth and final movement raced to a vivacious conclusion and rapturous applause with MD David Milner taking several bows on behalf of the orchestra risen to their feet. Bravo!

All collection proceeds from the concert are being donated to the Sunderland Youth and Community Orchestra in memory of Alan Price and to promote diverse music services to the young people of Sunderland.

​​Review by Matthew Burge.