(Image: Gordon Ratcliffe)

Brighouse & Rastrick; Hade Edge; Meltham & Meltham Mills
Conductor: Dr David Thornton
Guest Soloist: Roger Webster
Huddersfield Town Hall
Saturday 25th October

Next year marks the 80th anniversary of Brighouse & Rastrick’s celebrated massed bands’ concerts. 

In its early days the hosts were joined by two guest ensembles, so nostalgia was in order as over 75 players from Huddersfield based Hade Edge along with Meltham & Meltham Mills packed the stage with the recently crowned British Open champion for an enjoyable ‘Folk and Dance’ programme.

Past, present, future

Dr David Thornton's selection of music explored the theme with a neatly observed feel for the past, present and future, with the rousing opening sounds of 'Famous British Marches'  leading into Curnow's 'Appalachian Mountain Folk Song Suite'. 

Dr David Thornton's selection of music explored the theme with a neatly observed feel for the past, present and future,

B&R's 17-year-old cornet player, Luke Broadrick was the warm-toned lead in 'Vitae Lux',  which segued into Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen’s vibrant 'Norwegian Dance'.   Langford's touching 'The Girl I left behind me'  and his arrangement of 'Scarborough Fair'  then offered stylistic contrast to pave the way for 'Riverdance'  to close the first half.

Timeless artistry

Guest soloist Roger Webster once again displayed his timeless artistry: Belstedt's 'Napoli'  brushed off with elegant virtuosity, the Japanese folk song, 'Furusato'  (‘Hometown’), beautifully phrased and intoned. 

Guest soloist Roger Webster once again displayed his timeless artistry:

It was playing that spanned the ages, the 'Mexican Hat Dance'  delicate and witty, before joining Brighouse principal cornet Tom Smith for Heaton's 'Wonderful Words'  and a twelve strong cornet line-up for 'Trumpets Wild'.

Treats

The second half served up more easy listening treats – ‘Pastime with Good Company'  delivered with upbeat fizz, Morley Clavert’s engaging 'Canadian Folk Song Suite'  played thoughtfully.  

Peter Graham’s 'Cry of the Celts'  suite originally written in 1997 for the Yorkshire Building Society Band brought back memories a fine band and even finer players as Stephanie Binns on flugel recalled the playing of the much-missed Iwan Williams in 'Breakout'.

The bravura encores came with 'Minstrel Boy',  more from 'Cry of the Celts'  and the timeless lollipop favourite of 'The Floral Dance'.   Who said nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

Malcolm Wood