Brighouse and Rastrick

Morley Town Hall
Saturday October 2nd
Compere Mike Meadmore

Leeds City Council have been running their Best of Brass Series for over twenty years and in that time have had the finest bands in Great Britain on show. To open the new series the honour fell to the Brighouse and Rastrick Band or "Briggus" as they are best known in West Yorkshire.

Their resident conductor David Hirst took the stage as the band opened up with their signature tune, the march West Riding, followed by the Gladiators Farewell by Blankenburg which set things off with a good bright start to the evening. Hector Berlioz composed some of the finest Overtures you could ever wish to hear and it was one of them the band chose as their next item in his exciting La Corsair. When he wrote this overture he first gave it the title Holiday in Nice but changed it to La Corsair after he thought it too dramatic for a holiday. The band gave an excellent performance with fine flugel horn playing by Steve Rogers in the slow movement and some dramatic playing with plenty of detail by all band with the music given the space to develop. No doubt,  the band were in top form.
 
Alan Morrison then treated the packed audience to his own arrangement of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Alan won the Fodens Composition Award for this arrangement and he gave a stunning rendition of cornet playing at its best  - with a superb tone allied to control with excellent phrasing well accompanied by the band.  A change in mood next with music by Faure in a arrangement by Leigh Baker, the bands solo Baritone player of the Requiem entitled Agnes Dei, which featured the back row cornets and trombone section in a most enjoyable performance.  The band then gave us music by George Gershwin with his wonderful An American in Paris - a piece that Gershwin himself conducted at its first public performance, and the band were completely at ease with this music - something that his hard to pull of by brass bands when playing in this style.
 
Frank Sinatra, one of the world's greatest singers used to give superb performances of the Cole Porter song, I've Got you under my Skin and in this arrangement by Mark Freeh, the bands flugel horn player Steve Rogers gave a nice relaxed showing of this excellent song.

The first half of the concert ended with what in my opinion is one of the finest pieces written for brass band -  Phillip Sparke's The Year of the Dragon. This music in three movements Toccata, Interlude and Finale is a real test for any band and Brighouse gave a quite brilliant performance, especially in the second movement, when despite a odd clip or two, James Stockdale on trombone gave a moving performance of the trombone solo followed by the finest example you will ever hear of quiet controlled playing in the Chorale. The Finale was delivered with panache and concluded an excellent ending to the first half.
 
Alan Fernie's arrangement of A Closer Walk opened the second half, followed by the Eric Crees arrangement of Bernstein's West Side Story, of which, Tonight, Somewhere and America were all featured. It was a cracking performance.

David Hebb, the bands principal Eb tuba player is one of the bands long serving players and he gave an amusing performance of Monti's Czardas showing the full range of the instrument in a virtuoso show.
 
Music from the Salvation Army composer Kenneth Downie in his excellent arrangement of Lord of all Hopefulness based on an Irish Melody once again gave the band the opportunity to display its excellent sound, and this was hymn tune playing at its most serene. In complete contrast, Mark Wagstaff or "Waggy" to the band gave a showpiece performance on Xylophone of Helter Skelter arranged by Ray Woodfield. Mark who is well over six foot tall towered over the bands conductor David Hirst, so they appeared like Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon.  It was a thrilling show.
 
Goff Richard's Armenian Fire Dance carried on the excitement before Steven Miles on euphonium played the old solo Rule Britannia. A very gifted player who has a big future in front of him, although this arrangement by Stephens is in my opinion not one of the best he has done, although the soloist gave a very good account of himself. As an encore he played another excellent arrangement by Leigh Baker of the hymn tune All Things Bright and Beautiful. The Finale to the concert was music by Tchaikovsky. The Little Russian was played with real brio with plenty of control and excellent dynamic range by a band on top form. As an encore they finished with The Floral Dance or course.
 
Summing up, this had been a cracking concert by one of our finest bands on top form and were conducted in fine style and command by David Hirst who has been the resident MD for ten years. The compere Mike Meadmore was very informative, even telling the audience they could see a review of this evening's concert on the 4barsrest.com website! Once again well done Leeds City Council for promoting this series.
                              
David Tinker

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