The 1977 and 2002 Brighouse & Rastrick Band

‘The Floral Dance’ - 25th Anniversary Celebration Concert
Conductors: Derek Broadbent and David Hirst

Huddersfield Town Hall
Saturday 26th October 2002

A capacity audience at Huddersfield Town Hall have just experienced a concert, as Derek Broadbent stated, that has never happened before and will probably never happen again. Two separate Championship Brass Bands, both excellent in quality and sound and both bands sharing the world famous name of Brighouse & Rastrick.

The concert was a Celebration of 25 years of the ‘Floral Dance'. And as Paul Beaumont, President of the Band, remarked in his introduction "Is it really 25 years since B&R hit the big time with the Floral Dance?"

On my arrival, the magnificent surroundings of Huddersfield Town Hall were buzzing with excitement. Old friendships were being rekindled in the foyer and the auditorium was just oozing with excitement. This concert was going to be something special, not only for the bands involved but for the capacity audience who were lucky enough to get hold of tickets.

The present B&R Band took the stage first and David Hirst opened the proceedings with the Introduction to Act III from ‘Lohengrin' by Richard Wagner, and after a quick breather launched straight into an exciting reading of Festival Overture by Dimitri Shostakovitch.

The first solo spot of the evening fell to Nicholas Payne, Principal Cornet, who enthralled the audience with a beautiful rendition of Puccini's Nessun Dorma.

As Paul Beaumont had said earlier "Is it really 25 years since B&R hit the big time with the Floral Dance?" he also reminded us that it was 25 years ago that the first Star Wars movie was launched, Red Rum won the Grand National for the third time and that Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx and Elvis Presley had all passed away.

Cue the next item. A tribute to the great Elvis Presley. A Medley of Elvis tunes arranged by Thijs Oud. This lively concert number definitely went down well, not only with the band but the audience alike. As for the band singing! - well lets move on to the next item.

The next solo spot was a duet which featured the talents of David Hebb and Maritn Gill, both on Eb Bass in an arrangement by Simon Kerwin of Tea for Two, suitably re-titled ‘Tea for Toobas!'. David Hirst mentioned in his introduction that the band had recorded this item some years ago and that it would be nice to feature it again tonight. What a great choice. I had not heard this piece before but thoroughly enjoyed it. And as you might have guessed this was a novelty piece and these two fine players had the audience in fits of laughter throughout the entire performance. There was a nice little touch in the extended cadenza when we heard a few bars of that now famous tune ‘The Floral Dance'.

The next item on the programme was a piece entitled ‘Elegy', composed by the bands Solo Baritone player Leigh Baker and dedicated to the late Eddie Noble MBE. This is a beautiful piece of writing and the band played it with so much warmth and emotion.

David Hirsts' introduction to the final item of the first half was as dodgy as a 4BarsRest prediction. Peter Graham's Gaelforce - Irish Music - Irish Personality - Terry Wogan - The Floral Dance! He got away with it - but only just!

The strains of Irish music seem very popular at the moment, and when you put these complex rhythms and melodies in the hands of a composer like Peter Graham and give them to a band like B&R you can guarantee you're on a winner. Not content with playing Gaelforce the Band concluded the first half with a shortened version of the popular ‘Riverdance'.

‘Bravo' to band and conductor on a very entertaining first half.

The second half of the concert was the real reason for being there. The Brighouse & Rastrick Band of 1977.

Paul Beaumont introduced us to the band section by section and as the players took their places there was continuous applause for these great performers.

The biggest round of applause being saved for Solo Euphonium Stephen Lord, Soprano Cornet Brian Evans, Principal Cornet Tony Whitaker and for the conductor Derek Broadbent.

They started their programme rather nervously with the famous Radetsky March, but to think that the majority of these bandsmen have not played for many years it was a credit to them all just to be present, let alone playing! Within a few bars they had all settled into their seats and were thoroughly enjoying being back in the limelight.

As soon as the dust had settled we were straight into the first solo spot of the second half with Stephen Corbett's superb arrangement of Solitaire, and was Brian Evans up to it, You bet he was!

