Even though Welsh dominance continues to reign at the major contesting events of UK banding, there was a palpable sense of unpredictability about the final result at the Brass in Concert Championship in Gateshead on Sunday night.
Professor
With the four-part scoring system cleverly revealed in stages on the multi-media screen high above The Sage auditorium, it would have taken a Lucasian Professor of Mathematics to have quickly worked out the destination of the 2013 title.
Little wonder the faces of a totally transfixed audience displayed expressions of wide eyed anticipation mixed with a fair degree of incomprehension before Frank Renton finally announced Cory’s triumph.
That was because the tension had been expertly ratcheted up, with first Tredegar, then Foden’s seemingly heading for victory, only for the National and European champion to repel a final surge from their Welsh rivals in a neck and neck photo finish to claim the £4000 first prize.
Relief
With Foden’s eventually ending third ahead of Grimethorpe, Brighouse & Rastrick and Leyland, no wonder Cory Band Manager Austin Davies still wore a look of relief on his face as he collected the haul of Brass in Concert silverware to take back home to South Wales.
However, with the Celtic rivals offering each other congratulations on a third consecutive front row lock out at major UK contests, Austin felt the result also rounded off a truly memorable year for Welsh banding.
"It’s been a great 2013 for Cory and for Wales — and I think this has rounded it off in brilliant style.
Tredegar was superb again, so I think it shows that both bands fully deserve their place at the top of the world rankings. We are absolutely delighted by the way we performed to retain the title."
Little idea
He did reveal though that like the rest of the reps sat on the stage, he had little idea if his band had won until the last moment!
"I was trying to work it all out, and could only come up with it being between us and Tredegar," he laughed. "I think everyone was the same — it certainly meant nobody was quite certain who had won until Frank Renton finally announced it!"
Clear concept
Even Cory MD Philip Harper was left a touch bewildered by it all: "There were some huge differences in the opinions of the judge’s this year, but I felt we had a very strong programme that was easily understood in concept and delivery.
I wanted to portray the band taking steps towards a summit of achievement — something which I think we’ve done with our victories at the Europeans, National and now here. It’s been an amazing year."
Not finished yet
And those steps haven’t finished yet as he revealed. "There’s plenty more work and progress to be made — starting with a great trip to Belfast, followed by some Christmas concerts and two major recordings in the next month or so.
We are also looking forward to doing a joint concert with Tredegar next year too to give Welsh banding another boost, although we are having a rest from band on Monday night."
Genie’s and Oceans
The Cory MD wasn't alone in looking back at the results with some puzzlement, as the first set of marks from Entertainment & Presentation judge Jo Wheeler saw Tredegar’s expertly polished ‘Dreams of Imagination’ set under Ian Porthouse, complete with pantomime genie and precision choreography, lead the way from Foden’s, Leyland and Cory.
However, a few moments later Mike Kilroy’s opinion on Programme Content saw him reward an exotic ‘Oceans and Seas’ inspired programme from Martin Winter and Brighouse & Rastrick, followed by other notably themed sets from Foden’s, Cory and Tredegar.
As collective heads were starting to be scratched in mathematical concentration, the halfway point standings revealed Foden’s, who opted for an inventive ‘Bach & Beyond’ programme, holding a narrow two point lead over Tredegar, with Cory four points further back in third.
Hadron Collider of destiny
The Hadron Collider of Brass in Concert destiny then went into overdrive, as first Stephen Bulla’s Quality of Performance marks were quickly displayed, followed by Paul Cosh’s — all to the sound of various degrees of audible sharp intakes of collective audience breath — especially after some of the American’s choices came to light.
In the end his first place preference for Cory ahead of Grimethorpe and Fairey meant that despite Tredegar topping Paul Cosh’s list with Brighouse second and Cory third, the defending champion held onto their title by the narrowest of margins.
Scaling the heights
Their theme for 2013 was ‘Scaling the Heights’ — starting with vocalist Dave Mitchell belting out ‘Climb Every Mountain’ from the ‘Sound of Music’.
With the MD sporting a flaming scarlet shirt as he led from the front with his usual high tempo entertainment direction, Cory delivered a set of eclectic musical genres to end with his own red blooded ‘Best Arrangement’ of the virtuosic finale from Rachmaninov’s ‘Third Piano Concerto’.
However, even as they now end 2013 looking down on all their rivals from the summit of the world rankings for seventh consecutive season, unlike last year, they will have known this was no easy hike to victory.
Crucial Fairey
On closer analysis it was to be that third place finish from Fairey that proved crucial in deciding the destiny of title between the Welsh heavyweights.
Despite coming last in the lists of the three other judges, Stephen Bulla’s preference for a very traditional programme set from the Stockport Band under Garry Cutt, that included items from Eric Ball, Derek Ashmore and Denis Wright, meant that his placing of Tredegar in fifth saw them destined ultimately to fall short of their rivals.
One place higher and they would have won their first Brass in Concert Entertainment title.
