Hepworth Persimmon Homes Band

Conductor: Mark Bentham
Charity Concert in aid of Children's Heart Surgery Fund
Our Lady and St Paulinus Church, Dewsbury
Friday 22 October 2004

Persimmon Homes are the leading house builders in the UK and every year they hold charity events for worthy causes. This year their chosen charity was the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and this concert given by the Hepworth Band was sponsored by the Richard Alan Group of Companies.
 
Opening up with their signature tune, Pratty Flowers the band followed with music by Shostakovitch arranged by Howard Snell, with the exciting Folk Festival. This was taken at a cracking tempo, giving a great start to the evening. The bands principal cornet, Rob Westacott  was the first soloist of the evening, and he chose the theme tune to the film, The Children Of Sanchez. Robert is one of the leading cornet players in the band movement and in this music he showed why, with excellent technique and authentic sense of style, and he gave the large audience a performance to remember, and the ovation at the end said it all.  In complete contrast the band chose the beautiful melody, All In the April Evening, arranged by Eric Ball. The band's lovely round sound was in evidence in this music, with some fine playing from the bass section in particular.
 
Rebecca Landon, the bands solo horn player, then gave us music by Bellstedt, arranged Smith,  in Capriccio Brillante. Rebecca showed what a talented young player she is with a performance which had clarity all through, although the accompaniments at times were a little on the heavy side.  Evelyn Glennie composed a gem of a piece entitled, A Little Prayer, and in this arrangement by Mark Bentham the band produced some lovely warm sounds in music that is moving to all that hear it. To end the first half the band returned to the movies with the theme from Batman - The Movie. One can imagine Batman and Robin chasing round Gotham City in this exiting music by Ellman arranged Alan Catherall, and it gave a thrilling end to a splendid first half.
 
Mark Bentham's arrangement of Hawaii Five O opened the second half, followed by Mark Smedley on soprano cornet in  a piece by Nash entitled, Demelza. This very talented player has a lovely round sound and like the other young soloist's in the band he has a great future in front of him, with his playing brim full of confidence throughout.
 
Music from the film industry returned with The Big Country arranged by Mark Bentham, and this exiting music showed off the horn section of the band to great effect with some fine playing indeed. The final soloist was Yvonne Embury, the band's solo trombone, and she chose music by Leonard arranged by Ray Farr in, Why Did I Choose You? Yvonne gave a nice relaxed feel to the solo with some nice backing from the band.
 
Music in dance band style followed, with Hefti's, Cute, which featured Alex Heullier and Graham Bates on percussion, and this was great music with the band giving it the treatment it deserved. Brass bands at the top level can adapt to most types of music as this evening's programme showed and Ave Maria by Schubert is one of the great melodies and is ideal for top bands to show off their quality. Mark Benthams arrangement gave every section of the band the chance to shine and there was real quality in this performance, make no mistake.
 
The finale to the evening was from the pen of Wagner in the moving, Procession to the Minster arranged by Howard Snell. This music is very popular among bands and is a very demanding piece to play at the end of a hard nights blowing.  It slowly builds up to an exiting climax and the full power of the band is evident as the procession enters the Minster. The reception given to the band at the end showed what a terrific piece of music this had been. As an encore the band chose Get Happy by Arlen. A good nights entertainment for a very worthy cause. Well done Hepworth, the sponsors and the church for an excellent concert.
 
David Tinker

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