Black Dyke & Yorkshire Youth Brass Band

Conductors: Dr Nicholas Childs & Professor Philip Wilby
Black Dyke Brass Festival
Leeds Town Hall
Sunday 31st May

The concert finale to the Black Dyke Brass Festival took place in the ornate surroundings of Leeds Town Hall on a scorching Yorkshire afternoon.

Combined forces

Helped by the combined forces of the Hebden Bridge and Newstead Welfare Bands, as well as participants of the British Trombone Society, the proceedings commenced with an appropriately breathless run through Philip Wilby’s ‘Breathless Allelulia’, which certainly shook off any mid afternoon torpor in the sizeable audience.  

No lollipop

Any thoughts that Black Dyke would have a relaxed afternoon of ‘lollipop’ playing were soon dismissed from the minds of the players too, with the inclusion of Peter Graham’s ‘Montage’, perhaps his most complex major work for brass band.

A finely attuned performance full of nuance and style (especially in the torrid third movement) brought a smile to the face of MD Nicholas Childs, as under the testing conditions the band upped their game to an impressive level of consistent excellence. 

Trombone spotlight

The British Trombone Society had enjoyed their get together on the weekend too, and the ‘Trombone Spotlight’ saw a relaxed but enjoyable performance of ‘On Parade’ by Dudley Bright and the interesting and Hymn to the Fallen from the film Saving Private Ryan.

Rising meniscus

With the meniscus on the temperature gauge rising by the minute, the band were able to close the first half with a resounding run through Philip Wilby’s arrangement of the famous ‘Organ Symphony’ by Saint-Saens, complete with the professor enjoying himself enormously at the controls of the immense Town Hall organ.    

Youth Band

After the chance to cool down it was the turn of the Yorkshire Youth Band, and two neatly portrayed performances from the pen of Paul Lovatt-Cooper – ‘Horizons’ and ‘Solar Eclipse’.

The appeal of both to young players is obvious to the ear – highly paced, rhythmically purposeful and strongly coloured – all with something for just about everyone from soprano to Bb bass (and especially percussion) to get their teeth into. The young players responded enthusiastically and with a real sense of musical purpose.  

Stature

The stature of the Yorkshire Youth Band has grown enormously in the last couple of years, and they now compare very favourably to any large youth ensemble in the country – and that means they are very good.

Appropriate

The finale to a long weekend saw an appropriate performance of the musical mission statement of the 2009 Festival -  ‘Partnering the Past and Fostering the Future’ and a fair old tub thumper of the ‘1812 Overture’ with the massed ranks of Hebden Bridge, and Newstead join the forces with Dyke and the Youth Band – in what was a musical army that would have given Napoleon a run for his money. 

It very nearly took the roof off too, but there was just enough cement to hold onto the slates for a quick zip through the encore of ’76 Trombones’ to close a superb weekend of music making on just the right upbeat note.

Iwan Fox

^back to top