The Black Dyke Brass Festival has become a regular yearly feature and although the weather outside was not too spring like, the music making inside Leeds Town Hall more than made up for it by lifting the spirits.

This year the English National champion was joined by the Yorkshire Youth Band as well as bands from Armthorpe Elmfield, Blackley, Delph, Kirton, Tewit and Trentham.

Rich

Black Dyke began with their signature march, ‘Queensbury’ and followed with a wonderfully rich rendition of Mendelssohn’s, Victor Hugo inspired overture, ‘Ruy Blas’.

The opening sonorous chords were followed by the light filigree of an allegro which built to a buoyant, exciting conclusion.

Liquid tone

Flugel soloist Zoe Hancock performed Philip Harper’s, ‘Dreams and Dances’ - the perfect vehicle to exhibit her beautifully liquid tone in the lovely opening melody, matched by her agility in the dance section.

Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ is at the core of his ‘Enigma Variations’ and conductor, Nicholas Childs allowed the music to flow seamlessly as it built to a majestic climax before dying away in a calm, reflective close.

Raptures

Gary Curtin’s extrovert performance of trumpet virtuoso Allen Vizutti’s fearsome ‘Carnival of Venus’ - cleverly arranged by Jonathan Bates, had the packed audience in raptures. The extremes of range and hailstorm of notes in the variations were handled with an ease that belied the demands made on the soloist.

The first half drew to a close with three items from the ‘Stabat Mater’ by Karl Jenkins.

It is easy to see why this music so consistently tops the classical CD charts with his tuneful melodies infused by catchy rhythmic patterns - so well illustrated in the opening, ‘Sancta Mater’, followed by a beautiful opening offstage quartet in the ‘Cantus Lacrimosus’ and the pulsating ‘Paradisi Gloria’.

Grandeur

The massed bands opened the second half with Albert Matt’s ‘Grand March’ - ‘Fame & Glory’. Those who are familiar with the music played at the Cenotaph each November will recognise this as the march used for the Royal British Legion. Nicholas Childs set the perfect tempo to match the stately grandeur of this enduring music.

Jonathan Bates, apart from being the band’s accomplished solo horn player, also has an increasingly significant composing career.

‘Old London Town’, a commission from the National Children’s Brass Band, is based on the number 10, and the ten notes heard at the opening of the piece. 

It had all the elements that make it attractive to players and listeners alike: the four part singing, rhythmic clapping and solo opportunities for many players all handled with skill and enthusiasm by the Yorkshire Youth Brass Band.

Benefit

‘Mallard 4468’ by Dan Price, was another NCBB commission which graphically celebrates the famous steam train’s 126mph world speed record. It was played with the accomplishment and commitment expected from this excellent group of young musicians who obviously benefit from the regular tutelage of Black Dyke’s players.

Earlier in the day a number of brass workshops led by Black Dyke’s star players were held, and it was good to hear the Black Dyke Junior Trombone Quartet with ‘Gospel Time’. For young players to produce such a mature sound with balance and commendable tuning was greatly to their credit.

Hat Trick

The penultimate piece brought together the massed tenor horns, numbering over fifty, to feature in Roy Newsome’s celebratory, ‘Hat Trick’; a piece worked on earlier in the day and played with a superb amount of brio and enthusiasm. 

One of the features of massed bands is the sheer scale of sound that they command, and few pieces illustrate this better than Tchaikovsky’s, ‘1812 Overture’.

Black Dyke’s Matthew Routley narrated a background synopsis before the piece gradually grew to a shattering climax that fairly shook the foundations.

Encore

Understandably, an encore followed, and this contrasted the excitement of the previous piece to perfection.  ‘Praise My Soul’ brought a calm and reflective end to what had been an excellent concert.

There may not have been a spring-like feel outside as people left Leeds Town Hall, but there certainly was a very warm glow of satisfaction from an afternoon of outstanding entertainment.

Paul Billing