Keith’s centre stage in a night of magic
Colne Valley Male Voice Choir Christmas Concert Huddersfield Town Hall
There were many highs at the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir Christmas Concert. Perhaps the best moment came when the 1,000-strong audience and performers broke into warm, enthusiastic and sustained applause at the conclusion of the solo spot by pianist Keith Swallow.
Certainly they were applauding his keyboard dexterity and the performance quality of his rendition of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Waltz Christmas’ but, more perhaps, they were acknowledging his years of dedication to the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir.
Most knew, before compère Simon Lindley reminded them, that Keith had been the choir’s accompanist for well over six decades and that, after this, his 51st consecutive Town hall Christmas Concert, he was planning to move to semiretirement.
The audience’s generous applause was to thank him not just for this concert but also for his astonishing longevity as a top-class musician.
Brighouse & rastrick Band had gathered for their annual Christmas Festival at a packed huddersfield Town hall to participate in what has become an indispensable feature of the huddersfield festive season.
The night had so many more high spots. The evening began with the lone, plaintive, treble voice, asking ‘Who is he in Yonder Stall?’ It’s a piece that builds in strength as the first singer is joined by the rest of the Boys Choir and then by the full but restrained force of nearly 60 men and finally by the mighty Brighouse & rastrick Band to create a stirring crescendo; ‘Tis the Lord, O Wondrous story, Tis the Lord, the King of Glory.’
And after, the music returns to the peace of the nativity stable with the quietest of endings. It’s not a piece that evokes riotous applause, rather there was a reverent silence before the applause started. It was emotional.
The band, under the baton of the night’s conductor russell Gray, rapidly showed why they are one of the leading brass bands in the country with a display of stunning musicianship.
Particularly impressive was their version of ‘Carol of the Bells’ by Ukrainian Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych.
This piece demonstrated, quick and crisp, virtuoso playing of the highest quality and a tremendous performance by the band’s percussion section.
The excellent compère and long-time friend of the choir Dr Lindley, is a man who knows his medieval church Latin.
So when he introduced the audience to the men and the boys combining to sing, in Latin, Gustav holst’s version of ‘Personent hodie’, he was able to cue them in to what the words, meant; telling of the arrival of the three kings to visit the baby Jesus in the stable.
It’s clear that Colne Valley Boys can steal the hearts of the audience. And so they did yet again in their solo numbers, especially the ever-popular ‘Walking in the Air’ from ‘The Snowman.’
The first half finale was another high point. Both choirs and the band came together for ‘You’ll never walk alone’. This is a hit song from the musical, ‘Carousel’, but over the years it has taken on a life of its own in popular consciousness.
One strand of this, for choir members at least, was the thought that the version they sang was arranged by the choirs’s deputy pianist and stand-in conductor Philip Baxter, now sadly departed and still much-missed.
The second half included Dan Forrest’s version of the popular hymn, ‘how Great Thou Art’ with its stirring range of choral dynamics and its ‘rachmaninoff-esque’ piano accompaniment bringing out the best in the maestro.
And again, in lighter vein, there was Lynn hudson’s playful version of Winter Wonderland, with the basses providing a cheeky commentary.
The evening concluded with band and choir together, with very popular music director Thom Meredith, conducting Goff richard’s ‘A Merry Little
Christmas’.
Thom, sporting a snazzy shiny jacket for the finale, masterminded the whole evening. Meanwhile ‘man of the night’ Keith Swallow, with typical diffidence, wondered what all the fuss was about.