There is a rare and very select group of professional musicians who have made a truly historic mark on the brass band movement: Major Peter Parkes was certainly one of them. 

Five years after his death, around 50 players, friends and associates took to the stage in Oldham to pay tribute to the man who inspired them (and that was also certainly the case) to perform brass band music to a level that also brokered little argument - from his first major contest appearance with Black Dyke at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975 to his very last band rehearsal. 

Long and distinguished

The Major Parkes honours board is a long and distinguished one - from European, National and British Open championships to a record number of Area titles, but it is his musical legacy, held in the memory banks of players from all over the banding world, that is equally as immense - filled with priceless recollections of a conductor who brought the rarest combination of charisma and culture to bear on everything and anything he brought the down-beat of his baton to.

Heartfelt and proud

Led by Garry Cutt and in the presence of his widow Birgit, sons Jonathan and Christopher and close family, their personal homage was heartfelt and proud.

The repertoire was the same - from the opening ‘Cortege’ from ‘Mlada’, through a fizzing ‘Le Corsair’, ‘Rusalka's Song to the Moon', played with touching delicacy by Richard Marshall, ‘Bugler’s Holiday’, Faure’s ‘Pavane’ and the spirited ‘Carmen Fantasy’.

Brett Baker’s languid 'Londonderry Air' paved the way for a bravura ‘Blades of Toledo', whilst the first half concluded with Derek Broadbent leading his own arrangement of John Miles' 'Music'.

Emotive

After the interval David Hirst led the ranks on ‘Famous British Marches' whilst Garry Cutt returned for a reflective 'Romance' from Gilbert Vinter's 'Salute to Youth', a breakneck 'La Danza', emotive, 'I'll Walk With God' and the breezy, 'The Girl I Left Behind Me'.

By the time the final notes of Wagner's 'Procession to the Minster' rang out, the need for encores was obligatory; 'The Waltonian', 'The Last Chord', and with his sons picking up their instruments to join in, the old Black Dyke/Parkes favourite, 'The Champions'.

It rounded off what was a great 'one-off' experience recorded for prosperity. It was also a wonderful way to pay homage to a quite remarkable musician. 

Malcolm Wood