Geoff Bellamy and Richard Wood - Organ & Trumpet 5/12/2024 Johann Schneider’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, for organ, provided a dramatic and confident opening to a memorable evening of music starring the magnificent airy organ at Grimsby Town Hall, with Geoff Bellamy on the keys, stops and pedals; whilst Richard Wood was to awe the audience with his phenomenal trumpeting skills and musicality. In a well-planned programme this was followed by another organ solo, the gentle and reflective Chorale Prelude Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier , JS Bach. Richard Wood had great presence and brilliance playing the piccolo trumpet for Torelli’s Sonata for Trumpet and Organ in D; with pleasing interplays between the organ and the trumpet, Geoff Bellamy’s totally coordinated hands and feet never stopped moving. For Carl Bohm’s Still as the Night, Richard switched to a Bb Cornet, producing wonderful rich mellow tones, sustained vibratos and smooth crescendos and diminuendos. Performing Three Short Pieces for Keyboard: Ground, Alman & French Air by Orlando Gibbons – Geoff used only the keyboard, to reflect historical performance of the music. John Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary contained satisfying exchanges between organ and trumpet, Richard giving a dazzling and flawless performance on the piccolo trumpet. The emotional quality of Tchaikovsky’s None but the Lonely Heart , was brought out by the rich full tone of the cornet, against a sympathetic gentle harmony provided by the organ. Book-ending the first half as dramatically as he had begun it, Geoff closed with Buxtehude’s Toccata and Fugue in F ; hands and feet combining to produce and intertwine melody and countermelodies in a magnificent polyphony. Geoff began the second half solemnly with Elegy for Organ , Thalben-Ball - with the feel of a hymnal, it swelled from a gentle opening to a very full sound, then receding to a respectful close. He followed this with another reflective solo, Bach’s Chorale Prelude O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross – played with great feeling and musicality. Tartini’s rhythmic and challenging Trumpet Concerto in D, was a scintillating duet between the organ and the piccolo trumpet – which Richard handled with panache. This was contrasted by a sublime rendition of Londonderry Air , Richard’s wonderful cornet solo against a melting backdrop provided by the organ. Geoff provided a contemplative arrangement of Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana and then the glorious celebrational Easter Hymn . With their solid and assured playing, Richard and Geoff provided two brilliant movements from Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto . Bringing the concert to a close, Geoff went on to fascinate his audience with Paul Alain’s Litanies , from “Three Pieces” for Organ - enchanting music with a modern twist, a mix of familiar sounds with discordant and dark overtones, played with passion and fervour. Rounding the concert off with a dazzling encore Geoff, and Richard performed Arban‘s Étude Characteristique – a trumpet tour-de-force; a staggeringly difficult piece for the trumpet which Richard played at breakneck speed on his piccolo trumpet – buzzing like a bee! A brilliant end to an extraordinary concert. IM