Concert at Hasbury Church | The Brass Crest

Birmingham Citadel Band (Bandmaster Gavin Lamplough) was delighted to be back at Hasbury Church in Halesowen on Saturday, 10 May 2014, nearly eight years after the band’s last visit to the church.

The church was full and there was a buzz of excitement which was enhanced by the presence of the local primary school choir. The band started with the bright arrangement Praise Him! (Stephen Bulla). This set the tone for the evening in terms of the standard of playing and the Christian message that was clear in all that the band presented.

Of particular note was the way the percussionist Rob Hayward made up for his missing colleagues, seemingly not dropping a beat. With two-thirds of the normal section away, Hayward surrounded himself with drum kit, timpani, tam-tam, glockenspiel and various other percussion instruments. He played all of the percussion parts all evening with apparent ease.

The second piece of the evening featured the first of the band’s soloists as Neil Blessett (horn) played Paul Sharman’s beautiful arrangement of You Love Me. The band featured a number of works for the first time, including the effervescent Let Everything Praise (Martin Cordner) and Faith Is the Victory (Sam Creamer).

Additional solos were performed by Mark Sharman (trombone), David Taylor (euphonium) and Edward Dixon (tuba), delighting the audience. The major works for the evening, Variations on Laudate Dominum (Edward Gregson) and Renaissance (Peter Graham) were very well-received.

The complete concert order was as follows: