BCB was delighted to be back at Hasbury Church in Halesowen, nearly 8 years since the last visit. A number of the band live in Halesowen and the church provided a wonderful venue for our last visit, and so it was with great anticipation that BCB visited on the 10th May 2014.
The church was full and there was a buzz of excitement around the which was enhanced by the presence of the local primary school choir. The band started with the bright Stephen Bulla arrangement “Praise Him!”. 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, not to mention the way that percussionist Rob Hayward made up for his missing colleagues seemingly not dropping even a beat! With 2/3’s of the normal section away Rob had surrounded himself with drum kit, timpani, tam-tam, glockenspiel and various other percussion instruments and subsequently played all three parts all night with apparent ease! What a sight to behold!
The second piece of the evening brought the first of BCB’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 Martin Cordner’s effervescent “Let Everything Praise” and Sam Creamer’s “Faith is the Victory”.
Further solos from Mark Sharman (Trombone), David Taylor (Euphonium) and Edward Dixon (Tuba) delighted the audience and the major works for the evening (“Laudate Dominum” and “Renaissance”) were very well received.
After a fantastic evening we hope to be back at Hasbury Church before too long!
Programme
1.Praise Him! (Stephen Bulla)
2.Horn Solo: You Love Me (Paul Sharman) – Soloist: Neil Blessett
3.Let Everything Praise (Martin Cordner)
4.Trombone Solo: Song of Exuberance (Leslie Condon) Soloist: Mark Sharman
5.Faith is the Victory (Sam Creamer)
6.Variations on Laudate Dominum (Edward Gregson)
7.Praising (Erik Silfverberg)
8.Euphonium Solo: Air n Variations (Stephen Bulla) Soloist: David Taylor
9.Tuba Solo: The Bare Necessities (Leigh Baker) Soloist: Edward Dixon
10.Tango: Where I Love to Be (Kevin Larsson)
11.Everlasting Hope (Paul Sharman)
12.Renaissance (Peter Graham)
13.The Liberator (George Marshall)
