Brighouse and Rastrick Patrons Concert

Huddersfield Town Hall
Brighouse and Rastrick and Hepworth Persimmon Homes Bands
Guest Conductor: Garry Cutt
March 19th

Brighouse and  Rastrick hold thier Patrons Concert every year where they themselves choose the programme.  The Bands guests this year were the Hepworth Persimmon Homes Band and a great evening of top class music was eagerly anticipated from two of Yorkshire's current top bands.

The concert got off to a cracking start with the 'Introduction to Act III of Lohengrin' by Richard Wagner, and with Hepworth Persimmon Homes  leading the combined duo in the first half of the concert the bands certainly gave the capacity audience a opening to remember. Rossini is famous for his overtures and in his 'Italian Girl In Algiers' the music as  plenty of excitement and Garry Cutt drew some fine playing from the bands. Taken at a nice bright tempo in which we heard some fine soprano cornet work from Mark Smedley, it was a fine account and one that was appreciated by the capacity audience. 

One of the worlds best loved songs is the moving 'Amazing Grace' and in this famous arrangement by Himes the bands played with great feeling and a full understanding of the words of this excellent music. It may be an old pot boiler, but it remains a favourite whenever it is played.

The equally famous  march from the film 'The Dam Busters' by Eric Coates kept the concert flowing along nicely before we came to the first soloist of the evening in Rob Westacott, Hepworth's principal cornet, who chose the 'Adagio from Symphony No 2' by Rachmaninoff to showcase his talents. The soloist gave a stunning performance of a difficult solo which calls for great control in the high register, and the terrific reception at the end spoke volumes of this fine players standing in the band movement.

Edward Elgar composed one of the finest pieces of music you could ever wish to hear in his 'Enigma Variations'  and it was 'Variation No 9' (Nimrod)  in which both conductor and bands captured all the emotion possible to give a most moving account that was for many the highlight of the evening.

The fox trot 'Samum' by Robrecht is not the easiest piece to play and is especially difficult for the trombone section but along with some fine playing from the soprano, the trombones got in on the act and did a good job of keeping this music sounding fresh and alive. Once again a nice sensible tempo gave the bands time to express themselves, and itt is a long time since this particular listener heard this music which fitted nicely in to the context of the programme.

The first half of the concert ended with music by Respighi with his 'March' from 'The Pines Of Rome'. This is a real block buster of a piece as the Roman Army return to the city after another battle won with the music building to a terrific climax as they reach the gates of Rome. The playing captured the music perfectly and gave the first half a rousing ending, whilst there should be a special mention to the percussion section for their playing in this performance which never swamped the band.

Brighouse as the home band  took the lead for the second half of the concert which opened with the march 'Crown Imperial' by William Walton. This majestic music certainly showed what a great sound the bands have and with the excellent acoustic of the hall it was a great opener to the second half.

The Traditional Welsh melody 'Watching The Wheat' in which the euphoniums were well featured was followed by two pieces by the Russian composer Shostakovich: firstly the 'Romance from The Gadfly' followed by the exciting 'Folk Festival' -  two contrasting pieces both well played with some great solo cornet playing from Alan Morrison.

The next soloist was Mark Wagstaff on xylophone who gave a thrilling performance of 'Helter Skelter' which was  taken at breathtaking speed,. and which resulted in  the audience gaving him a tremendous reception.

In complete contrast the music of Sullivan in 'The Lost Chord' gave the bands the chance to show what great depth of sound they could produce and once again the conductor gave the music space to breath, and the last few chords took your breath away. One to stick in the memory for sure.

Another famous march 'Punchinello' by Rimmer was followed by the famous hymn 'Jerusalem' by Joseph Parry in which the audience were invited to join in. Yorkshire people don't need a second invitation and they gave it every thing they had got in this emotive hymn and loved every moment of the chance to be an integral part of the concert. 

The finale to the evening came in what is most likely the most famous Overture of all: '1812' by Tchaikovsky. To put it in a nutshell, the playing was superb from every section of both of the bands with some excellent work in the percussion section which gave the climax to the piece an even greater dimension andresulted in the bands getting a long and rousing applause from a very delighted audience.

This had been a wonderful evenings entertainment played by two of Yorkshire's  top bands all under the expert direction of Garry Cutt who congratulated both bands for there high standard of playing all evening whilst the audience went home happy in the knowledge that the brass band movment in Yorkshire at least is still in very good concert shape.  

David Tinker

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