4BR can exclusively reveal that Brassband Oberoesterreich from Austria, who has made such a stunning impact on the European Brass Band Championships in the last few years is seriously considering its future participation in the event following their appearance in Stavanger.

Exclusive access

4BR has been given exclusive access to a copy of the statement written by the band, and signed by both Band Manager Thomas Beiganz and conductor Hannes Buchegger to EBBA President Ulf Rosenberg and the EBBA Music Commission.

Mystified and disappointed

In it they state that they remain ‘mystified and disappointed’ about how little their performance in the own choice section of the contest was appreciated by the judges, despite the enthusiastic response of the audience.

In future, we will carefully observe whether this competition is a truly European one where all participants are judged fairly and have equal chancesBrass Band Oberoesterreich

Little response in the box

They also make the much stronger point that they feel that the contest is missing a true European dimension in that they believe that compositions written by European based composers find ‘little response in the box’.

They point to the reception both Hermann Pallhuber’s ‘Titan’s Progress’ and ‘Bertrand Moren’s ‘Beyond the Horizon’ received in Birmingham as well as his composition ‘Dreams’, this year in Stavanger.

Musicians first and foremost

The letter goes onto state that they believe that the jury for the contest should be comprised of ‘musicians who first and foremost listen to the quality of the performance, of people who are open towards new developments and who are not narrow minded brass band traditionalists.’

Injustice

An injustice they point to is in regard to the question of sound, where they state that although they have the greatest respect for the English brass band tradition characterised by the likes of Grimethorpe and Cory, they don’t not want to imitate it, but retain their specific ‘Austrian quality of sound.’

Intonation and light mistakes

They do accept that the jury at Stavanger pinpointed intonation and ‘light mistakes’ in their performance, but not, as was reported in the press, that the jury felt that they had taken too many liberties with the score and had ‘not the right interpretation of the piece’.

Unfair

They also state that members of the Music Commission, ‘showed a very unfair behaviour regarding our choice piece of ‘Dreams’, which was quite an unpleasant experience to our band’.

Equal chance

They conclude their correspondence by stating: “Brassband Oberoesterreich is seriously taking into consideration of not participating in the European Brassband (sic) Championships of 2009 in Ostende.

In future, we will carefully observe whether this competition is a truly European one where all participants are judged fairly and have equal chances.”

Statement of Brassband Oberoesterreich regarding the European Brass Band Championships in Stavanger 2008

Dear Mr. EBBA-President Ulf Rosenberg,
dear Sirs of the EBBA Music Commission!

Being still mystified and disappointed about how little our performance in Stavanger was appreciated by the jury even though we got enthusiastic response from the audience we draw the following conclusions:

This competition seems to be a truly European one only by name. As far as the attitude of those responsible for organizing the competition is concerned, the European dimension is clearly missing.

The music commission of EBBA and the jury appear to generally disapprove of new pieces, particularly if they are not written by an English composer, and consequently, these pieces despite being very well performed find little or even no response in the box.

Brassband Oberoesterreich experienced this in 2007 with “Titan´s Progress” by Hermann Pallhuber, and again in 2008 with “Dreams” by Bertrand Moren. The same actually happened to the Suisse Band with “Beyond the Horizon” in 2007.

Another injustice regards the question of sound. We have the most respect for the English brassband tradition and the wonderful sound that is characteristic of excellent bands like Cory or Grimethorpe. However, we will never try to imitate their sound because we don´t want to give up our specific Austrian quality of sound.

We believe that in a European competition the jury should be composed of musicians who first and foremost listen to the quality of the performance, of people who are open towards new developments and who are not narrow-minded brassband traditionalists.

However, we do have legitimate reasons for reaching the conclusion that being a brassband traditionalist is the main criterion for being selected as a judge by the music commission and that, consequently, the jury has a clear preference for the traditional English brass band sound and pieces written by English composers.

This means that our performance – no matter how brilliant it may be – will never get a real chance to favour with the judges and this not surprisingly leads to frustration and disappointment. It furthermore nips the development of brass bands in Austria in the bud.

In addition to that, before we performed in Stavanger, members of the music commission showed a very unfair behaviour regarding our own choice piece “Dreams” which was quite an unpleasant experience to our band.

We heared from people of the press that the jury said we had too much liberty to the score and we had not the right interpretation of this piece.

So you can ask the composer Bertrand Moren himself for his own opinion. He heard our performance at the live stream and he sent his congratulations to us.

We can accept the jury report concerning problems in intonation, dynamics or light mistakes in solo-parts, however it seems not to be the real reason for the low points of the own choice piece (less points than the test piece!)

So we don’t accept what they had said to people of the press (4barsrest, brassband world).

Therefore, Brassband Oberoesterreich is seriously taking into consideration of not participating in the European Brassband Championships 2009 in Ostende.

In future, we will carefully observe whether this competition is a truly European one where all participants are judged fairly and have equal chances.

Thomas Beiganz: Band Manager
Hannes Buchegger: Conductor