Kleppe Musikklag certainly felt it was 'money well spent' to attend the recent Siddis Entertainment Championships in Stavanger.

Their 'Wall Street — For the Love of Money' set written by rising compositional star Fredrick Schjelderup not only saw the band claim their best ever result at the event, but also saw them pick up 10,000 Krone to boost their bank balance.

The work looked at both the corrosive as well as comedic effects of 'The love of money' in different stylistic genres — from manic Wall Street trading and the worrying effects of avarice, to the epicurean greed of their bombastic bass trombone, rounded off with more than a hint of Carl Orff.

We Can, Will and Dare!

Based in Askoy just outside Bergen, the band was formed in 1965 and performs to its motto "We Can, Will and Dare!"- with great success over the years. The band won the Norwegian First Division National title in 2014 and again in 2016, and also took the Siddis First Division title in 2014.

Since their promotion to the Elite level they have continued to make further progress — winning the Oslo Brassfestival title in earlier this year. Now though they have hot new heights under the baton of Tormod Flaten , the highly respected euphonium player and conductor.

So proud

Speaking to 4BR he said: "I was privileged to lead two bands in the Elite Division this year at Siddis — with a super performance from Tertnes Brass and then the incredible one from Kleppe.

I was so proud of them both, and whilst Tertnes only had limited rehearsal time together Kleppe was able to work so hard on its fantastic programme from Fredrick. It was a brilliant premiere — and the band knew exactly what we wanted to portray — something with a bit of humour to too much money can bring!"

Money doesn't bring you happiness — but on this occasion it did!Tormod Flaten

Amazing achievement

He added: "Kleppe is a dedicated, passionate, talented and warm-hearted band of great people They are all so young that I feel old! What they have achieved since coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic has been remarkable — from the Brassfestival result to this amazing achievement.

Money doesn't bring you happiness — but on this occasion it did!"

Image: Copyright Oyvind Andersen