Making Music Together

The Salvation Army
Leigh Orpheus Choir (David Clark), Hadleigh Temple band (Ken Hillson), Hadleigh Temple Singing Company (Rachel Worth)
Hadleigh
Saturday 3rd March

Since the opening of the new hall at Hadleigh, many groups have made use of its facilities.  One of these is the Leigh Orpheus Male Voice Choir, which rehearses there every Friday, and links were strengthened by a partnership concert, featuring the choir together with Hadleigh Temple Band and Singing Company.  Following the welcome from Bandmaster Ken Hillson each participating group was responsible for introducing their own items, arranged in three groups in each half, which helped keep things flowing.

The seventy strong choir, which has won a number of awards in local music festivals, commenced with two items from the pen of Martin Shaw, best known for his hymns and church anthems.  The brief "Fanfare", a setting of the words "Gloria in excelsis deo", led into "With a voice of singing", the two numbers allowing the audience to appreciate some well-balanced singing, with the bass section being particularly strong. 

Alan Simmons, another prominent writer for male voices, penned "Across the skies" as a tribute to Nelson Mandela, including suitably solemn music depicting his time of imprisonment, before lightening the texture to celebrate his release and lasting influence, referring to him as ". . . an eagle flying high across the skies".  The final item in their first group was also from Alan Simmons: "All you were" was written in memory of his late wife and business partner, celebrating the memories that would stay within his heart and head for ever.

Hadleigh Temple Band included two arrangements by Denis Wright: "Sousa on Parade", a medley of themes originally arranged for concert band by King Palmer, was transcribed for brass by Dr Wright, and features a number of extracts from the "march king".  Despite the familiar themes, and the efforts of the band to produce the required dynamic contrasts, it is possibly not entirely convincing, ending with the relatively unfamiliar "Belle of Chicago", but it was still well received by the audience. 

Len Ballantine's arrangement  of "Shenandoah" was originally made for voices, setting the words of John Oxenham which give it its title "Mid all the traffic".  A straightforward three verse setting, the music increases in volume and intensity before ending with a quiet coda, and it proved a relaxing interlude before the martial strains of the "Grand march from Aida" (Verdi, arr Wright).  Despite a little untidiness in some of the fanfare sections, the grandeur of the piece was conveyed well, and the varying dynamics were well observed.

Hadleigh Singing Company's items were introduced by their leader, Rachel Worth, who spoke of the role they play as a junior choir in both the worship and outreach activities of the corps.  Accompanied by Paul Hillson (piano), Christopher Carter (bass guitar) and Thomas Johnson (drums), their opening numbers contrasted Jerry Estes' lively "Sing Jubilate Deo" with Denis Jernigan's more reflective "You are my all in all", featuring a number of the group's youngest members, which had an effective section in harmony, accompanied only by the drums.  Remco Hakert's "Praise his holy name" was followed by Michael & Deborah Smith's "Shine on us", with its effective repetition of simple words and musical phrases.

The first half concluded with band and choir joining together in Mansel Thomas's arrangement of the hymn tune "Llanfair", after a little manoeuvring on behalf of the choir to enable the back row cornets to have sight of the conductor.  Following the interval it was the turn for the audience to take part, as they joined the band in a couple of verses of "Simply trusting, set to the lively Scottish melody "Will ye no' come back again", before Lt Colonel David Phillips shared some thoughts from the psalms concerning the exhortation to praise the Lord.

The Singing Company's second set commenced with Michael Smith's rhythmic "How majestic is your name" and N Gimbel's "I will follow him", as sung in the film "Sister Act".  "Prayer for Guidance", by Chris Pender and Andrew Blyth offered the opportunity for reflection, with the challenging words "My need for you I now confess", before the finger-clicking introduction to John Rutter's exuberant "Heavenly Aeroplane".  The enthusiasm and commitment of the young people communicated itself very well, the audience leaving them in no doubt that their efforts had been appreciated, before they rounded off their contribution with "A Choral Benediction".

John Ashcroft, Hadleigh Temple's Principal Trombone, was featured in Norman Bearcroft's setting of "Over the rainbow": enhanced by Marion Still's vocals, he moved round the hall as he improvised above the band.  Paul Sharman's setting of a traditional Welsh melody under the title "Here is love" offered the opportunity for some more sustained paying from the band, before they concluded with Leslie Condon's festival march "Celebration".  Although there was a tendency to speed up in the middle section, the tempo steadied for the final rendition of "The Army flag is flying", complete with effective trumpeting from the cornet section.

The choir's final set opened with a melody entitled "Kings of Swing", again from the pen of Alan Simmonds.  The songs featured were "Begin the beguine", "Aint misbehavin'", "Moonlight serenade" and "Chattanooga choo-choo" (complete with train whistle supplied by Brian Nicholls).  The choir displayed their flexibility and versatility, and there was some excellent playing by their accompanist, Janet Walker.  Alwyn Humphreys' "What would I do without my music?" gave the choir the chance to express how important their singing is, before they turned to an old favourite in John Tudor Davies's arrangement of "Gwahoddiad". 

Roger Quilter is probably best known or his "Children's Overture" and the music for the play "Where the rainbow ends", for many years a staple part of Christmas celebrations in London, but he also composed many vocal works.  One of these is "Non nobis domine", as setting of words by Rudyard Kipling written in 1934 for the Pageant of Parliament at the Royal Albert Hall.  Accompanied by the band, it made for a suitably majestic and dignified finale to the evening's music-making.

Peter Bale

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