4BR will be at the 41st Swiss National Brass Band Championship, held in Montreux at the magnificent Music & Convention Centre on the banks of Lake Geneva this weekend.
Triumph of Time
The winner of the Championship Section, will gain the invitation to represent the nation at the 2016 European Championship in Lille, but will have to come out on top of a strong field of 12 competitors by performing the set-work 'The Triumph of Time' by Peter Graham on the Saturday, followed by their own-choice selection 24 hours later.
As always there will be a great deal of interest in these selections, with at least three new compositions set to be premiered.
Own choice selections
In addition to 'As if a voice were in Them' (Oliver Waespi); 'Goldberg 2012' (Svein Henrik Giske); 'Journey of the Lone Wolf' (Simon Dobson); 'Music of the Spheres' (Philip Sparke); 'REM-scapes' (Thomas Doss); 'Spiriti' (Thomas Doss) and 'Trance' (Thomas Doss), will be 'Ascension' by Philip Wilby, 'Cycles' by Stan Nieuwenhuis and 'The Fallen Bride' by Ludovic Neurohr.
A record 62 bands will compete this year, with 20 contenders in the First Section, 14 in the Second, 10 in the Third and 6 in the Fourth.
4BR will bring our live coverage of the event including comments, analysis, twitter feed, opinions and plenty of great images form Ian Clowes at Goldy Solutions.
Panel of judges
This year the SBBA organisers have decided to choose set-work compositions by Swiss as well as foreign composers, with an international adjudication panel comprising Ray Farr, Erik Janssen, Thomas Ludescher, Richard Marshall, Phillip McCann, Frank Renton, David Thornton, Benny Wiame and Philip Wilby.
The weekend will start on Saturday at 9.15am, with the Fourth Section contest in the Miles Davis Hall, where the bands will perform 'Parnassus' by Jan van der Roost. This is followed, at midday by the Second Section, where the contenders will tackle Oliver Waespi's, 'The Raid'.
Swiss Colours
Meanwhile, the Stravinski Hall will host the First Section from 9.30am, with Bertrand Moren's work, 'Swiss Colours', before the Championship Section starts at 5.00pm, with the set-work discipline.
The evening entertainment continues with the 'Brass Night' party featuring the 'Riviera Jazz Quartet' before the announcement of the results at around 10.30pm.
The Raid
Sunday will see an early start at 9.00am for the Third Section bands playing 'Turris Fortissima' by Steven Ponsford, which will be followed by the climax of the championship with the elite bands delivering their own-choice selections, which include at least three brand new works.
The final result ceremony will be given in the Stravinski Hall at 6.30pm.
Tickets
Tickets for the event can be purchased from: http:/Â/Âwww.sbbv.ch/ or www.saisonculturelle.ch.
As always there will be a great deal of interest in the own-choice selections of the Elite bands, with at least three new compositions set to be premiered4BR
Competitors:
Excellence Division:
Auditorium Stravinski
Saturday 28th November (set-work): The Triumph of Time (Peter Graham)
Sunday 29th November (own-choice)
Brass Band Berner Oberland (Corsin Tudor)
Brass Band Burgermusik Luzern (Michael Bach)
Brass Band Fribourg A (Frederic Theodoloz)
Brass Band Treize Etoiles A (James Gourlay)
Constellation Brass Band (Yvan Lagger)
Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien A (Blaise Heritier)
Ensemble de Cuivres Melodia A (Stephane Duboux)
Ensemble de Cuivres Valaisan (Francois Roh)
Liberty Brass Band Ostschweiz (Andreas Koller)
Musikgesellschaft Risch-Rotkreuz (Rino Chiappori)
Oberaargauer Brass Band (Russell Gray)
Valaisia Brass Band (Arsene Duc)
First Division:
Auditorium Stravinski
Saturday 28th November
Test Piece: Swiss Colors (Bertrand Moren)
AEW Brass Band Fricktal (Tristan Uth)
Brass Band Cazis (Enrico Calzaferri)
Brass Band Eglisau (Andreas Buri)
Brass Band Emmental (Luca Frischknecht)
Brass Band Fribourg B (Maurice Donnet-Monay)
Brass Band Harmonie Neuenkirch (Manuel Imhof)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg A (Rafael Camartin)
Brass Band Kirchenmusik Fluhli (Armin Renggli)
Brass Band Konkordia Busserach (Tristan Uth)
Brass Band MG Reiden (Roland Froscher)
Brass Band Rickenbach (Enrico Calzaferri)
Brass Band Schotz (Urs Bucher)
Brass Band Sursilvana (Roman Caprez)
Brass Band Treize Etoiles B (Cedric Verges)
Ensemble de Cuivres Ambitus (Francois Roh)
Ensemble de Cuivres Euphonia (Michael Bach)
Feldmusik Knutwil (Gian Stecher)
Oberwalliser Brass Band A (David Lochmatter)
Regional Brass Band Bern (Jon Kowszun)
Rosalp Brass Band (David Bonvin)
Second Division:
Saturday 28th November
Miles Davis Hall
Test Piece: The Raid (Oliver Waespi)
BML Talents (Patrick Ottiger)
Brass Band 43 (Jacques Rossier)
Brass Band Abinchova (Gian Walker)
Brass Band Berner Oberland Junior (Jan Muller)
Brass Band Feldmusik Escholzmat (Roger Muller)
Brass Band Harmonie Rickenbach (Lukas Scherrer)
Brass Band Junior Valaisan (Mauric Donnet-Monay)
Brass Band Posaunenchor Flach (Thomas Fischer)
Brass Band Rapperswil-Wierezwil (Matthias Siegenthaler)
Ensemble de Cuivres Melodia B (Vincent Maurer)
Liberty Brass Band Junior (Christoph Luchsinger)
MG Konkordia Aedermannsdorf (Bernhard Wuthrich)
Musikgesellschaft Sorenberg (Sigi Bieri)
Ste.de musique Brass Band L`Avenir de Lignieres (Pascal Eicher)
Third Division:
Sunday 29th November
Auditorium Stravinski
Test Piece: Turris Fortissima (Steven Ponsford)
Brass Band Gurbetal (Urs Stahli)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg B (Stefan Aegerter)
Brass Band Solothurn (Martin Butikofer)
Brass Band Zurich (Werner Kubli)
Ensembe de Cuivres Jurassien B (Florian Lab)
Jugend Brass Band Michelsamt (Lukas Scherrer)
Musik Frohsinn Oberburg (Jan Muller)
Musikgesellschaft Full (Markus Hauenstein)
Musikgesellschaft Jenaz (Andrea Nold)
Oberwalliser Brass Band Junior (David Lochmatter)
Fourth Division:
Saturday 28th November
Miles Davis Hall
Test Piece: Parnassus (Jan Van der Roost)
Brass Band Junior Vaudois (Simon Sulmoni)
Entelbucher Jugend Brass Band (Mario J. Schubiger)
Hinterlander Jugend Brass Band (Luca Frischknecht)
Jugend Brass Band Neuenkirch (Manuel Imhof)
Jugendmusik Jenaz (Simon Buhler)
Thunersee-Brass (Christoph Hertig)
