Brass Band Buizingen will have the honour of representing the home nation at the European Championships in Ostend in 2017, after they came out on top in a nail-biting finish to the Belgian National Championships in Heist-op-den-Berg on the weekend.

Directed by Luc Vertommen, the defending champion had to perform at their very best to beat former winners Brass Band Willebroek, with the adjudication panel of Torgny Hanson, Jan de Haan and Philip Sparke finding it impossible to mathematically separate the two heavyweights on their set-work and own-choice selections.

Speechless

However, it was Buizingen's blistering rendition of 'Raveling, Unraveling' by Philip Sparke — one that was described by the composer as leaving him 'speechless' in admiration, that took precedence and eventually proved decisive.

Trailing in the duo's wake was third placed Noord-Limburgse, with the remaining top-six places going to Brass Band Heist, Brass Band Leieland and Festival Brass Band.

Aided by a superb own-choice performance of 'Angels & Demons' by Peter Graham it meant that not only did Buizingen lift the rather unimpressive National trophy for the fourth time since 2009, but they also claimed the significantly more substantial prize package of 5,000 Euros and the honour of flying the Belgian flag on home soil at the Euros next year.

Sensational

"The top two bands were sensational,"Philip Sparke later told 4BR. "They produced four performances of such musical and technical quality that it was joy to listen to.

The overall standard was pretty sound, although we felt a number of bands didn't capture the 'Ravel' style of the test-piece and some of the own-choice selections were overly ambitious."

Philip's post-contest thoughts on the winners certainly backed up his and his colleagues immediate written adjudication impressions.

'That was almost impossible' wrote Jan de Hann about Buizingen's rendition of 'Raveling, Unraveling', with Torgny Hanson adding, '...only gratitude, admiration and congratulations'.

The composer was perhaps the most impressed of all. 'OMG — that was brilliant ...the overall picture was SO convincing. I'm speechless. What a band!! What a conductor!!'

Nano-byte

Less than 24 hours later Brass Band Willebroek struck back with a stunning world premiere of Simon Dobson's 'The Turing Test'. Inspired by the work of the British genius regarded as the father of modern computing, it came within a musical nano-byte of seeing Frans Violet's band reclaim the title for the first time since 2014.

It was also a performance that immensely impressed a relieved, but gracious winning MD, Luc Vertommen when he spoke to 4BR.

"Willebroek was superb on both days,"he said. "Simon Dobson's work is brilliant and was also brilliant played, so I was happy to know it wasn't just good enough to beat us!"

Proud

Luc added: "I was so proud of my band. 'Raveling, Unraveling' was something special — very, very special, and we followed it with an incredible performance of Peter Graham's 'Angels & Demons'.

Peter was with us for the contest and he has re-written it from last year to make it even better. It is such a fantastic piece from a fantastic composer."

That was also borne out by the judge's remarks too: '...so expressive... my compliments to the conductor' wrote Han der Haan, whilst Torgny Hanson added: 'A magnificent performance of a descriptive and rich piece'.

Philip Sparke rounded his remarks with; 'This was a joy. How great to hear a band in such command of the music, that ALL the composer's wishes are realised.'

Forensic checking

With the final results being forensically checked before they were announced, the audience could reflect on two days of enjoyable competition at the excellent facilities of the Culuurcentrum Zwaneburg venue.

Although there was to be no first victory since 2011 for Ivan Meylemans and Noord-Limburgse, they impressed in coming third for the fourth consecutive year, especially on their own-choice selection of 'Goldberg 2012'.

Meanwhile, the growing maturity of Brass Band Heist under Bert van Thienen was also noted as they ended ahead of rivals Leieland and Festival thanks in part to a lyrical rendition of 'Fraternity'.

Impressive sections

Although there were only small fields to compare and contrast in the other sections, Philip Sparke said he and his fellow judges were still impressed by the playing on show.

"There is a huge gap between the top and the First Section,"Philip stated, 'but the set-test performances and the own-choice selections were good in each of the other contests. The winners in each were clear though."

Victories

That meant victory for Brassband Panta Rhei in the First Division as their performances of the set-work 'Samson' and 'The Bandsman's Challenge' under MD Tim De Maeseneer gave them a clear cut margin of victory over rivals Brass Band Bacchus and third placed Brassband Gent to take the 1,000 Euro prize for the first time since 2012.

In the Second Division victory went to Brassband de Grensbewoners Smeermaas conducted by Danny Aerden ahead of rival Brassband Euterpe.

They gave commanding performances of the set-work 'The Saga of Tyrfing', with the composer Jacob Vilhelm Larsen in the audience, as well as their own-choice (also played by Euterpe) of 'The Raid' by Oliver Waespi.

In the Third Division, United Brass directed by Frank Vantroyen claimed a clear victory and the 500 Euro first prize over rivals Dender Brass, thanks to well-structured renditions of 'The Graces of Love' and 'Saint Saens Variations'

OMG — that was brilliant... the overall picture was SO convincing. I'm speechless. What a band!! What a conductor!!Philip Sparke describing Buizingen's performance of his his own work in his written adjudication remarks

Full results:

Championship Division:

Adjudicators: Torgny Hanson, Jan der Haan, Philip Sparke
Set-Work + Own-Choice = Average total

1. Brassband Buizingen (Luc Vertommen): 294.00 + 291.00 = 97.50*
2. Brassband Willebroek (Frans Violet): 291.00 + 294.00 = 97.50
3. Noord-Limburgse Brassband (Ivan Meyleman): 273.00 + 288.00 = 93.50
4. Brass Band Heist (Bert van Thienen): 276.00 + 280.00 = 93.00
5. Brass Band Leieland (Sam Werbrouck): 285.00 + 264.00 = 91.50
6. Festival Brass Band (Steven Verhaert): 270.00 + 267.00 = 89.50
7. Brassband Zele (Bart van der Strieckt): 279.00 + 249.00 = 88.00
8. Kortrijk Brass Band (Ward de Ketelaere): 261.00 + 243.00 = 504.00

Best Percussion: Brassband Willebroek

First Division:

Adjudicators: Torgny Hanson, Jan der Haan, Philip Sparke
Set-Work + Own-Choice = Average total

1. Brassband Panta Rhei (Tim De Maeseneer): 261.00 + 270.00 + 88.50
2. Brassband Bacchus (Bart van Neyghem): 264.00 + 264.00 = 88.00
3. Brassband Gent (Lieven Dobbelaere): 258.00 + 255.00 = 85.50
4. Braz' Art (Geert Verschaeve): 252.00 + 258.00: 85.00

Second Division:

Adjudicators: Torgny Hanson, Jan der Haan, Philip Sparke
Set-Work + Own-Choice = Average total

1. Brassband de Grensbewoners Smeermaas (Danny Aerden): 279.00 + 270.00 = 91.50
2. Brassband Euterpe (Roland van Buggenhout): 249.00 + 240.00 = 81.50

Third Division:

Adjudicators: Torgny Hanson, Jan der Haan, Philip Sparke
Set-Work + Own-Choice = Average total

1. United Brass (Frank Vantroyen): 264.00 + 270.00 = 89.00
2. Dender Brass (Joeri van Hove): 255.00 + 252.00 = 84.50