1. Desford Colliery
Conductor: David Morton
Draw: 15
Impressive, stable opening. Lovely singing at 3. This settled immediately and is a proper performance.
In a couple of passages - 11 for example, the cornets become very direct and slightly strident. 14 - lovely trombones.
Into 18 – lovely. 229 - enormous. Beautiful articulation. 26 – Masterful!
33 – 4 after - magic diminuendo. 37 – Great trombone articulation.
What an amazing performance!
Ian Bousfield
Toccata an accurate opening – 3 love the cornet ‘line’ then sopranos.
8 - an effective build up to the ff at 9 - good changes of style and mood, and equally tempo changes handled with subtlety – an interesting section.
II: Variations - beautiful sound and style – this is wonderful! Fabulous.
Var 1: exciting and so well played. Detail – nothing overdone. Effective tempo change at 25.
Var 2: ‘cinematic’ and just perfect – pristine into semis at 313 – 316 good. 30 - effective
Var 3: soloists all effective (particularly trombone). 33 - sop so classy! This is just beautiful and full of emotion too!
OK, there are a couple of minor ‘scuffs’ but the overall shape is so tasteful. Bravo conductor and band!
Var 4: Electric start without being over quick. Troms good at 42 and at 495. The momentum and tension is building but nothing (again) is overdone and 55 seems so authentic musically - what a fabulous performance.
Congratulations conductor and band.
Fabulous.
Dr Stephen Cobb
Opening to 1 is well done and the plane has poise.
3 - lovely clarity of the simple line. Good quality evident. 7 - proceeding well. 9 (tick) 10 (tick) 12 - very good 13 - solo horn just a little sharp. 14 - troms – good blend. All going well.
II. Attaca is good – fine playing here with fluidity. 18 - very well done. Classy!
Var 1: Detail is good – and the score is presented with clarity. Enjoy these details. 25 - good soloists.
26 - a moment for poise – very good. Such a good tempo. 29 - quality very high here
31 – chording and ensemble very fine. 363 - Cornet good – intonation maybe a little wayward. 32 – just a little untidy – Trom strong.
33 - very nicely done – trom crotchets one and then into bass not great. 34 – cornet is lovely.
Troms to 235 so good and sop is excellent. Euph clips one but huge sound into 36. Maturity of sound and direction. 419 – euph so unlucky. 38 - beautiful then sop on top B. 39 – Well judged tempo. Troms and then flug (tick)
44 - Good cornet detail. 47 (tick) 50 (tick) 53 - big – lots of edge – and on to the triumphant conclusion.
It wasn’t faultless – minor edges – but the vision and reading was compelling.
A very fine performance. Many congratulations.
Prof Rob Wiffen OBE
2. Black Dyke Band
Conductor: Prof Nicholas J Childs
Draw: 7
Very controlled opening followed by lovely Ravel like textures. Nice contrasts. 84 – steady!
102 - shame you are crushing these figures. Excellent balance. Great crescendo before 12. 197 - lovely vocal quality to the bases. Slow passage beautifully paced. 5 after 25 bass a little too high.
26 semiquavers perfect.
337 - whatever you did didn’t quite make it as far as the box! 363 - cornet – Bravo! Followed by lovely trombone. I feel very calm listening to you - this is all very settled.
This is all very clear without being overdone which is a challenge. 42 - trombones fantastic. Wow, this is also slick! You made this all seem very easy. 4 before the end 1st trombone - speaking my language!!!
Bravo!
Ian Bousfield
Toccata - an impressive opening. Nice move into 3 conductor. Enjoying the cornet sound.
5 - excellent. Trom at 104 - like how you play this (and entries). 132 - good sustaining of ff not over done either thank you. All the tempo changes are well handled conductor – convincing end.
II: Variations - shaping of phrases, balance all excellent. 229 - 232 effective.
Var 1: full of energy and detail too!
Var 2: an appropriate ff embracing ‘menacingly’. Again really excellent work in revealing clarity and high-quality music making.
Var 3: beautiful cornet sound at 363
371 - 372 liked it! This really is wonderful. Really beautiful how the cornet allows the flugel to flourish at 392. A fabulous reading and supported by outstanding soloists - just exquisite!
Variation 4: tempo right! 42 - troms effective then flugel at 43.
526-528 – good balance troms. The excitement is just building and building. A really outstanding performance!!
Bravo conductor, a really brilliant reading and congratulations to the soloists - really impressive cornet playing - well done.
