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2003 Pontins Brass Band Championships
Pontins Holiday Camp, Prestatyn, North Wales
Sat/Sun 25/26th October
First Section
Retrospective:
Wrexham "Rise Again" to claim the First Section title,
as others find ric Ball's masterpiece a test of musical faith.
Resurgam proved a very stern test for the bands in the First Section.
So much so that no one band managed to produce a truly memorable
performance of Eric Ball’s great work. That is not to denigrate
the efforts of the winners, or the bands that made up the top six
in particular, but not one band on the day generated the feelings
that the composer so brilliantly painted in his score. There was
little in the way of genuine despair – plenty of desperation,
but no real heartfelt despair, whilst the lack of warmth in the
tone of all but a very few bands meant that too often that the “Souls
of the Righteous” sounded like the souls of a pair of Doctor
Martins.
The winners though were good value. Wrexham can be called “the
band previously known as” Rhos, but since they moved they
have been steadily rebuilding under the baton of Wayne Ruston. This
win was the culmination of a lot of hard work and some fine ensemble
playing.
We noted after their performance from the number 8 draw that “this
was one to beat” and so it proved. There was a sense of control,
fine balance in the ensemble and they were one of a very few bands
on the day that understood that the climax of the whole work was
towards the very end, and not five times before. The atmosphere
was created and the MD certainly had done his homework. It was a
fine performance indeed.
Second place went to United Norwest Co-op Milnrow, who started
quite superbly (no over accented entries from nervous players) and
created a lovely sense of anticipation through the work. It just
had a few moments of unsteadiness, but overall this was a reading
from MD and band that was full of the right compassionate feelings.
The final place on the podium went to Knottingley Silver directed
by Kevin Belcher, who although were not quite (for us) in the same
class as the top two, nonetheless gave a worthy rendition of the
test piece to come home third. It got stronger as it went along,
never quite touching the heart as possibly the other two did, but
still a performance of emotion.
Behind them came Ibstock Brick Brass in fourth place, Longridge
in fifth and BHK (UK) Horden in sixth. All three has their fair
share of moments of fine playing, but overall never quite delivered
a performance of musical note. Technically they were all in command,
but pure technique and “Resurgam” are not easy bedfellows
- what is needed is a fair portion of heartfelt passion.
Try as they might, all three fell short on the passion front. Ibstock
had a shaky start but improved as they went along and produced a
fine rounded sound, whilst Longridge started and finished so very
well but suffered in the middle sections when the sound became hard
and unbalanced. BHK wee possible favourites before the start of
the contest, but after a very fine opening there were too many clips
and blips for them to come higher. All three though had MD’s
who knew what the music required, but the execution from around
the stand just failed them on this occasion. They are good bands
though.
After the top six though and the standard fell away sharply for
us. The opening was the Achilles heel for far too many bands and
the choice they faced was either up the dynamics and make sure of
a solid start, or try for the dynamics and hope the intonation doesn’t
go astray. Most went for the former, but instead of making sure
the intonation was secure it just meant tongues stuck halfway down
the mouthpiece and an attack on the first notes that wouldn’t
have been out of place if they were playing “Year of The Dragon”.
Most performances were still born before a breath of life could
be instilled after the opening bar.
Stannington, Unity, Pemberton Old Wigan, Tintwistle, Derwent, Blackburn
and Darwen and Moston and Beswick. Seven bands – all could
play the piece very well indeed, but on the day all of them suffered
some sort of musical anxiety that almost paralysed their efforts.
Each had moments when the playing was controlled, balanced and rounded
in tone, but these were outnumbered by the times they shot themselves
in the feet with poor entries, hard articulation and a hard tone.
We wrote much the same for them all. “Opening good/poor”;
“cornet solo good/reasonable” etc, etc. These were performances
that ranged from the fine to the mediocre and so they can’t
really complain where they came in the final results.
Below this came the bands that filled the final placings of 14th
– 23rd. Technically all the bands could play the piece, but
as we have said before, that is not what “Resurgam”
is all about. Looking back at our notes the same things were written
own time and time again. “Fair/ Poor start”, “Fair,
Poor intonation”, “needs warmth in tone” etc.
These were not poor performances, but performances that could have
been so much better with some belief in the musical content. It
was if it was being played by a congregation of committed atheists.
There fore, Forest of Dean, Yorkshire Co-operatives, Towcester
Studio and Hole all played the notes, but lacked the need to find
something within the soul as it where, while Bedworth, Vernon Building
Society, Enderby, Stonesfield, Markham and finally Tyldesley just
couldn’t bring together enough strands of positive playing
to mould their performance into something tangible. It made for
slightly depressing listening at times, especially as you knew that
all of these bands had enough quality to make something more of
what was put in front of them.
In the end though Wrexham deserved their win, because in the end
their MD knew what the score was about and the players knew how
to interpret his wishes. The same went for Milnrow and Knottingley
to an extent, but after that Eric Ball certainly asked too many
questions of faith and musicality for the MD’s and their players.
It was a salutary lesson.
Test Piece:
Resurgam, Eric Ball
1. Wrexham Brass, W. Ruston, 8
2. United Norwest Co-op Milnrow, A. White, 11
3. Knottingly Silver, K. Belcher, 2
4. Ibstock Brick Brass, D. Jones, 3
5. Longridge, B. Baker, 12
6. BHK (UK) Horden Band, Major Peter Parkes, 20
7. Stannington, J. Hopkinson, 5
8. Unity Brass, P. Northey, 1
9. Pemberton Old Wigan, N. Sheppard, 16
10. Tintwistle, D. Shutter, 9
11. Derwent Brass, K. Leonard, 23
12. Blackburn and Darwen, L. Nicholson, 10
13. Moston and Beswick, M. Obermuller, 22
14. Forest of Dean Brass, Miss J. Gwynne, 21
15. Yorkshire Co-operatives, J. Roberts, 4
16. Towcester Studio, J. Berryman, 13
17. Holme Silver, G. Hetherington, 6
18. Bedworth Brass, D. Williams, 14
19. Vernon Building Society Poynton, A. Lawton, 7
20. Enderby, S. Cooper, 19
21. Stonesfield Silver, T. Brotherhood, 15
22. Markham and District, N. Seaman, 17
23. Tyldesley Brass, R. Taylor, 18
© 4BarsRest
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