I'm not going to comment on the music. I just don't know enough about village bands of the period. However, as a dramatisation of Hardy I thought it was first class. From what I remember of the book, it seemed to stick extremely close to the text. What's more, where adaptations of Hardy often end up looking and feeling like the lid of a chocolate box, this one I think managed to catch the spirit of what he was trying to say.

One or two minor quibbles about the casting perhaps. Neither Alec nor the parson felt right, but I thought Tess was magnificent.

Incidentally, the music played on the cliff. I kept hearing it as something like Believe Me If All These Endearing Young Charms, but not quite. Could it have been the harp tune from which BMEIATEYC was derived?