The first visit of Enfield Citadel to Cork at the invitation of the St Nicholas Brass Band had been widely anticipated for some time, the Curtis Auditorium providing a great venue. 

Earlier in the day the band had flown in and helped support the work of some of the Salvation Army social work centres in Dublin, but showed no signs of tiredness in this concert with guest soloist Les Neish. 

Varied programme

Bandmaster Jonathan Corry had prepared a varied programme which from the opening of William Himes ‘Rolling Along’ confirmed the excellent standard of playing the audience were expecting.  

A reflective and uplifting setting of ‘I Know a Fount’ led to the music of Saint-Saens and his ‘Marche Militaire Francaise’, before a solo segment featuring Maurice Patterson, Lofty Lofthouse and Simon Hicks presented Bruce Broughton's ‘The Victors’ in-between a brace of solo items from Les. 

He introduced each - the first the ‘Serenade’ from the ‘Student Prince’ where he was able to demonstrate his wonderful lyrical qualities before segueing neatly into the amazing pyrotechnics of ‘Hot Canary’. The bird was truly singing in a fine high voice! 

The band then brought the first half to a close with a rousing performance of Les Condon's ‘Festivity’.

Movie music

Movie music was the theme at the start of the second half with ‘Just a Closer Walk’, ‘Soul Bossa Nova’ and ‘I Will Follow Him’ in quick succession. 

Les again showed his lyric quality in ‘Ballad’ and then, in contrast and at a lively tempo, ‘Hora Staccato’. Ray Farr's arrangement of JS Bach's ‘Toccata in D Minor’ was contrasted with William Broughton's arrangement of ‘Deep River’ before Philip Wilby's arrangement for Enfield Band of his own setting of ‘Wondrous Cross’. 

The band concluded with Steven Ponsford’s exciting ‘Turris Fortissima’. 

Encores

No programme though would be complete without encores, with Les returning to give a tour de force of extraordinary technique in a number of pieces, including accompanying himself whilst reciting the alphabet before concluding with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the bandsmen. 

His performance brought prolonged appreciation before he joined the bass section as the band concluded with their signature piece, the much loved H.C. Goffin March, ‘The Red Shield’. 

It left visitors hoping Enfield Citadel Band would visit Cork more often.

Michael O’Malley