Dr Stephen Cobb
Solid and with power. 1. Good choices of tempo. 2. Nice feel to this with some rhythmic definition.
Bar before 3 - basses knock one over. 3. Nicely shaped - lines getting lots of attention.
4. Good. 5. on edge - but well controlled and contrasted into 6. Giving us a lot of detail and colour, articulation and dynamics. 7. (tick) 8. Good backbench. 9. Good latent power.
10 - liking this. Crescendo to 12 good. 13 - good dynamics – link sop to solo horn not quite. 14 - mature playing - assured – Nice!
Variations: Attacca – thank you! Blend is really good – molto legato with vib but still translucent. 18 - good depth of sound and nice dynamic control.
19. Piano lines have intent and build. 22 (tick) 23 (tick) 24 high-quality playing. 25 Bb bass a little sharp on F# sharp. 26 - again purposeful with some really good detail. 28 - well judged.
30 (tick) All good so far – how well we do now.
Var 3: 31 – Good chording and balance - well done band and conductor. Solo horn very good at 32 then Trom 33. Solos well done throughout. High-quality. Ebt bass. Yes! 34 - so well done. 396 – sop good – a couple of errors into 36 - some space and band - very good.
38 - yes flug - well done. All so good. 39 - lots of energy. 42 fast – will it cost the clarity? OK – it's assured and detailed but fast around 569.
51 - draws back a lot and so your theme is so triumphantly - and then the big effects at the end.
Fantastic! What a performance!
Prof Rob Wiffen OBE
3. Flowers
Conductor: Paul Holland
Draw: 18
A very confident opening. A bit of intonation doubt in the cornets. Lovely textures at 3. This is full of drama at 7 and is building into a real performance. Very strong trombones. This has a fantastic flow. Great contrasts.
Variations: beautiful, sensitive articulation.
Var 1: slick. Fantastic playing continues.
Var 3: Beautiful solos. A nice sense of calm. There was the odd slip but that’s live performance!
Variation 4: immediately dramatic! Very thrilling the whole way.
Ian Bousfield
Toccata - great opening - tuning at 1? Sop lovely at 55. 5 – excellent!
9 - effective delivery of ff. Exciting and dramatic! (130+) and into 11. 166 and 169 clean and well executed. Trom good at 14. Great ending.
Variations: good blend/sound - balance fabulous - nothing overdone. Well played - very tasteful.
Var 1: Clarity/definition - this is exciting – good tempo change MD at 25.
Var 2: significant blemish on horn at 137/138. 29 - yes dramatic – great!
Var 3: Beautiful cornet entry at 363! Well spaced and executed. 34 - what a cornet sound! – flugel and sop delightful. Euphorium – class!
36 - enjoying what you are doing here - there’s musicality and emotion here. 38 – flugel note missing. Some wonderful playing.
Variation 4: an energetic start, troms excellent - well recovered flugel (at 43). Loads of energy being evidenced and maintained to ‘triumphantly’ bringing to an end a really fine performance and reading. Congratulations!
Stephen Cobb
Big start - huge weight of sound. Intonation on cornets quickly sorted.
Two before 3 - troms not quite uniform. 3 - Nicely done - more expressive than simple on the line. Accuracy is good as is dynamic control.
125 - why crescendo basses? 9 - good dynamic build - and power to 12. 159 - note slips!
14 - Trom’s mute and open not heard against each other. Good.
II Variations: 204 may be a little overcooked. 212 better. Bass line is more articulated than molto legato above. Great dynamic control at 229.
19 (tick) 20 great double tongue effects.
Lots of panache then detail through 23/24. 25 - I like the temple shifts. Bb Bass top F# not great. 26.- ouch! Horns. But on with purpose and menace.
31 - not clean in first chord and second entry also not great. - 363 solo cornet very good. 32 – solo horn watch intonation on G#. Trom strong 380-381 nicely done. 384 Brass catches one.
35 – cornets not quite. 398 - watch balance. 36 – Big tone. 37 - good lucid textures. 38 - flugel lose the A. Lovely sop. 429 euph intonation wayward on the B.
39 great verve – fast! 43 (tick) flugel 44 (tick) 46 euphs very good. Clarity is pretty good considering the tempo.
54 great forward motion and huge sound of 55. Then big drive to the end.
Very good performance – technical resources and interpretation. Some odd flows that drew attention just took some gloss off.
Prof Rob Wiffen OBE
