On 20 March 2010, the Enfield Citadel Band (Bandmaster Jonathan Corry) was privileged to take part in the 125th Massed Band Concert hosted by the famous Brighouse & Rastrick Band. Held at the Huddersfield Town Hall, this was the first time that a Salvation Army band had been invited to participate in this long-running concert series. B&R are a fixture in the top echelon of British contest bands, and won the Yorkshire Regional Championship 2010 just two weeks before, considered by many to be the most competitive of the regional brass band competitions.

Following words of welcome from B&R president Paul Beaumont, the concert commenced with items from the massed bands under the baton of the guest musical director, Garry Cutt. Two classical transcriptions were up first, the Introduction to Act III of Lohengrin (Richard Wagner, arr. Wright) and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. The next item was a classic in its own right, considered by many to be the greatest piece ever published by the Salvation Army, and one of the most celebrated brass band pieces of all time, Eric Ball’s masterpiece Resurgam. The first massed band set came to a close with Crimond (Irvine).

Bandmaster Corry and the Enfield Citadel Band then presented a number of items, beginning with William Himes’ march Rolling Along. Showing the band’s versatility, this was followed by I Know a Fount (Rive), Bach’s Fugue in D minor (arr. Farr) and Peter Graham’s well-known and well-liked Shine as the Light.

After the interval, Brighouse & Rastrick presented their portion of the program. They began with the march Washington Grays (Grafulla) and Gordon Langford’s arrangement of Gabrield Fauré’s Pavane. Cornets were featured in Buglers Holiday (Leroy Anderson, arr. Barsotti). The set ended with movements from Suite Gothique (Böellmann, arr. Ball).

Joining together again to complete the concert, the bands played Punchinello (Rimmer). Steve Walsh (B&R) and Paul Baker (Enfield) joined together to present Deep inside the Sacred Temple (Bizet, arr. Wilkinson) as a euphonium duet. Sir Arthur Sullivan’s The Lost Chord is a favorite British melody, performed here with an arrangement by Gordon Langford. The concert concluded, as it began, with a transcription from the classical repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812 (arr. Wright). With generous applause from the capacity crowd, the bands returned to the stage for an encore, the Radetzky March.