Brighouse & Rastrick and Tredegar Band
Conductor: Ian Porthouse
Huddersfield Town Hall
Saturday 29th March

Uplifting music in keeping with the arrival of Spring underpinned the theme for the first of a reciprocal concert connection between the West Riding band and their guests, the recently crowned Welsh champion Tredegar.

It was their first appearance at the long established concert series in over a decade, with the repertoire chosen by Ian Porthouse making for engaging listening, with a warm tonal freshness to the ornate pomp of 'Fest Musik Der Stadt Wien'  and the supple Viennese style of the Suppe overture, 'The Beautiful Galatea'.

Neat twist

The first half followed in the same vein, although with detours in styles and genres, with the fizz of Strauss's 'Perpetuum Mobile'  contrasting with the dislocated ‘broken wing’ pulse of The Beatles classic, 'Blackbird'.

In a neat twist the solo features were duets, with principal cornets Tom Smith and Dewi Griffiths delivering a sweet sounding Classic FM favourite, 'The Flower Duet',  from ‘Lakme’,  the soprano duo of Rob Westacott and Ashley Marston combining on 'Intermezzo'  and ‘Easter Hymn’  from 'Cavalleria Rusticana',  and flugels Mike Eccles and Cerys Hughes the suave leads on 'The Wind Beneath My Wings'. 

In a neat twist the solo features were duets, with principal cornets Tom Smith and Dewi Griffiths delivering a sweet sounding Classic FM favourite, 'The Flower Duet',  from ‘Lakme’, 

A return to the light Viennese style came with the overture to the Strauss operetta ‘Die Fledermaus'  to close an entertaining first half.

Further detours

The second half provided further detours of easy listening fayre; 'Men of Harlech'  providing a stirring opener contrasted by the delicacy of the rarely heard 'Elizabethan Serenade'  by Ronald Binge, full of new monarch 1950s optimism. 

'Men of Harlech'  providing a stirring opener contrasted by the delicacy of the rarely heard 'Elizabethan Serenade'  by Ronald Binge, full of new monarch 1950s optimism. 

Chris Robertson and Sion Jones certainly enjoyed showing off their Celtic talents and heritage with a humorous rendition of Peter Graham’s ‘Brillante’,  before the musical geography embraced the beauty of the Auvergne of central France with the tender lines of 'The Shepherd's Song'.

The sextet of ‘Temptress’  trombones made for classy fun whilst a drier, more seriously intentioned wit came with Wilfred Heaton's 'Praise'. 

The choral sentimentality of Roberton’s 'All in the April Evening'  was a pool of calm before the whip cracking finale from ‘William Tell’  and an even quicker romp through Shostakovich's 'Folk Festival'  as an encore.  

Malcolm Wood