Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band & Massed Choir

Musical Director: Dr Simon Lindley
Leeds Parish Church
Leeds
Wednesday 8th December 2004

The historic and delightful building of Leeds Parish Church contained a near capacity audience for the annual Christmas Gala Concert to listen to the Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band and the massed choir (composed from the Choir of Leeds Parish Church, Leeds Parish Church Festival Choir, St Peter's Singers and Leeds College of Music Choral Society) under the expert direction of the energetic Dr Simon Lindley.

This year was the sixth annual concert and the Imps plus the 200 plus choristers had been present at every concert raising over £25,000 for the Emmaus Leeds project. This year however the Christmas Gala Concert was in aid of the Leeds Parish Church Choral Foundation Appeal whose members were celebrating passing the £200,000 mark of their £500,000 target.

The Imps sat centre stage looking immaculate donned in their black and red uniforms with gold braid immediately surrounded by the gowned choristers of Leeds Parish Church with the ranks of the massed choir behind.

The concert got off to a dazzling start with a crisp and sprightly rendition of the famous 'Christmas Festival Overture' by Leroy Anderson. Simon Lindley literally led from the front directing the music with such vigour and energy that it certainly rubbed off on the band and the mood was set for what was to be a very entertaining evening.

One composer who is now synonymous with brass bands and Christmas music is David Willcocks. His famous Christmas arrangements are now a standard for many concerts but the band combined with the unique acoustic properties of the church, its organ and the graceful singing from the massed choir blended to provide an enchanting rendition of 'Hark the Herald'.

Now it was the massed choirs turn to take centre stage allowing the band to take a brief rest. The choir, accompanied by David Houlder on the organ, performed an enchanting rendition of John Rutter's 'Nativity Carol'.

Suitably refreshed the band continued with Leroy Anderson's 'Sleigh Ride' now a traditional concert item since the first concert in 1999. The music was played with style and panache but the horse whinny at the end sounded as if the horse was on its way to the glue factory! Nevertheless the piece received a drawn out ovation showing it had been more than appreciated by the large audience.

The traditional hymn 'Ding Dong Merrily' followed and was sung by all accompanied by organ and band. Simon Lindley had his work cut out to keep it all together but made it look so easy. Many in the audience had obviously come to sing and had no intention in being left out.

Two choir items followed which were fully appreciated by everyone present before the first soloist of the evening, Cyrille Bonard, took centre stage to play 'O Holy Night'. His warm tone emanated throughout the church and he proved once again his outstanding ability on the euphonium.

Two more of David Willcocks' arrangements followed before the band performed Prokofiev's 'Troika' from the 'Lt. Kije Suite'. A Christmas favourite the piece skipped along and the band had no problem taking the audience with them. A change from the traditional programme the bands next item was 'Russian Christmas Music' by Leppla. At first the audience seemed unsure about this piece but by the end were appreciative of yet another solid performance although some of the band was now starting to sound a little tired. Evidently all those carols were starting to make their mark but the band played on regardless. Again, the audience took their opportunity to contribute with a few carols accompanied by the band before the massed choir, band and organ teamed up to play 'A Merry Little Christmas' by Goff Richards. A magical piece of music when performed on this scale certainly lifted the concert and put a big smile on everyone's face. 'Good King Wenceslas' was then sung by all with band, organ and choir taking turns to take the lead again directed with consummate ease by Dr Simon Lindley.

To add that extra spark but also to show what a wonderful talent he is David Houlder, Sub-Organist at Leeds Parish Church, gave a performance of 'Fantasie 1 in E Flat' by Camille Saint-Saёns. Having spent most of the evening in the background he did not hold back making use of the famous organ to try and dislodge any cobwebs the cleaners may have missed. It was a wonderful performance, which was certainly deserving of the prolonged applause he received. To bring the evening to a close the band, organ, choir and audience finished with a rousing rendition of Willcocks' arrangement of 'First Noel'.

Congratulations to Dr Simon Lindley for yet another wonderful Christmas Gala Concert, which he led with deceptive ease from start to finish, the massed choirs whose contribution was nothing short of wonderful and the Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band for an evening of delightfully performed and presented Christmas music. Merry Christmas!

Simon Goodwin

^back to top