It was that close — and that complicated to work out.
Sanguine
A rather philosophical Tredegar MD Ian Porthouse was admirably sanguine about the outcome though when he spoke to 4BR: "Our congratulations go to Cory, but this is another fine result for the band.
In a contest like this you know you can’t please all the people, or all the judge’s all the time — so no complaints. It does show though that the new artistic concept behind the contest is now much more demanding to deliver on than ever before."
That was certainly borne out with the prizes — with a clear indication that no single band had totally dominated the contest through the plethora of awards
Opinions
It meant that The Sage concourse bars also hummed to the sound of opinions shared on whether or not the 11 top flight bands, or the music judges, had all fully grasped a contest ethos that now asks the competitors to display their excellence ‘free of artistic restriction’ and by ‘reflecting the most current and progressive form of the genre’.
No such problem for Kirsty Abbotts, who was a deserved ‘Best Soloist’ and ‘Best Principal Cornet’ winner for her wonderful overall contribution to Carlton Main’s programme and which featured a sublime rendition of the Barbara Streisand hit ‘Papa Can You Hear Me?’
Awards
Other individual awards were taken by Cory trombone star Chris Thomas, the Grimethorpe sop and euph duo of Kevin Crockford and Michael Dodd, Whitburn’s flugel soloist Chris Bradley and Foden’s horn player Lesley Poole.
Tredegar’s percussion section added to the band’s ‘Best Entertainment & Presentation’ silverware, whilst the Brighouse bass section did the same for their ‘Best Programme Content’ award.
Never one to be left out, Richard Evans, (who took to the stage dressed as John Lennon’s Sergeant Pepper in Leyland’s ‘Beatles inspired set) made sure he kept his hands on the ‘Best March’ prize, whilst at the other end of the age scale, the band’s talented 16 year old flugel player Romana Halstead took the ‘Youngest Player’ award.
Despite the obvious relief in retaining the Brass in Concert title after such a close battle, Cory still headed home with a predictable collection of prizes for their outstanding efforts, with Philip Harper’s ‘Best Arrangement’ prize tucked neatly into boot of Austin Davies’s car alongside the trophies for the ‘Winning Conductor’, ‘Quality of Performance’ and a few welcome cheques amounting to £5,500.
I wanted to portray the band taking steps towards a summit of achievement — something which I think we’ve done with our victories at the Europeans, National and now here. It’s been an amazing yearPhilip Harper
Results:
Adjudicators:
Quality of Performance: Paul Cosh & Stephen Bulla
Programme Content: Mike Kilroy
Entertainment & Presentation: Jo Wheeler
Cosh/Bulla/Kilroy/Wheeler
Placing in bracket after each mark
1. Cory (Philip Harper): 54(3)/60(1)/36(3)/34(4) = 184
2. Tredegar (Ian Porthouse): 60(1)/48(5)/34(4)/40(1) = 182
3. Foden's (Allan Withington): 51(4)/39(8)/38(2)/38(2) = 166
4. Grimethorpe Colliery (Dr Robert Childs): 48(5)/57(2)/32(5)/28(7) = 165
5. Brighouse & Rastrick (Martin Winter): 57(2)/33(10)/40(1)/24(9) = 154
6. Leyland (Richard Evans): 42(7)/42(7)/22(10)/36(3) = 142
7. Virtuosi GUS (Adam Cooke): 45(6)/36(9)/28(7)/32(5) = 141
8. Carlton Main Frickley Colliery (Leigh Baker): 33(10)/51(4)/24(9)/26(8) = 134
9. Whitburn (Anne Crookston): 36(9)/45(6)/30(6)/22(10) = 133
10. Flowers (Paul Holland): 39(8)/30(11)/26(8)/30(6) = 125
11. Fairey (Garry Cutt): 30(11)/54(3)/20(11)/20(11) = 124
Don Lusher Trombone Award: Chris Thomas (Cory)
Harry Mortimer Best Principal Cornet Award: Kirsty Abbotts (Carlton Main Frickley Colliery)
The Fesa Trophy for Best Flugel Award: Chris Bradley (Whitburn)
The Gateshead MBC Trophy for Best Soprano Award: Kevin Crockford (Grimethorpe Colliery)
The Louis and Colin Johnson Trophy for Best Percussion Section: Tredegar
Best Euphonium: Michael Dodd (Grimethorpe Colliery)
Best Baritone/Horn: Lesley Poole (Foden’s)
John Fletcher Best Basses Award: Brighouse & Rastrick
Best Entertainment and Presentation: Tredegar
Best Programme Content: Brighouse & Rastrick
Quality of Performance: Cory
Own Choice March: She Loves You (Leyland)
Best Soloist: Kirsty Abbotts (Carlton Main) Papa Can You Hear Me?
New Composition/Arrangement Award: Philip Harper (Finale — Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No3)
Winning MD: Philip Harper
Youngest Player: Romana Halstead, Leyland (aged 16)
