Andrew Liddle was at the Scarborough Spa to see the legendary orchestra begin their summer season


The opening gala concert of the season is always a great event in the diary of the legendary Scarborough Spa Orchestra and their devoted followers. This one, the 113th, was no exception.

The ever-popular open-air concerts began at the beginning of the final week of July - and the season will run until the 17th of September, before closing with the Grand Finale, in the Grand Concert Hall of the Grade-2 listed Spa Complex, which dates from 1882. ‘Grand’ is the word for these occasions and this one was no exception.

Tonight was dedicated to The Best of British. As the orchestra’s musical director, pianist and compère, Paul Laidlaw, promised we were about to be treated to “a cornucopia of wonderful pieces celebrating all that is British”.

There is indeed something very British about the whole proceedings, redolent of more refined and elegant times, many would say, when people appreciated the musical virtues of melody and harmony and listened in quiet rapture, rather than jumping on the spot waving their tattooed arms in the air.

What better way for the ten-piece orchestra - the gentlemen immaculately accoutred in white dinner jackets and back bow ties, the ladies in sparkling evening gowns - to begin their programme of what used to be called ‘light orchestral music’ than with the rousing May Day Overture by Haydn Wood.

A son of the West Riding - born in Slaithwaite - Wood was much loved in his day, not least for composing the loveliest of melodies, Roses of Picardy, in 1916. That, incidentally, was some four years after the Spa Orchestra, then 35 strong, had been founded. At the time it was one of many seaside orchestras that flourished around the country. Sadly, it is now the last of its kind and, as such, must be treasured and celebrated.

What could be more British than the emotional masterpiece, Nimrod, the ninth and best known of Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. There were shades of Max Jaffa about the concert hall while the swelling strains were heard. It was one of his most requested pieces, when the Sunday night broadcasts, on the BBC Home Service, of his Palm Court Orchestra, were essential listening (along with the Light Programme’s Friday Night is Music Night, Semprini’s Serenade, Your 100 Best Tunes and, of course, the Third Programme’s Promenade Concerts from the Albert Hall).

Max was Musical Director of the Spa Orchestra for more than a quarter of a century and, although he retired in 1986, many of the traditions live on which began with him. Paul, one of his illustrious successors, has now been in post for 18 years and is the moving spirit and driving force of the orchestra, arranging the programme, conducting the orchestra while playing the piano and acting as genial host.

The mood swung lustily, with Vaughan Williams’ ever-popular Sea Songs, rousing shanties for the most part, much appreciated by those who only recently had been snuffing the salty air on the seafront as a fret came down.

Kreisler’s arrangement of Londonderry Air, the deeply affecting piece beloved of the Irish, who know it as Danny Boy, was caressed by piano and embraced by strings, Andrew Long, currently deputising for Rebecca Smith on violin, Diane Stewart, cello, and Lisa Featherston, on double bass.

The iconic names of musical promenaders before and after the Second World War were such as Eric Coates, Robert Farnon, Vivian Ellis, Ernest Tomlinson, Ronald Binge, Percy Fletcher - and several others. Coates, perhaps the composer par excellence of music that might most be said to embody the patriotic spirit of popular light music in the interwar years, conducted in this very hall, on tours of seaside theatres. Elizabeth of Glamis, his sincere tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was born in Scotland, was warmly received.

After pieces with profound connections to three of the Home Nations, the Welsh were not to be overlooked, with a piano solo on Paul’s sprightly arrangement of Joseph Parry’s Myfanwy, wittily interpolating snatches of other Celtic favourites.

A selection from Phantom of the Opera was applauded enthusiastically by, above all, Michael and Elaine Kelly, a Doncaster couple, who have been coming to cheer on the orchestra since 1962 and also have a passion for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s work. Like many in the audience they make an annual pilgrimage to Scarborough expressly to take in the morning and evening concerts. “We love the varied programme and friendly rapport Paul and the Orchestra have with everybody,” Michael told me. “They never play the same tune twice except by request,” Elaine added. “Their repertoire is enormous.”

Sir Henry Wood is another giant figure in the history of this musical genre. His name is forever synonymous with the Albert Hall and Vaughan Williams penned Serenade for Strings, to celebrate a 50-year jubilee concert held in his honour. It is quite rare to hear this romantic choral piece played without vocalists and a real pleasure.

Coates’s bustlingly programmatic Covent Garden, from the London Suite, brought back more memories of radio nights (not least In Town Tonight, with its evocative theme tune, Knightsbridge March) and drew the curtain down on a memorable first half. It offered much scope for Mark Addison’s ringing trumpet and Adam Quilter’s expansive trombone to brassily compete with the percussive physicality of Michael Harper, and encouraged Jonathan Sage to offer a rare bassoon solo.

The second half commenced with a foot-tapping rendition of Pirates of Penzance favourites - not least the Major General’s Song - and a reminder that next week’s evening concert (Wednesday, 6th August) is G & S: A La Carte, an evening of Gilbert and Sullivan favourites, not to be missed!

Roger Quilter’s Children’s Overture, a whimsical confection of nursery rhymes and hymns, reminded Paul that there were already three Quilters on stage, Graham, on reeds, his wife, Kathryn Seabrook, on flute, and their son Adam, the trombonist. Cheers ensued from the knowledgeable and appreciative audience - who evidently shared an in-joke about Albert William Ketèlbey when his intermezzo Wedgwood Blue was introduced.

What better, more rousing, more heart-swelling way to go out than with the very nonesuch of promenading music, Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March, No. 1, universally known as Land of Hope and Glory. It never, but never, fails to give the emotions a little flutter, does it!

Paul Laidlaw had not been wrong in promising a “cornucopia of wonderful pieces celebrating all that is British”. The orchestra is itself part of that essential Britishness, upholding the great tradition of seaside musical entertainment, with a wide-ranging programme of romantic melodies, stirring marches, lilting waltzes and popular show tunes.

Catch them at the Spa when you can, at open-air morning concerts or indoor evening concerts. As the great Max Jaffa used to say, ‘We bring melodies for your especial delight … ”

Andrew Liddle was at the Scarborough Spa, on Wednesday 30th July, at the Best of British Gala Night of the Scarborough Spa Orchestra. For more details and to book tickets consult the venue’s website:

https://www.scarboroughspa.co.uk