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2013 4BR Awards — Contest Performance of the Year

Perhaps the most difficult of all the categories to choose the best from?

Which contest performance stood out for you in 2013 — and it may not have been a winner.

4barsrest awardsWith so many contests to choose from, which performances lingered longest in the memory banks?

There were some crackers in 2013 - many of which were just as good as if not better than the five we have come up with.

Cast your minds back to the Areas where a couple of real bobby dazzlers won through, the Europeans, the various European contests from Holland and Belgium to Switzerland and Sweden, World Championship, Australia, North America, New Zealand, National Youth Championships...

The list is endless and personal, so make your own pick...

Go to Voting:
http://www.4barsrest.com/awards/default.asp


Black Dyke

Black Dyke 
Conductor: Dr Nicholas Childs
Revelation (Philip Wilby)
Own Choice: English National Championship
 

In a year in which the Queensbury band rather faltered on the contest stage, this reminded everyone that they could still produce a world class performance against any opposition.

It was a fabulous rendition and interpretation - full of drama, pathos, juggernaut technique and a sound that almost took the roof off the excellent Elgar Concert Hall at the University of Birmingham.

Black Dyke gave the much maligned English National Championship a memorable musical send off.


CoryCory
Conductor: Philip Harper
Of Distant Memories – Music in an Olden Style
National Championship of Great Britain

Cory had to pull something special out of the hat at the Albert Hall to deny their resurgent Welsh rivals the opportunity of making it a Tredegar ‘Double’ – and they did that and more with this stunning display.

Philip Harper matched the lyrical and the technical to perfection, and his players responded magnificently, playing out of their collective skins.   It was a tour de force. 

13 years of Kensington hurt had come to a glorious end.


EikangerEikanger Bjorsvik 
Myth Forest (Stig Nordhagen)
Conductor: Prof David King
Set Work: European Championship
  

The only performance not to ‘win’ this year (it was placed second in the set work discipline in Oslo) -but what does that matter when you get to hear playing of such ethereal beauty.

The composer’s austere, melancholic work was deeply engrossing, touching on aspects of recall and memory surrounding the story of the drowning of a horse in frozen lake.

David King and his band produced a performance that sent a shiver down the collective spine - capturing a magical air of dark mystery in the process.


Manger

Manger Musikklag
Conductor: Peter Sebastian Szilvay
Cantigas (Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen)
Own Choice: Norwegian National Championship

A performance of the rarest brilliance on a work that sucked you into its grasp from the word go.

This was Manger at its best – bold, fearless, risky and engrossing, led by an MD who moulded a performance that captured your imagination. The central section was a thing of beauty. 

By it close it was like listening to a musical version of those Russian Dolls being opened in turn to reveal yet more layers of delightful craftsmanship in smaller and smaller detail.


band logoTredegar
Conductor: Ian Porthouse
Arabian Nights – Fantasy on Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade for Brass Band
Stephen Roberts
British Open Championship

A simply stunning winning performance from a band that came to the contest with pressure heaped upon their shoulders.

This was a brilliant character portrait that combined erotic sensuality with spiteful venom, locked together in a free flowing interpretation which was delivered in quite startling  fashion by a musical combination that simply bought into the music lock stock and two smoking barrels.

It brought the composer to tears of joy in the box – and the band shed quite a few in their celebrations afterwards too. 



Longridge Band - Christmas Concert

Saturday 7 December • Longridge Civic Hall, 1 Calder Avenue, Longridge, Preston PR3 3HJ


The Hepworth Band - Christmas Brass & Voices

Saturday 7 December • Thornhill Parish Church, Dewsbury WF120JZ


Enderby Band - Broughton Astley Rock Choir

Friday 13 December • Thomas Estley Community College. 2 Station Road. Broughton Astley. Leicestershire LE9 6PT


Bedford Town Band - Bedford Town Band Brass Academy

Saturday 14 December • Putnoe Heights Church MK418EB


Newstead Brass - Christmas Showcase 2024

Saturday 14 December • St Wilfrid's Church, Church Street, Kirkby in Ashfield NG17 8LA


Besses o'th' Barn Band

December 12 • Due to a change of circumstances. The band now require one front row cornet and two back row cornets to complete our line up for the North West Area Contest in Blackpool..


Wakefield Metropolitan Brass Band

December 10 • Solo Baritone and Percussion required to add to the band building towards the NEMBBA and area contests. Under the Direction of Duncan Beckley, the band is keen to fill the few remaining seats to add to the continually improving ensemble.


Barnsley Brass

December 10 • Barnsley Brass requires an Eb bass player. We are based in Worsbrough Bridge on the A61 just south of Barnsley. Rehearsals are Monday and Thursday evenings at 8pm in our purpose built bandroom.


Jonathan Pippen


Conductor, Adjudicator, Trombone Soloist & Clinician


               

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