Hendon Highlights Concert

21st Hendon Highlights Festival
Saturday 12th March
Royal Festival Hall
London

Patrons arriving early for the 21st Hendon Highlights festival were able to experience something of the vibrancy of the music of Africa, with live entertainment under way in the foyer as part of a celebration of African music and culture.  The enthusiasm of both performers and audience was infectious, as a number of those listening joined in by dancing both on and off the stage.  Inside the hall, the enthusiasm for the occasion was equally apparent - if a little more restrained!

The event marked three anniversaries: 21 years of Hendon Highlights itself, 25 years since Stephen Cobb took over the baton at Hendon and 10 years since his appointment as the first lay person to become Bandmaster of the International Staff Band.  Usually taking place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and with the demand for tickets invariably out-stripping the capacity of the hall, the brave decision had been taken to move to the much larger Royal Festival Hall.  That step of faith appeared to be vindicated, as the majority of seats were sold and there was no need to turn anyone away, although one or two did admit that they missed the intimacy of the smaller venue.

For the first half of the programme, the two bands were seated side by side on the stage, Hendon to the left and the International Staff Band to the right.  Hendon opened the programme with Les Condon's festival march "Celebration" - an apt choice, since it had been the first piece played at the inaugural event.  With a real piano in the opening bars, the band were soon into their stride, although for those on the right hand side of the auditorium the trombone sound was a little subdued, as a result of their location on the stage.  The horn melody was beautifully phrased by the nine or ten-strong section, and the final section, with the trumpeting over the sustained melody, was given with appropriate swagger.

Lt Col Ray Steadman-Allen has been the compere for 19 out of the 21 concerts, and brought his customary relaxed style to the occasion, taking particular pains to explain things for those who may have been attending a Salvation Army event for the first time.  After his opening prayer and introductions, he welcomed the ISB to play Dean Jones's impressive "Glorifico Aeternum".  (What was more than a little surprising was the admission of latecomers as the band started to play, rather than during the talking!)  One of the more successful of the attempts to combine traditional hymn tunes with more recent choruses, the playing was rhythmically incisive from the outset, with excellent contributions from the percussion section.  The presentation of the melody "Somebody prayed for me" gave the horn section a chance to shine, whilst the more traditional tune "Now thank we all our God" - in an anything-but-traditional rhythm - was in total contrast, with the tone suitably bright, but still well-controlled.  The breadth of sound for "The King of love my shepherd is" brought a suitably rousing climax, a satisfying blend of old and new, both in terms of the melodies used and the styles incorporated.

David Daws, currently Principal Cornet at Hendon, also occupied the equivalent seat for many years in the ISB, as did Terry Camsey, whose solo "Happy Land" uses the hymn tune "There is a happy land", but takes as its model Del Staigers' arrangement of "Carnival of Venice" .  It proved ideally suited to the soloist, incorporating numerous lip slurs within the opening bars, plenty of opportunity to show both his agility and lyrical playing style, culminating in an ascending chromatic scale to a thrilling final note.  The accompaniment was first class from what is a large band, and never swamped the soloist.

The special guests for the evening were the King's Singers, whose name has epitomised high quality singing since their formation in 1968.  With a very broad repertoire ranging from the avant garde to swing, via plainsong and madrigals, their selections for the evening seemed just right.  Their first slot consisted of five folk songs in contrast, taken respectively from Scotland, England, Wales, the USA and Ireland, ending with "Phil the fluter's ball".  This, one of their earliest arrangements,  offered ample opportunity for a number of humorous touches, including a "Corporal Jones" from bass Stephen Connolly, seemingly unable to keep up with the rest when clapping.  It would have been interesting to have been told who the respective arrangers were, particularly as there are several, such as Gordon Langford, who are well known in the band world.

Dean Goffin's "My strength, my tower" shares a number of characteristics with his "Rhapsody in Brass" and places demands on all sections of the band, particularly the solos from cornet and euphonium.  The playing from the band showed exemplary clarity, particularly in the opening sections, whilst the two soloists phrased neatly together.  At times the band cut down sensibly to one on a part, and there was some tidy dove-tailing of parts between the solo cornet and soprano.  The final section set of at a very brisk tempo, but the band brought it off splendidly.

