Black Dyke Band

Royal British Legion Festival Concert
Conductor: Dr Nicholas J Childs
Derngate Theatre, Northampton
Saturday 23 October 2004

This concert is always an important one for the Royal British Legion Women's Section in Northamptonshire, as it heralds the launch of their 'Poppy Appeal'.  It is always a moving event, as the thought processes begin to focus on those who have died in wars and conflicts, and the concert reflects the events with a 'Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving'.  In addition, Black Dyke arrived as the newly crowned 2004 National Champion Band of Great Britain and with a new player in its ranks, one Peter Roberts.

This was a concert that was Black Dyke's first opportunity to celebrate in style after winning in London, but also a reminder of how others sacrificed themselves for future generations.

Still on an emotional high, the quality of performance on offer simply demonstrated why Black Dyke have that knack for crowd pleasing entertainment, filling halls on a regular basis, like no other band does. In addition, when you now consider that they have just taken the National title, and have a soprano player that could fill a hall all on his own, Black Dyke in a way have now raised the bar once again.  By doing so, it will subsequently lift the quality of their own performances on the concert and (they hope) the contesting platform.

An example of 'raising that bar' could be seen on Saturday just in the solo slots alone.  Principal Cornet, Roger Webster set the ball rolling with a typically suave rendition of 'Carnival of Venice', whilst the Soloist Showcase featured David Thornton in Pete Meechan's arrangement of 'Auld Lang Syne', Lesley Howie's commanding tenor horn performance of Mendelssohn's 'Violin Concerto' and finally, bass player, Joseph Cook, did his 'Figaro' impression in Rossini's 'Largo Al Factotum'. Nobody wants to under perform, and when you consider that John Doyle (flugel) and Brett Baker (trombone) didn't appear as  soloists, it is quite an array of talent of talent that the MD has to chose from for his concert programmes.

The trio of Thornton, Howie and Cook, would sure have been inspired by the performance of Peter Roberts on his signature tune, 'Memory'.  Peter just took the roof off the Derngate Theatre in the first half with an outstanding rendition of the Catherall arrangement and you could actually see players in the band sitting, looking on in astonishment at the quality of performance.  Everybody knows how good he is, but it is a different story when a great player is performing in the band that you are very much part of.

Saturday night was just another night for Peter Roberts in terms of his playing performance.  Saint-Saens' 'French Military March', the overture 'Le Corsair', 'Pines of Rome' and the classic '1812 Overture' had moments in them where he was quite simply, immense.  As with anybody or anything that is associated with 'greatness', it's that ability to bring the something extra to a performance that sets them apart from the rest.  The Berlioz overture was sublime, and Pines of Rome left everybody tingling, as the band was in imperious form throughout.

Black Dyke is always eager to promote new music off different styles and from a variety of musical spheres.  Already in 2004, the band has performed concerts paying tribute to the 'Swing Era' and now it is 'The Movies' that get 'The Dyke' treatment.

With introductions from the MD on going to the movies, the band performs bursts of 'Pearl and Dean' and '20th Century Fox' before the 'Main Theme' from Mission Impossible, 'Soul Bossanova' (Austin Powers) and 'I Will Follow Him' from 'Sister Act".  All of the music performed to a very high standard and it is a slick and efficient presentation.

The whole concert had commenced with the 'National Anthem', reminding people from the outset that this wasn't just a night of celebration for Black Dyke, but of significance to all assembled from the British Legion and after the interval, a  'Short Service of Remembrance' took place.  Hymns, Thanksgiving, the 'Last Post', and a minute's silence, followed by 'Reveille', all immaculately done with sensitivity and feeling.

As well as the service, the large number of members from various Royal British Legion Branches around Northamptonshire had the chance to cast there minds back with the Eric Coates arrangement of the 'Dambusters March', and then an arrangement by Darryl Barry of 'Wartime Memories'.

This was really audience participation time with a selection of all the old songs that kept spirits and comradeship high during difficult times.  'The Army the Navy and the Air Force'; 'Yours'; 'Lily Marlene'; 'White Cliffs' and 'We'll Meet Again' are in the Barry arrangement, and all of these will be heard on television and radio in the coming weeks, in the build up to 'Remembrance Sunday'

With the hall still shaking after the final notes of '1812', with tuba narration from bass player, Matthew Routley, the audience were clambering for more, and they got a brief performance of Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance Number 1', but despite calls for even more more, Dr Nicholas Childs, and Black Dyke, did what they should do, leave the audience wanting. What a start to their reign this was.

Malcolm Wood

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