The pairing of tenor trombone with trumpet manages to sound like a full brass section instead of merely two skilled players.
Imagine a theatre production on a grand scale: a show with a full brass band, a troupe of acrobats, hundreds of actors, police cars, an elephant, even a helicopter, which plays out on a stage the size of a football pitch.
We had such a blend, resonance and perfect intonation that we sounded like a full brass choir instead of three players.
And his 18-piece band started up: first one unaccompanied trumpet in a minor key, then a full brass arrangement, then a pile of 6/8 rhythm with backbeats and melody threading through it.
Later, the band took a full brass section and choir on tour just for the purpose of performing this piece.
Each contains an image of a musician and emits music 'played' by a different brass instrument, together making up a full brass band.
There were points, especially in the Bruckner, of tremendous charge, as when the full brass ensemble came swinging in for the first time in the opening movement, magnificent, loud, beautifully in tune and resplendently, emphatically present.
Ganged together, side by side in rows of display cases, they are the visual equivalent of a brass choir at full volume, a Corelli fanfare.
It's full of energy but perhaps could have done without the addition of a weedy brass section.
With a full complement of saxophones and additional brass, the playing of the Opera North orchestra is so darn hot it's practically a fire-risk.
