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Black Dyke Gold - Volume II
J Ord HUME
B.B. & C.F. (1900) [4.17] ¹
Philip SPARKE
A Bandsman's Overture (2012) [6.09]
Antonín DVOŘÁK
Rusalka's Song to the Moon (1900) arr. Gordon Langford with Richard Marshall (Cornet) [5.53] ¹
Tribute to Glenn Miller arr Forgie and Price [3.45] ¹
Paul LOVATT-COOPER
Enter the Galaxies [3.04]
Franz von SUPPÉ
The Beautiful Galathea (1865) arr. Gordon Langford [6.30]¹
Herman BELLSTEDT
Capriccio Brillante with Sheona White (Tenor Horn) arr. Sandy Smith [4.22]
Spooktacular, arr. Dan Price [5.56]
I. Carmina Burana (excerpts), Carl Orff, arr. Roy Newsome
II. Casper, the Friendly Ghost, James Horner, arr. Sandy Smith
III. Dies Irae, Giuseppe Verdi, arr. Peter Graham
Hugo ALFVÉN
Herdmaiden's Dance, Gary Curtin (Euphonium) arr. Frode Rydland [3.45]
Peter GRAHAM
A Gannochy Lullaby [1.52]
Jeffrey AGRELL
Gospel Time with Black Dyke Youth Trombone Quartet [4.23]
Percy FLETCHER
Labour and Love (1913) [10.38]
Black Dyke Band/ Nicholas J. Childs and Robert B. Childs¹
rec. December 2012, Morley Town Hall
DOYEN DOYCD307 [61:45]

In the second volume of the Black Dyke Band’s series on Doyen we get what the notes refer to as ‘nuggets’ from the brass band repertory. They range from arrangements of von Suppé to a very recent unveiling of a new work by Philip Sparke called A Bandsman's Overture. Regarding that last, the Birmingham premiere can be found in a DVD commemorating the British Bandsman’s 125^th anniversary concert, a disc I’ll shortly be reviewing and which could usefully be considered in the context of this CD.
 
The programme gets underway with a famed contest march, The BB & CF (British Bandsman and Contest Field) written in 1900 by J. Ord Hume with its delicious B section and opportunities for top to bottom corporate sonority; opportunities duly taken by this, still one of the very greatest brass bands in the field. Sparke’s A Bandsman’s Overture pays quiet homage to Ord Hume and thereby to the band tradition in a more general way. Dvořák’s Rusalka is transformed via Gordon Langford into a vehicle for cornet soloist Richard Marshall. The Glenn Miller arrangement offers the first glimmerings of swing before the band unveils Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s most attractive and inventive opus, Enter the Galaxies - plenty of fast tonguing guaranteed.
 
We go back to 1865 for von Suppé The Beautiful Galathea though it’s heard, naturally, in a band arrangement by Langford. Less well-remembered than the composer’s unforgettable overtures, there is still plenty of excitement and dancing verve. Herman Bellstedt was a Sousa soloist and his Capriccio Brillante offers showmanship and bravura to the intrepid brass man who takes it on; horn soloist and brass woman Sheona White in this case. One of the good things about recitals such as this is its variety. Here we have a medley under the umbrella title Spooktacular, which hides a multitude of strange associations; Orff, Verdi and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Lovers of the classical muse will welcome Hugo Alfvén’s Herdmaiden’s Dance not least for Gary Curtin’s euphonium solo and the fast outer sections. The trombone soloists have fun on Gospel Time - a band within a band, in effect. Finally we close with composer Percy Fletcher’s 1913 Labour and Love, a tone poem for brass and the first original composition played at the National Brass Band Festival, which was held at the Crystal Palace. If you don’t know it, lend an ear to its warmth and lyricism.
 
It ends a finely worked programme full of clever associations and programming, and played and directed with superior skill and nuance.
 
Jonathan Woolf