BAYV Band and Honley Male Voice Choir

Conductors: Dr Robert Childs and Alan Jenkins
Huddersfield Town Hall
Saturday 10th December

One of the finest bands in the world and one of Yorkshire's finest choirs got into the Christmas spirit to produce a cracker of a concert at Huddersfield Town Hall.

Honley Male Voice Choir conducted by Brass Band World Editor Alan Jenkins, hosted the BAYV Band conducted by Dr Robert Childs, whose performance was met by a standing ovation from the choir themselves at the end of their final spot.

This was very much the typical band/choir concert. Individual items from both parties, joining together occasionally, and involving the audience for the obligatory carols when required. BAYV Band's selection of music was in keeping with the time of year and no surprise that all of their seasonal offerings can be found on the band's Seasonal CD released last year, ‘The Wonder of Christmas'. In addition, the religious theme was continued with a couple of other items, and a solo or two for good measure.

Alan Jenkins introduced BAYV as the number one ranked band in the UK, (based on BBW rankings of whom he is Managing Editor! – A good Editor never misses a chance to promote their business, and Alan is perhaps the best around ) which in effect, means the number one band in the world.  The band thrived on playing in one of the finest acoustics anywhere and their level of performance was at times worthy of having that accolade bestowed upon them.  

BAYV's first spot featured a slick and effective ‘The Wonder of Christmas' before Principal Cornetist, Ian Williams was a class act in the popular ‘Hejre Kati'.

The band's main spot in the first half was given over to Peter Graham's ‘The Day of the Dragon', a suite of five familiar Welsh tunes that were performed with so much passion and precision.  The outstanding moments came from Chris Thomas in the beautiful ‘Suo Gan' and the idyllic playing of Joanne Deane and Nigel John (deputising on principal euphonium for David Childs who was in Hong Kong) in ‘Ballad' (by Kells Waters).

In the second half, BAYV opened up with that essential Christmas item, ‘Troika', before concluding their seasonal spot with ‘Stop the Cavalry' and ‘Jingle Bells'.  It was in their final spot where the band really excelled themselves and left the audience dumbstruck with some fabulous playing.

First up, Owen Farr demonstrated why he is in the top bracket of horn players with the familiar ‘Cappricio Brilliante', whilst Gavin Saynor had a bit of fun with ‘The Sun Has Got Its Hat On' interspersed with ‘Silent Night' right at the bottom of the register.

Kenneth Downie's ‘In Perfect Peace' was delightfully executed with some superb ensemble playing, but the band's final item, Howard Snell's arrangement of ‘Procession to the Minster' was as good a performance as this reviewer has heard in a long, long time with some wonderful solo playing from Joanne Deane and Michelle Ibbotson to name just two, and a climax that was milked for all its worth.

It wasn't a surprise to see the choir rise to their feet at the conclusion of the Wagner piece, as they had been treated to a feast of fine playing and you could see one or two mouths hitting the floor (from within the choir) in disbelief during the night at the standard being produced for them.

The choir themselves were in fine form during the night, with their selection being completely given over to the time of year.  Most appealing was the opening ‘Holy Night' a Swedish Christmas Carol arranged by Alan Jenkins that was unfamiliar to most of the audience, but an item that found favour with them.

The choir though like the audience was bowled over with the BAYV Band and Dr Robert Childs.  Once again during 2005, the band has performed brilliantly on the contest stage, only to miss out by the narrowest of margins on taking the European, All-England Masters, The British Open, The Nationals and Brass in Concert titles. 

Liverpool fans had to wait an age for Peter Crouch to score his first goal for the club, and you wouldn't mind betting, once BAYV get a major title again, then you suspect like the Liverpool striker, another could be just around the corner.

BAYV make a return to the North of England in January on two successive weekends.  First up, they'll be at Morley Town Hall on the 21st, before taking part in the prestigious RNCM Festival of Brass, one week later.  If this concert is anything to go by, if you can be present, do so, you'll be in for a treat.

Thanks to Honley MVC, Alan Jenkins, BAYV and Robert Childs on behalf of everybody in Huddersfield Town Hall, for a night of quality music making, this Christmas season.

Malcolm Wood

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