From the outset, the King's Singers have incorporated items from  the world of popular music in their programmes, and their second group consisted of five Beatles numbers.  "Penny Lane" featured vocal imitations of a pizzicato bass and brass backing,  whilst "Yesterday"  and "Blackbird" employed some exquisite close harmony writing.  "Obladi - Oblada" included some unusual tremolo effects,and allowed for further humorous characterisation, whilst for "Honey Pie" the string bass returned, together with percussion effects as well.

As Stephen Cobb moved to the front of the ISB for the next item he was called back to the side of the stage.   Greetings were brought from General Larsson and Commissioner Clifton, respectively international and territorial leaders of The Salvation Army.  Mention was made of other messages received, including one from William Himes, Bandmaster of the Chicago Staff Band who commented ". . . this must mean something special - you must be very old!", much to the amusement of the audience.  Stephen received a presentation clock, and his wife Elaine a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of the support she has given to him.

Ray Steadman-Allen had been asked to introduce his "Victorian Snapshots: On Ratcliff Highway" , and explained how he had been inspired by an illustration depicting the small Salvation Army band in Whitechapel taking the gospel into the streets, surrounded by the hubbub of Victorian street-life and with the ships' masts in the background.  Using the melodies "We'll be heroes" and "Storm the forts" he created an Ivesian collage, complete with street-sellers calls, sea shanties and music hall songs.  The Westminster Chimes ring out on the tubular bells, and snippets of melody are heard, often very much truncated, and with touches of polytonality.  The band's presentation was first class, each tune emerging appropriately from the milieu, and with each player holding their nerve - no place for hesitancy here.  It was a well controlled reading full of clarity, with the final presentation of "We'll be heroes" making for a trimphant conclusion to the first half of the programme.

For the second half, the two bands joined together - almost the equivalent of three bands, given Hendon's size: only eight basses though, since two were members of both bands, but they were more than capable of holding their own.  Following a congregational song, the united bands struck up with the opening fanfare of Les Condon's "Call of the Righteous", the six percussionists ranged behind the band.  Stephen controlled his forces effectively, with smooth transitions between the various tempi, and even a dropped cornet mute just before the bass solo did little to detract from a fine performance.  The final bars were enhanced by the massed percussion, with side drum and cymbal parts doubled and some incisive work by Steve Yalden on the timpani.

As the King's Singers took the stage for their third contribution, music stands were seen for the first time: the reason for this was soon apparent as they struck up with the well-known strains (to the Salvationists present at least) of Ray Steadman-Allen's song "The Christian Mission".  In an arrangement prepared especially for the occasion, this had been interwoven with the verses of Albert Orsborn's song "In the secret of thy presence" , and this was extremely well received by the audience, many of whom would have liked to hear an encore from the group.

The second solo contribution was "Canaan's Land" , a new solo written for Derick Kane by Peter Graham, and the equivalent of "Air 'n' Variations" that Steve Bulla penned for Aaron VanderWeele.  Based on the gospel song "Bound for the Promised Land" the opening section seemed somewhat similar to Norman Bearcroft's "Better World", also written for Derick , preceding a cadenza ranging from well above the stave down into the pedal register.  The slower central section used the children's hymn "A little star peeps o'er the hill", whilst the final section had something of the feel of a Greek dance to it, with a prominent offbeat accompaniment.  It seemed to finish all too quickly, and it is likely to become another favourite in Derick's repertoire if the audience reaction is anything to go by.

A trombone feature followed, in the form of Dick Krommenhoek's setting of the passiontide hymn "From that sacred hill".  A former bandmaster of the Amsterdam Staff Band and currently the Territorial Commander for the Salvation Army in France, he has produced a reflective setting, starting with the trombones (nine, on this occasion) in unison, before opening out into harmony, and with an effective juxtaposition towards the end of various phrases of the tune.  This led into some thoughts by Ray Steadman-Allen around the subject "Who is on the Lord's Side", before the combined bands came to their final item, Peter Graham's "Shine as the Light".  With it's combination of fine memorable tunes and infectious rhythms this has become popular with bands in recent years and it proved an apt culmination of the day's celebrations. 

There was some very delicate playing at times, both from David Daws' presentation of "The candle of the Lord" and also the accompaniment from the band.  From amid the clamour Chick Yuill's rousing praise song "The Light will come" sounded out in affirmation and the evening ended on a positive note.

An enjoyable evening, and a fitting way to mark the respective anniversaries: Stephen Cobb could be justly pleased with the way his two bands had risen to the occasion, although for him it had been a very busy evening.

Peter Bale

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