When Black Dyke returns each year to Bury Parish Church for what is still affectionately referred to as ‘The Roy Newsome Concert,’ a huge audience is guaranteed an evening of sparkling entertainment.
And despite the notoriously cavernous acoustic, that is what they got once again from the current ‘Double Champion’ - with a noticeably mature banding congregation enjoying a superb display of eclectic ensemble and solo playing under the baton of Phil Goodwin.
Change of programme
Following the obligatory ‘Queensbury’ opening, the finale of Tchaikovsky’s ‘2nd Symphony’ was somewhat mysteriously introduced instead of the anticipated Berlioz overture ‘Le Corsair’, as shown in the excellent programme - although it wasn’t a bad substitution by any means.
Ben Richeton (soprano) delivered a quality rendition of the emotive ‘On With the Motley’ before the highlight of the Karl Jenkins ‘Armed Man’ extracts was the ‘Benedictus’ duet featuring the outstanding pairing of Zoe Hancock (flugel) and Dan Thomas (euphonium).
Pin drop playing
The pin-drop playing of the evening came from Katrina Marzella (baritone) who shaped Peter Graham’s ‘The Holy Well’ with superb lyrical control - although a special mention must be given to the bass section for their wonderful foundation work - a feature throughout the concert.
Edward Gregson’s ‘Laudate Dominum’ drew the first half to a close in great style, although there were occasional moments of unease between the ensemble and percussion in the tricky acoustic.
The lighter side
The second half did highlight that whilst the MD is away, the band can occasionally drop its guard perhaps a little more than would normally be the case.
However, a vibrant ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance’ was followed by the Richard Marshall on brilliant form on ‘Miss Blue Bonnet’, which incorporated as many varied techniques and extremes of range imaginable.
Local talent
Bury-educated solo trombone Chris Binns was a viscous lead on John Iveson’s ‘Londonderry Air’, before Gary Curtin (euphonium) wowed the audience with ‘Eire Time’; closing with a number of top Fs well above the stave and even a G - all delivered almost two hours into the evening!
The multiphonics of the cadenza seemed to confuse many audience members but the stamina on display was admirable to say the least.
Encore
Drawing the evening towards its close came the Black Dyke ‘Spooktacular’, featuring music from ‘Halloween’, ‘The Addams Family', ‘Jaws’, ‘The Shining', ‘The Omen', ‘Carmina Burana’ and Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ complete with an impressive Vincent Price monologue impression by Gary Curtin.
Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s ‘Fire In The Blood’ brought things to a rousing conclusion, although the church’s overly-supportive acoustic again caused much of the louder detail to be lost in the outer sections.
With Muriel Newsome sitting on the front row, the appropriate encore was her late husband’s own arrangement of ‘Deep Harmony’ once more demonstrating the band’s quality and stamina.
Chris Wormald
