Black Dyke Plays Rossini

‘Black Dyke Plays Rossini – and how! I never thought to hear a cornet replacing the oboe in The Silken Ladder. I couldn’t swear that there were no seams, but brilliant in any case is the arrangement by Peter Parkes, who is also responsible for Una voce poco fa, the overture La Cenerentola, and for the conducting, shared with Trevor Walmsley. The aria is played in effortless style with some marvellous high notes by Phillip McCann. As is Largo al factotum by John Clough. La danza is seen off in two minutes flat and the overtures Tancredi and William Tell with no concession to the limitations of three valves. Rossini, for one, would have loved it all.’

Gramophone