Black Dyke Band

Conductor: Dr Nicholas J Childs
Guest Vocalist: Sarah Ogden
Huddersfield Town Hall
Sunday 17th December

In a recent survey by Yahoo, the White Rose county of Yorkshire was voted to be the most opinionated within the UK, something that their very own, Michael Parkinson couldn't disagree with.

They're respected for telling things as they are and that includes making the point that within Yorkshire, they have the finest brass bands anywhere in the world.  (The current 4BR World Rankings tends to bear that out at the moment too) For those braving the cold night air in Huddersfield, they certainly thought they had gone to listen to one of the very best too - the reigning British Open Champion, Black Dyke.

Music from the pen of the band's young Composer in Residence, Paul Lovatt-Cooper featured during the concert with his exciting ‘Where Eagles Sing' as well as a newly commissioned seasonal work, ‘Christmas Finale', featuring snippets of all those familiar carols tunes complete with an exciting final section that is edge of the seat stuff and reminiscent in the style of some of the composer's most recent works. 

Rossini's overture ‘La Cenerentola' (rarely played in the brass band version) was given a pleasant outing from the back of the librarian's cupboard with some fine ensemble playing, whilst ‘Riverdance' captivated the audience, none more so than when Richard Marshall and John Doyle went into dancing mode – it wasn't quite an audition for Strictly Come Dancing but the band's flugel player did cup his hand to the audience encouraging them to continue their appreciation for their toe-tapping efforts.

The guest vocalist for the evening was the Kirklees Young Musician for 2006, Sarah Ogden, who displayed a fine mezzo-soprano voice in ‘Rusalka's Song to the Moon', complete with sensitive accompaniment from the band.

Peter Meechan's enjoyable ‘The Devils Duel' and Arthur Prior's ‘Annie Laurie' featured David Thornton and Brett Baker respectively – both of whom were on sparkling form, whilst bass trombonist, Adrian Hirst had fun in ‘Frosty the Snowman'.

Richard Marshall and John Doyle also gave delicate performances of two of the most popular seasonal carols: Richard in ‘Silent Night', dedicated to the band's former principal cornet, Willie Lang who died a few days before the concert, and John in ‘Away in a Manger'.

No Christmas is complete without an interpretation of ‘The Holly and The Ivy', nor Howard Blake's ‘Walking in the Air'. ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing' and ‘O Come All Ye Faithful' were passionately sung by the audience who were yearning for more and more cometh the concert's conclusion.  As it was they were treated to two contrasting encores:  ‘Little Drummer Boy', arranged by Philip Sparke and containing a repetitive drum beat that gradually builds to a pulsating climax, and the ever popular, ‘Jingle Bells'.

During the course of the concert, Black Dyke acknowledged the contributions during the year of those associated with the band.  Percussionist, Lee Skipsey was named the Bandsman of the Year whilst Thomas Hutchinson's contribution to the band, the Yorkshire Youth & National Youth Brass Bands brought him the Pondasher of the Year. The band's administrator and former player, Geoffrey Whiteley, became the inaugural recipient of an award named after the band's current President, Donald Hanson who informed the audience prior to the presentation of the award that 'Black Dyke is one of the greatest things I have ever been involved in.'

There were not too many present on the night that would have disagreed.

Malcolm Wood.

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