1. Cory
Excellent start, all so well balanced and creating atmosphere. The music is alive.
80 – Mysterious – wonderful
F – Good colour percussion. The music flows so well.
H – Full of energy – excellent sop. All so animated though this section. Fine trom.
K – Beautiful and so well balanced Flugel/Horn.
Adagio – so well shaped
I sit back (to) enjoy the artistry of your sounds, particularly solo cornet!
W – The Fugue develops so well, the music is lifted out of the score.
Percussion plays a great part in this performance.
A performance of the highest order throughout.
David Read
A strong, solid opening and you caught the Grandioso element well before commencing the accel into A.
Well executed relative balance within the texture to allow main melodic lines to project very clearly. Plenty of detail and commendable clarity whilst maintaining an assured forward momentum and exciting drive.
Atmosphere well created at the E link to the ‘Winter Wonderland’ passage at F with reliably balanced dialogues and interaction within the texture.
The sense of sweat was ably conveyed at G and technical demands in successive passages ably handled. Excellent balance. Sop reliably executed at bar 127+
The Barcarolle lilt well established at K and enjoyable solos from horn and flugel, equally from euphs in the duo at L, only very small blemishes in the early stages.
Beautiful mysterious sonority and veiled colour at fig M.
Well planned dynamic scheme for the Fugue with a ready forward direction and dancing rhythms maintained with always reliable clarity of detail.
Authoritative handling of the virtuosic S – onwards and the final building to a climactic finish.
Very fine playing from a very fine band – thank you!
Michael Ball
Excellent opening and splendid contrasts in dynamics I ensuing passages.
Bold sound is impressive, and transition from E has wonderful atmosphere.
F is nicely coloured and G has commendable clarity. Good sop and more fine detail towards J.
Impressive trom into K (in spite of breath!) which has atmosphere. Lilt balanced with good attention to dynamics.
Good euph dialogue and lovely control at L on. Splendid solo cornet.
Impressive balance at M and as Fugue starts dynamics are well tiered. Detail is engaging and bass sounds are always of impressive quality.
S onwards is really impressive!
Wow! Quality, through and through!
Stephen Roberts
2. Black Dyke
Confident start, positive and impressive.
I hear all parts as I should, all well balanced.
F – Good perc colour. All so expressive to G – so delicate when required, just a very slight tendency to push the tempo.
I – Atmosphere created – so charming (if a little slow) we don’t quite get the lilt I feel we need. Well done euph at Adagio.
L – Artistic soloists. M – So beautiful.
N – Neat and controlled to open the fugue, so well balanced, exciting but again I felt pushing the tempo.
A band with a fabulous sound, but slight reservations about some lack of flow.
David Read
A well controlled opening with effective build of momentum to B and plenty of energy to drive the music forwards.
Nice clarity and balance achieved in the chorale like passage at bar 83. The pretty music of F was effectively achieved. The virtuosic demands of G onwards were well handled in the various exposed solos if a little occasional reservation over stability. An effective trombone solo at bar 168.
The Barcarolle was effectively characterised with good solos at a spacious tempo. The cornet/euph duet was ably controlled with floating, well supported lines.
Atmosphere commendably created in the veiled ppp at figure M.
A well chosen tempo for the Fugue with committed forward impetus to the dancing rhythms.
The virtuoso writing at S onwards was handled with assurance and the final climax ably built.
Very strong and mostly very convincing playing from a fine band – thank you!
Michael Ball
Ebullient opening with plenty of tonal power and excitement though the rhythmical drive in the passage work.
Slow link is well balanced with the odd untidy moment.
F has effective wintry atmosphere.
G has virtuosic clarity and technical proficiency.
I is mainly good, but there is some rushing on semi quavers.
Trom does well into K, which is set at a rather lugubrious tempo. In spite of this the soloists do well to impart a satisfying sense of flow.
Euph plays very well and L is musically executed with fine control.
M is impressively atmospheric.
Fugue has well paced vitality even if it does push the tempo here and there.
S is energetically played with impressive sounds.
A very fine performance with some great atmospheric moments and splendid solo playing.
Stephen Roberts
3. Carlton Main Frickley
Uneven groups to open. A – good sounds and detail heard clearly. Rhythmic.
65 – Well done.
83 – Beautiful sounds and so well balanced, so well shaped by conductor, the music make so much sense.
I enjoy your playing and reading of the music – lovely work to K.
Barcarolle flows so well and played so well by soloists.
Well shaped euph! Cornet plays with artistry.
Fugue – So well controlled to open and so well in time all parts are heard so well balanced, so convincing and assured by all – exciting but also controlled.
A fine performance so directed. Musical – quality of sound at all dynamic levels.
David Read
A good launch is not totally together in ensemble. Some effective detail in the Grandioso and you maintain momentum well at B whilst allowing the individual component figures good clarity and identity – sound pleasantly unforced so as to allow the music to dance.
A good rounded sonority and secure intonation – a spacious approach.
The essential prettiness of F was persuasively put across and phrases handled very musically. You coped with the technical challenges reliably and the difficult broken chord figurations coerced very successfully to give convincing forward momentum to the harmonic progressions – engaging and enjoyable playing.
The gentle lilt of the Barcarolle was well was well conveyed at K with expressively shaped solos from horn and flugel.
A well shaped Euph – dialogue at bar 192 and well supported effective lines in the cornet/euph duo at L.
Beautiful organ-like sonority at M – commendably matching the sound across the band.
The Fugue was notable for its long term planning – allowing the dynamic levels to increase gradually so that, as earlier, the dance element predominated in your always musically responsive playing.
A very enjoyable and assured performance – thank you!
Michael Ball
Quite good opening and very good detail at A.
A convincing sense of both the rhythmic and musical direction is achieved.
E – is very well controlled and again into F. Lovely musical atmosphere here and splendid attention to detail.
G is clean and technically virtuosic. All the music is thoroughly engaging. 6 of J not quite together, but all else is very convincing. Lovely horn after K and flugel answers with empathetic phrasing to show cohesion and pleasing shape.
Euphs converse with style and very stylish solo cornet.
Great organ-like sounds at M. Not together at N (vibe & trom) but a good tempo and fine sense of direction and rhythmic control. So much to commend in terms of colour and detail.
A splendid performance – you really made the music live and breathe.
Stephen Roberts
