It is hard to believe that it is just over 30 years since Major Leslie Condon was promoted to glory when carolling with Croydon Citadel Band.  

Under Bandmaster Iain Parkhouse, the present band organised a celebratory concert to pay tribute and support the Leslie Condon Trust.  A series of recorded interviews highlighted its work, which has unobtrusively supported the Salvation Army music schools around the world.

Celebration and reflection

On an evening where there must have been some difficult repertoire choices, the opening ‘Celebration’ would have been a dead cert for inclusion. The band produced a sparkling reading; tempering the bright toned sound to suit the somewhat unforgiving acoustic of Regent Hall. 

This contrasted with Carl Nielsen’s sensitive rendition of ‘Prayer of Childhood’, a setting of the children’s hymn ‘Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild’.

Prayer was offered by Major Batt, the Commanding Officer at Croydon Citadel, before Dr Stephen Cobb took charge.  

Classic tuba

Following the rousing singing of ‘Now Thank we all our God’, and complete with trumpeting in the final verse, Les Neish presented, ‘Celestial Morn’ in a spacious, lyrical reading, embracing the technical challenges but concentrating on the music rather than the pyrotechnics.
   
‘A Call to Care’ was initially intended for children's voices, but was later reworked for mixed choir.  With first-class enunciation and exemplary tuning, the songsters made the most of the distinctive harmonic twists.

The arranger’s art

Condon’s skill as arranger was on show as Brett Baker presented the 2nd and 3rd movements of Ferdinand David's ‘Concertino for Trombone’.  Aided by a well-controlled accompaniment, Brett made the most of this romantic work, with its lively finale, complete with lip trill.

‘The Love of my Lord’ was one of several works he wrote for female voices, his daughters featuring it as a trio; the attractive song somewhat reminiscent of Britten with the piano part going its own way, independent of the vocal line.

Original version 

The band closed the first half with the original version of ‘The Present Age’.  

Stephen Cobb explained that at first players were baffled by the piece, until Staff Bandmaster Bernard Adams asked Leslie Condon to explain the thinking behind it.  

The band brought out the contrasts between the aggression and violence of the opening and the more reflective passages, whilst making much of the confident statement of Sullivan's ‘Courage Brother’ at the end.

Holiday 

It could be argued that the unpretentious march ‘Bognor Regis’ which opened the second half was a little too over-worked, but it still had the audience joining in the theme, whilst ‘Song of Exuberance’ saw Brett and band combine well in this somewhat quirky solo.

The songsters continued with a setting of the words ‘Hail Thou Once Despised Jesus’ which was deftly handled, before ‘Badinage’ saw Les Neish astound the audience with multiphonics and other special effects.

Motivation

As an introduction to the Bible reading, presented on video by the first student to benefit from the Leslie Condon Trust, the combined male voices of the band and songsters presented ‘When Jesus Looked o’er Galilee’, with a trombone quartet providing the backing.

Brett and Les joined the band for the last two items: ‘Gift for his Altar’, summed up Leslie Condon’s motivation and modesty, before the evening closed with ‘A Song of Praise’.  

Peter Bale