The Hepworth Band

Conductor: Mark Bentham
Guests, Vocal Expressions
Conductor: Catherine Williams

St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield
29 March 2003

Following on from last weeks concert in Oldham, the band took the stage again in St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield and opened with its signature tune "Pratty Flowers" followed by the march "Simplicity" by J Ord Hume. This march which is rarely heard is in my opinion one of Hume's best and the band gave it the respect it deserved, with some fine Soprano Cornet playing from Mark Smedley. Choosing an overture is a difficult task as there are so many fine ones to choose from but in Nicolai's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" arr Hawkins the band produced an exciting and well controlled performance of this difficult piece. The Trombone section and Basses were in excellent form.

The Cornet solo "Zelda" by Code was Mark Rogers choice and he gave a nice assured performance of this excellent solo.

The band's guests for the evening were Vocal Expressions. An all ladies choir, Vocal Expressions were formed in 1997 and under the guidance of Catherine Williams a very talented musician, they were a joy to listen to. They chose to sing Rutters "For the Beauty of the Earth" to open and produced a lovely balanced sound carrying it on with music by Elgar and two Spanish songs A La Rorro and Boleras.

Mark Bentham's arrangement of Moricone Magic got back the band back into the swing and this was followed by the bands Principal Trombone Yvonne Embury in the solo "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" in which she produced some excellent lyrical playing. Gustav Holst is one of the great composers and his "First Suite in Eb" is a most exciting piece and its three movements call for tight ensemble and controlled dynamics. The band gave a well thought out performance, well directed by Mark Bentham.

The second half opened with the "St Louis Blues" march arr Ashmore with some excellent work on drums by John Turnbull. The next soloist was Catherine Booth and her performance of the song "Evergreen", arr Catherall delighted the audience. A very talented Flugel Horn player indeed! Music from Moulin Rouge followed in a medley of love songs arr Mark Bentham with the band appearing at ease with this piece.

The choir returned with four items with my favourites being "Smoke Gets in your Eyes and the Paul Simon classic "Bridge over Troubled Waters". All were sung with exceptional control and a credit to Catherine Williams their musical director.

The theme tune to the old radio show Dick Barton, "Devils Gallop" followed from the band which led to one of the best loved melodies "Londonderry Air" This piece featured Emma Walsh on Solo Horn who excelled with some fine descriptive playing.

The Finale of the concert was music from the film "Titanic" in which the band played with great conviction. As an encore the band chose Arlens "Get Happy".

This was a good all round concert, well supported and the band and choir can by happy with their evenings work. The Hepworth Band is next in concert on Sunday April 13th at Burnley Mechanics in Lancashire.

David Tinker

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