There was an enjoyable, if occasionally surreal air to the post contest celebrations in Perth on Saturday night, as the players and supporters of Tongwynlais Temperance drank victory Moet & Chandon champagne from the Scottish Open Challenge Cup.

Tarantino

The Welsh band returned to their hotel to be met by a scene reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film, as a local boxing promotion spilled, with predictably chaotic results, from the confines of the ring and into the reception area foyer.

However, the colourful spectacle of sweaty boxers, dolled up girlfriends and a fair spillage of pugilist’s claret didn’t stop the band from thoroughly enjoying themselves well into the wee small hours of Sunday morning, following their fully deserved, clear cut victory to take the £3,000 first prize.

Magnificent

Directed by Philip Harper, Tongwynlais rounded off their contest year with a win that, according to their Band Manager Jenny Jones, will give them a huge boost of confidence ahead of the 2012 season.

"We haven’t had much luck this year, so to win like this shows our true quality and future potential," she told 4BR.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult test piece, but I think we produced an outstanding performance today – Philip Sparke described it as ‘magnificent’ in his remarks. We can’t wait for the new season to start now."

Victory coming

That sentiment was echoed by the delighted MD, who reserved special mention for 4BR ‘Best Instrumentalist’ winner, euphonium star, Martyn Patterson.

"This victory has been coming," Philip said.

"The band has put in a huge amount of hard work and deserves all the credit. The ensemble playing today was excellent and all the soloists outstanding, with Martyn in particular showing just what top class performer he is. I think this shows Wales has another top quality major championship winning band."

Judges choices

With ‘Music for Battle Creek’ providing a severe test of all 16 competitors, rather predictably the overall standard was variable, leading to the three judges, Philip Sparke, Robert Childs and John Wallace providing plenty of late night bar room debate with an eclectic breakdown of their personal preferences.

However, one first and two second places enabled Tongwynlais to secure a clear margin of victory over leading Scottish contenders Co-operative Funeralcare and Exchange Communications Whiturn to top the podium places.

We knew it was going to be a difficult test piece, but I think we produced an outstanding performance today – Philip Sparke described it as ‘magnificent’ in his remarksJenny Jones, Tongwynlais Band

Wry smile

Dr Childs later told 4BR that there were a few wry smiles in the adjudicator’s room as the personal placings revealed that all three did not fully agree on one performance.

"I think we all knew we all knew we had made different choices," Bob said. "That’s not a bad thing, and we were all fairly clear about where the quality lay in bands that finished in the prizes and the overall quality of the eventual winners."

Phillip Sparke backed his colleague’s opinion. "I do know this is a very difficult test piece, so there were a lot of varied problems today. There were two or three very good performances though."

John Wallace later added. "With such a difficult test piece not many bands really managed to deliver a controlled musical performance, and so many varied in consistency in execution."

John opted for a robust performance from Yorkshire Imps as his personal favourite, although two midfield placings from the other judges saw it end 7th overall.

Clear victory margin

Although Tongwynlais eventually secured the one first place finish from the trio (Robert Childs), the two second places still gave them a clear margin of victory over their Scottish rivals, despite Co-operative Funeralcare’s rather error strewn performance under the direction of Michael Fowles topping the personal preference list of the composer himself.

Errors

Whitburn were also left to rue a high unforced error count in coming third conducted by Ian Porthouse, whilst Marsden Silver and United Co-op Milnrow upheld English honour with a pair of exciting renditions to end fourth and fifth, led by Glyn Williams and Marieka Gray respectively.

The busy Scottish Development Officer Andrew Duncan ended his conducting tenure with Kingdom Brass on a high by leading the Fife band to sixth place off the number 1 draw.

Pyrrhic boosts

Behind the top six, the overall standard did fall away somewhat, although a number of bands will have left for home with pyrrhic boosts to their confidence after finding favour with at least one of the adjudicators.

A full retrospective of the contest will appear on 4BR later in the week along with extensive video interviews and coverage from both days of the Festival.

Additional comments and thoughts on our Twitter site: www.twitter.com/4barsrest

Results:

Scottish Open
Music for Battle Creek — Philip Sparke

Adjudicators: Dr Robert Childs, Professor John Wallace & Philip Sparke
Judges placings are in the order of Wallace, Sparke, Childs

1. Tongwynlais Temperance (Philip Harper) 2/2/1 = 5
2. Co-operative Funeralcare (Michael Fowles) 7/1/3 = 11
3. Exchange Communications Whitburn (Ian Porthouse) 8/3/2 = 13
4. Marsden Silver (Glyn Williams) 3/6/7 = 16
5. United Co-op Milnrow (Marieka Gray) 9/4/8 = 21
6. Kingdom Brass (Andrew Duncan) 14/5/4 = 23**
7. Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel (David Nesbit) 1/10/12 = 23**
8. Dalmellington (Archie Hutchison) 5/12/6 = 23**
9. Pemberton Old Wigan DW (Mark Bentham) 12/8/5 = 25
10. Fishburn (Alan Morrison) 4/11/11 = 26
11. Felling (Stephen Malcolm) 11/7/14 = 32
12. Regent Brass (Alan Duguid) 10/9/16 = 35**
13. Lochgelly (Bryan Allan) 6/16/13 = 35**
14. Blackburn & Darwen (Nick Shephard) 13/14/9 = 36
15. Newtongrange (Nigel Boddice MBE) 15/13/10 = 38
16. Bo'ness & Carriden (Bede Williams) 16/15/15 = 46

** in the event of a tie, Philip Sparke's placing takes preference for final placement

4BR Best Instrumentalist: Martyn Patterson — Euphonium (Tongwynlais Temperance)