Comp: Legrand/Bergman
Arr: Mel Orriss

This is the second CD by Festive Flutes in support of children’s charities, and very enjoyable it is, too. This is lightweight and very enjoyable fare: movie tunes, bits of Broadway and bits of opera, performed with verve and all in a very good cause.

http://www.bfs.org.uk/pan.htm

The idea for Overnight Sensations came to us when Mel and I found ourselves attempting high kicks to a ‘Chicago’ tune whilst celebrating the completion of our first CD! The glamorous and glittering world of stage and screen seemed to lend itself perfectly to flutes, from the rich and sultry tones of the bass and alto instruments, right through to the sparkling piccolos, with splashes of percussion and other surprises helping to bring the pieces to life.

Faced with such a wealth of fantastic music, the only problem was choosing what we could bear to leave out! The wonderful Carmen medley, arranged for us by the equally wonderful Jason Carr has long been a favourite of the group. Jason has been arranging for Festive Flutes since college days and is now an award winning composer, arranger, musical director and pianist in the West End and beyond. His skill at writing for the group can also be heard in ‘License to Trill’ where he manages to make every Bond theme ever written sound as if they were written for five flutes!

I couldn’t resist doing some of the arranging myself! The most fun were the Wizard of Oz tunes… the characters of the scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion are portrayed by different members of the group on different instruments… Sarah doing a matchless job of being clueless on the alto flute as the brainless scarecrow, Liz accompanied on grinding percussion and oilcan as the Tin Man searching for a heart, and myself as the cowardly lion on the quivering bass, in search of courage! Great fun to arrange, and even better fun to play live, where we even get to wear the costumes! And listen out for the ‘glorious Technicolor’ effects provided by our very own Wonderful Wizard… our producer Phil Johnstone (he really is a whizz of a Wiz….!)

Phil also suggested including the beautiful Randy Newman song ‘Sandman’s Coming’. Originally written for the musical ‘Faust’ Phil came across this song on an American TV series called ‘Cop Rock’ where it is sung by a destitute mother as she is forced to give up her baby for adoption. Although Mel had originally arranged this for just flutes, the lyrics are so beautiful that she decided to rearrange it to include a vocal, (sung exquisitely on the CD by Eleanor Meynell). Given our involvement with the NSPCC it seemed a perfect song for the album.

Recording the CD was also somewhat of a family affair! Sarah’s eldest son, Feargus, joined us in the studio for some work experience (learning to operate all the knobs and buttons, and the kettle, and even providing some of the percussion!) and I brought along the youngest member of the Festive Flutes ‘family’ … my son, Benedict, then just six months old, He didn’t get to play on the CD but was perfectly behaved and smiled a lot …. Maybe next time?