Black Dyke Gold Volume V

Christopher Thomas reviews Black Dyke’s latest addition to their popular Black Dyke Gold series.

Perhaps it's a case of over familiarity, but for all the superb quality of the playing on offer, this fifth instalment in the Black Dyke Gold series of
discs does not come without its frustrations. Those frustrations principally revolve around programme content rather than performance, with the inclusion of numbers such as Yellow Submarine and Let's Face the Music and Dance giving the disc a somewhat disjointed, hackneyed feel amongst a number of other deserving inclusions.

It all gets off to a fine start with Martin Ellerby's stirring Gallipoli 100 March, whilst Peter Graham's Symphony of Scarlet and Gold, written to celebrate Dyke's 160th anniversary last year, is a clever amalgam of melodies significant to the band that is played with fabulous facility and dexterity.

Zoe Hancock is the beautifully florid flugel soloist in Paul Lovatt-Cooper's affecting By Trevone Bay, whilst in Trumpets Wild, James Shepherd, Matthew Baker and Richard Marshall come to the fore with the Black Dyke Reunion Band.

Gordon Langford's New World Fantasy gets a welcome airing, reaffirming his credentials as a master of his craft, with Christopher Binns demonstrating his wonderful silky lyricism on solo trombone in Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.

Philip Sparke's Cantilena is another welcome inclusion, its gentle progress painted in glowing tones by Dyke's wonderful array of soloists another of which, Gary Curtin, is the pyrotechnical solo euphonium player in Andrea Price's toe-tapping Eire Time.

In contrast, the corniness of
Yellow Submarine (despite committed playing from the
Reunion Band) and the sheer familiarity of Lets Face the Music and Dance take the shine off what, for me, could have been a far more effective and cohesive recording.

Programme: 3/5
Performance: 4/5
Recording: 4/5
Presentation: 4/5

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