Carlton Brass (Conductor: Matthew Ludford-King) -

Band Number 18. 

Carlton Brass (Matthew Ludford-King) - 49th Parallel

And to wrap us up for the day we have another brass band classic piece. 

Very clean start, Lovely Flugel Solo sound to kick us into the piece. Rise and fall is very effective. Sop shines through with clarity. PC and Euph share passages throughout both with conviction and a lovely warm tone. Bravo to both. Great dynamic contrast shown, dropped right down. A few intonation battles going on however with mutes in this was more than likely to be the case and it was managed well. Lovely warm Flugel tone which then is handed off to Solo Horn. Bravo. 

PC takes over with a lovely tune once again executed well. 

Faster section now seamlessly transitioned into. A great Trombone Section Sound. 

Baritone section extremely well played to support. Bravo. 

A few ‘almost’ moments however the band does well to recover these. What a beautiful crescendo to expand into a lovely full band sound. What an entrance by the Sop! Cuts through perfectly. And then we return to the starting them flawlessly. Back row just careful of the intonation with the mutes in the longer you are into hold the note just slipped slightly at points. Lovely Sop tune here sounds so easy. Choral band sound expands beautifully. Goosebumps with the crescendo up to open the sound out. The Percussion has been extremely tight, with 4 percussionists this is admirable. Lovely Flugel passage so controlled and easy sounding. Well done. 

Trombone section once again sounds so good and controlled even though the music has a hectic nature at this point. Sop once again is soaring. Perfection. 

The Two Young Percussionist must be enjoying this as they’re dancing away in the bars rest! Very proud that the Younger generation is so invested. 

Tight for the most part throughout this section and played with conviction only the odd occasion where someone just jumps an entrance. Good Bass sound in the next section before this beautiful duet between the PC and Flugel occurs. Lovely Sop playing during this solo. 

What an emotional contrast the band has managed to get during this section. A few intonation issues here and there but these are forgiven by the style the band is performing in. Another beautiful crescendo really opens up into a beautiful sound from the band. The MD allows for rubato moments and has really heightened the writing by pulling it around. Bravo Sir. 

The build is stunning and the band opens up for its final chord and the final chord of ConsTest 2026. 

Well done band I thoroughly enjoyed this performance.

~ Sam E.