John Larsson – The Man and his Music

Hadleigh Temple
Saturday 26th April

It is quite rare to have a whole evening devoted to the music of a single composer, but that was the case as Hadleigh Temple was packed for a presentation entitled “John Larsson – The Man and his Music”. 

The occasion was the Saturday night of the Home and Family Weekend which was being led by General John Larsson and his wife, Commissioner Freda Larsson. As a young officer John Larsson was partnered with lyricist John Gowans and between them they have written a number of musicals which have been performed around the world, both in the Salvation Army and by other Christian groups. 

Many of the songs have entered into regular use beyond the confines of the original settings, and the range of styles ensured there was plenty of variety throughout the evening, which featured all the musical sections of the corps.

The Larssons entered the hall to the stately “Intrada: To a God like this” (Ian Robinson) played by the band, led by Bandmaster Ken Hillson. Following brief introductions, they continued with Ray Steadman-Allen’s selection from the musical “Spirit”, combining dramatic music illustrating incidents from the life of the early church with more reflective moments.

John Larsson himself had three featured spots, when he spoke about the genesis of the music, as well as leading songs at the piano. There were several amusing anecdotes concerning the creative process, often carried out when the writers were many miles apart, as well as the leap of faith which led to various venues – including the Royal Festival Hall – being booked (and sold out) before a note had been written! Many of the musicals were produced from scratch within a week during vocational house parties.

The Silver Songsters, directed by Robin Bryant, donned white aprons and mop-caps to present the song “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” from “Glory!” Based on incidents from the early days of the Folkestone Corps as described in the book “The Old Corps”, appropriate actions were used to illustrate the words.

“Wonders begin when the Lord comes in” is taken from the earliest of the musicals, “Takeover Bid”, and has been arranged as a trombone ensemble by Ray Steadman-Allen. The soloists on this occasion, standing on the platform behind the band, were John Ashcroft, Marion Still, Ben Still, Robin Bryant and Carl Carter.

The Singing Company, led by Marion Still, brought together three songs, “It’s as high as the Sky” (“Glory!”), “Sing and make music” (not from one of the musicals) and “Hundreds and thousands”, written as the children’s song in “Takeover Bid” and since published for use in schools.

A group of ladies from the Home League under the leadership of Major Pam Saunders brought two songs from “The White Rose”, penned to mark the anniversary of women’s work within The Salvation Army. For “The Home League” a number of props were used to depict the various activities undertaken, and “It’s Jesus we proclaim” was a reminder of why they meet together each week.

Discussing the writing of the song “When the glory gets into your soul”, John Larsson explained that he had devised a brisk, jaunty tune which was totally at odds with John Gowans’ vision of a more laid-back spiritual cum work-song. 

John Gowans’ concept won the day, and it was performed by the songsters (Paul Hillson). They followed this with another song from “Glory!”, “When the Salvation Army comes to town”, which featured an interlude by the songster timbrels.

Although renowned for his vocal works, John Larsson has had one piece published for band, the march “It’s new”, incorporating the singing company song of that name and “You can’t stop God from loving you”. He explained how it would often be chosen by the hosts wherever he was in the world, and sure enough it was on the programme this time, the added twist being that he was invited to conduct it himself.

John Larsson’s final spot concentrated on the musical “Spirit”, which he explained is about to be presented in California in a Spanish language Latino-style version prepared by his son Kevin, who is currently the Divisional Music Director. He then led the singing of three songs from the musical, “Burning, burning”, “Ask, ask, ask” and “To be like Jesus”, all of which are now regularly used in worship within the Salvation Army.

The final vocal contribution of the evening came from the Home League Singers, directed from the keyboard by Major Betty Bennett, who brought the testimony song “Since I met with Jesus”. Introducing the song, General Larsson confessed that he could not initially recall this particular number, which appears in the latest of the musicals, “The Meeting”, premiered at the 1990 International Congress at Wembley.

One of the newest groups to be formed at Hadleigh is the Silver Service Timbrels, and their twelve members performed to the only music of the evening not written by John Larsson – George Marshall’s fine old march “Mighty to Save”. Although not as energetic as one would find with a younger group, much thought had gone into their display, which was full of variety and performed very slickly.

Following an expression of thanks given by Home League Secretary Major Pam Saunders, the clear, pure tone of Deputy Bandmaster Keith Johnston was heard in Michael Babb’s cornet solo version of “Love cannot fail”.

The penultimate song, accompanied by John Larsson at the piano, was “They shall come from the East”, and the General recalled attending an international gathering at a football stadium in the USA, when this song was sung by 5,000 delegates, each singing it in their own language.

The evening ended with the whole company uniting to sing “God’s Soldier”, music by John Larsson and words by Harry Read, written when they were both on the staff of the International Training College. The General requested that the chorus be sung twice after each verse, and it made for a suitably rousing climax to a most uplifting evening.

Peter Bale

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