Playing from memory, he showed the spellbound audience that he was still in complete control of the instrument. Admittedly there were some intonation problems at the start, but again it wasn't long before he had the audience eating out of his hand, with his unique playing style and showmanship, which as you know Brian was renowned for. And the last top note, it was as good tonight as it was 25 years ago. Well done Brian.

The next item of the programme was Derek Broadbent's arrangement of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Again this item rekindled fond memories of the ‘Granada Band of the Year' days, but it didn't quite swing as it did all those years ago. Nevertheless a great performance and fun was had by all.

The next item seemed an unusual choice. Duke Ellington's ‘Mood Indigo'. But it soon became apparent why it was on the programme. The Band started as normal and after a few bars Derek Broadbent turned to the audience and explained the reason why they were playing it. "I have been asked many times", said Derek "How did the Floral Dance all start".

He continued with the story. "We used to play ‘Mood Indigo' at our concerts, and it always seemed to go down well".

"Why don't we make a recording of it", somebody commented. "They agreed that perhaps ‘Mood Indigo' would only make a ‘B' side.

The Band Chairman agreed. "If Derek could find the ‘A' side, the recording would go ahead". The rest is history.

To conclude Derek then stated "That if they hadn't played ‘Mood Indigo' all those years ago, the idea of cutting a disk would never have happened", and that none of us would be present at this evening's concert".

So there we had it. The full history of the Floral Dance in four and a half minutes, and the reason ‘Mood Indigo' was chosen for the concert.

Our next solo spot fell to the talents of Euphonium supreme Stephen Lord in Ray Woodfield's ‘Varied Mood'.

He had looked a bit apprehensive at the start of the concert, but like all the other players seemed to thoroughly enjoy performing to this appreciative audience. I don't know whether Stephen is still playing regularly, but if he's not, you wouldn't know it. He delivered this difficult solo with such panache that he could still sit on the Solo Euphonium seat in any Championship Section Band. Congratulations Stephen.

The final item of the 1977 band was Verdi's Overture to Nabucco.

Again the band were magnificent, and after all this time could still produce that magic ‘Briggus' sound.

The applause for this unique group of musicians just wouldn't stop. And if that wasn't a cue for an encore I don't know what was.

We were not going to be disappointed. The opening bars of the ‘Floral Dance' soon echoed around the magnificent concert hall to the delight of an excited audience. There was more clapping and foot tapping to this piece, than the first half renditions of ‘Gaelforce' and ‘Riverdance'! A superb close to a wonderful band of yesteryear.

As I looked around this ‘gracefully maturing' band it was evident that this experience was never going to happen again. Some of the players, haven't changed at all, Les Beavers and Sheridan Fryer just don't seem to age. It was an emotional and unique experience and I'm glad I made the long journey to Huddersfield to witness it.

After a few minutes reshuffle the 1977 band was joined on stage by the present band with Mr. Broadbent in charge of the baton.

The massed bands commenced with another classic Broadbent arrangement. This time with the trombone feature ‘The Faithful Hussar'.

The next item was in complete contrast with Peter Graham's brilliant arrangement of the hymn tune ‘Crimond'. Derek Broadbent explained that Peter Graham had taken Eric Ball's theme from ‘Resurgam' and worked it alongside the hymn tune. This music was played with so much emotion that I don't think there was a dry eye in the house, and I must admit, that I shed a tear or two during this rendition. Absolute perfection!

I would have been happy if the concert had finished there, but we were going to be treated to a big finale.

The joint B&R band's certainly finished in style with a breathtaking performance of Liszts' ‘Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2'. Both bands playing out of their skins which whipped the audience into a frenzy and produced a prolonged standing ovation. Again the audience wanted an encore, and they got one - ‘The Floral Dance'.

What other encore would you have expected at the 25th Anniversary Concert of this special piece of music, which not only made B&R a household name but has secured the popularity of brass bands in this country for many, many years to come.

Congratulations to the organisers, David Hirst, Derek Broadbent and the members of both the 2002 and 1977 Brighouse & Rastrick Bands.

Thank you all for a very enjoyable evening.

Roger Thorne

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