What a fantastic performance this is; one for the archives. Mr. Withington and his team pay full respect to the score and don't indulge in the usual 'musical' cliches.

Live performances are better in my opinion than studio recordings. This one is extremely good and very well-played on a difficult test written in 1934. Was listening to BBC R3 this morning and it featured Herbert Howells. It seemed he thought of himself as a Tudor (medieval) composer in a 20th century body. Not sure that I hear that in this greatest of works of band repertoire. His "Three Figures" is also a very tough test for bands, but not often played. Derek Bourgeois reminisced that Howells said he would have used muted tenor horns in the first movement, if they had been available. Guessing that's around time stamp 1:38?? Love Pageantry. Long may it be used in contest.