Essential Dyke: Volume VII

Black Dyke Band
Conductor: Dr Nicholas Childs
Soloists: Richard Marshall, Joseph Cook, Gareth Brindle
Doyen Recordings: DOY CD227
Total Playing Time: 71.04

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You just have to hand it to Black Dyke don't you. Just when you thought this particular series of equine masochistic necrophilism (flogging a dead horse to you and me) had run its particular course, along comes a musical vet to inject 300 milligrams of ketomene in its posterior and send it racing down the track like Shergar winning the Derby.

As a type of franchise release Volume VI was perhaps the Rocky 5 of its time – a rather tired shadow of former glory, but just when you thought there was no life left in the old bones, out they come fighting in Volume VII like a pumped Sylvester Stallone in Rocky 6.

In our review of Volume VI we said that perhaps the time has come to leave the essentials and concentrate on the desirables instead. That's what would have happened here – but for one exception. The trump card, like the big fight climax in all Rocky movies comes at the end of course – and what a climax we have here, with the live recording of Dyke's 2006 British Open win on ‘Vienna Nights'.   It turns a desirable release into an essential release at the drop of a baton.

That performance is of stunning magnitude (and was voted 4BR Contest performance of the year in our 2006 awards). Superbly shaped and moulded to incorporate the diverse elements of the Mozart and Wilby inspiration, it sends a shiver down the spine with the brilliance of its execution.

The soloists are on top notch form, the ensemble playing is razor sharp and the interpretation has an intuitive sense of flow and clarity of understanding. It deservedly took the honours in Birmingham by as wide a margin as old Shergar did in winning the Derby all those years ago with a number of moments that deserve to be replayed time and time again such as the accompaniment to the sublime ‘Notturno'; the clarity of the technical work in the ‘Galop'; the sense of style in the final ‘Alla Turca' and the pulsating full throttle end. This is definitely essential listening.

Elsewhere the rest of the race card is pretty decent fare too, with the three soloists on excellent form. Richard Marshall delivers a modern twist on the old favourite ‘Zelda' that revelas the capricious touch of F. Scott Fitzgerald's fun loving wife to a tee. Gareth Brindle displays a lovely lyrical sense of style in ‘Donegal Bay' and Joseph Cook delivers a substantive performance of Rodney Newton's ‘Capriccio'. 

The release opens with thumping old march, ‘Simoraine' (which is much younger than you may think) and an atmospheric interpretation of ‘The Hebrides Overture – Fingal's Cave' by Howard Lorriman, who it seems has captured the market in breathing new life into old overtures – sometimes successfully, sometimes not. This one certainly is a fine arrangement.

The real frothy side of Black Dyke's current concert repertoire is heard on ‘Riverdance' (although it would have been even better if we could have seen Richard Marshall and John Doyle prancing about like demented leprechauns) and the 70's classic ‘Music' by John Miles, which is given the musical ‘Life on Mars' treatment – memories of flared trousers, velvet bow ties and bad haircuts come flooding back.  The one odd one for us though is the slightly strange version of ‘Yellow Submarine' which given it was written when the Beatles were experimenting with substances ‘exotic' shall we say, sounds as rigid as a military two step.  Try singing the lyrics to it and you will soon come a cropper.

The little gem though that sparkles brightest is Paul Lovatt-Cooper's ‘Where Eagles Sing' which has quickly become the ‘must have' concert item for 2007. Cleverly constructed, it is bright, cheerful and exciting in equal measures and it is clear why it has proved to be such a popular piece in such a short space of time.

So where now for the ‘Essential' series? There seems to be plenty more mileage in the tank now that it has been given this ‘Vienna' inspired boost and with the production values remaining of a very high quality it seems there may be more to come. If they are as good as this then we can't wait – but if they are not then not even another shot of musical ketomene will continue to breath life into the old nag.

Iwan Fox

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