Christchurch Town Hall
Saturday 12 July 5.00pm
Adjudicator: Simone Rebello

After an evening of rather indifferent performances of the test, it's time for the own choices. There are some real goodies — old and new — on offer so we're looking forward to a wonderful evening. The first band will kick things off in about 20 minutes.

1. St Kilda Brass
MD: Steve Miles
Pageantry, Herbert Howell

First Movement — Starts well except for some minor tuning glitches in the cornets. Lovely sounds all round but sometimes a little clarity is lost. Low end tends to dominate but we think that could be the accoustic. Very solid playing.

Second Movement — Nervous baritone start but it quickly recovers. Lovely horn! This has wonderful sound and shape. Gorgeous cornet solo. MD builds the sound beautifully — real emotional stuff here. Again, world-class cornet playing from the principal. Ever so slightly OTT at the climax but it doesn't really spoil the effect. Sop dominates a little much at one point. We really loved this!

Third Movement — Very clean start full of musicianship and style. Shape and balance are ever so slightly disturbed at loudest dynamic. On the whole this is the sort of classy playing we didn't hear much of last night. We think Howells would approve! Good build but slightly strident in the cornets. Full sounds at the finish. Slightly over balanced sop on the last chord but still very good stuff indeed!

2. Brisbane Brass
MD: Greg Aitken
Dances and Alleluias, Sparke

A forgetable start — out of tune chord and a dropped mute. Nice musical shape but the cornets are quite strident and the euphs have quite mismatched sounds. Much of the detail is lost but some of the trademark Sparke fireworks are captured nicely. Solid euph cadenza but the trombone is very flat. Many of the solos are well handled and there is a good tuba sound. Loud playing suffers from dodgy intonation. Tutti muted section has excitement and drive but not a huge degree of accuracy. MD has the right idea on how to shape this stuff but not quite the horsepower to pull it off. At times it gets downright messy. There's a lot of 'close but no cigar' playing going on here. Horn / baritone choir is nice but euph / tuba entry is out of tune. It's all there or thereabouts but just lacks the depth of sound, balance, etc. needed to make this work. Climax to 'the big tune' is promising but runs out of puff. Better than last night but still outclassed in this field.

3. Ascot Park Hotel Brass
MD: David Gallaher
Dances and Arias, Gregson

Opening isn't totally clear but's it certainly full of excitement and drive. Double tonguing is sometimes lost in the noise but the overall effect is good. Maybe a touch quick for us? Great bass and trombone sounds. First aria is taking a while to settle and isn't without little blemishes. The next dance takes off with real style and vigour — excellent stuff for the most part. This band has a good sound and a touch of excitement. Good detail work throughout and some nicely shaped climaxes. Good euph cadenza and nice support from the muted cornets. Solid flugels but climax is a little thin and unsatisfying. What follows is very compelling indeed — clarity, sound, shape! It's building momentum now. Tasty bass trom playing. Only occasionally untidy but always exciting. It's making us want to dance! It took a while to really get going but the finish was super.

4. North Shore Brass
MD: Brent Large
Year of the Dragon, Sparke

First Movement — Good start but, once again, the bass drum is in clear and present danger! Plenty of brightness and excitement. Percussion is burying the band at times but when we can hear them there's some very stylish playing. Nice shaping and variety. We've never used the term gratuitous to describe bass drum and timpani playing but maybe it applies here? Nice finish.

Second Movement — Little tuning issues at the beginning. Lovely trombone playing — hope the lady in the box doesn't object to a few liberties here and there — we don't! This lad has come a very, very long way over the years. Just as stylish when his wife takes over on flugel. The chorale isn't in tune and is maybe a bit safe for our liking. Good build with beautiful euph sounds. Now there's a bit of Welsh emotion! That's more like it. After the recap we get back to 'safer' playing again — a shame. Trombone is the star of this show.

Third Movement — Timpani may be unusable after this opening and distracts from (what we think is) some very clean technical playing. Three euphs make the semi passages a little muddy — two would be plenty. Still, this is rousing stuff. Nice trombone duet introduces the new theme. Good contrasts but the horns are slightly strident for our taste. Tasty sop! Why are the percussionists so angry?? It's all getting a bit lost towards the end. Shame, because it was a good show.

5. Woolston Brass
MD: Graham Hickman
Music of the Spheres, Sparke

If you have tubaphobia look away now — there's six of them and they're big boys!

Confident horn opening and a superb big bang. This is more extroverted playing than we're accustomed to with this band and we like it! Detail, sound, contrast, balance and low brass sounds to die for. The playing is on a different level than anything we've heard over the past two days. They're in the zone. In the Lonely Planet section all soloists sound confident and relaxed — this is truly high class stuff! Slightly messy at the beginning of Asteroids but it gets back on track quickly. Wonderful semi-quaver clarity and great trombone sounds.

We might like a litle more warmth in the horn sound but that's a very small quibble — they play well. Super transition to The Unknown — this just keeps getting better and better. Intonation issues with the tubular bells and low brass, also between the cornets and bass trom — well we had to pick on something, didn't we? Hey....the horns just warmed up their sound — we now have the whole package! No tiredness happening here — the loud stuff is well balanced and the ending is full of adrenilin. Wow! Tough to beat we think.

6. The 'Trusts' Waitakere Brass
MD: Steven Booth
Music for Battle Creek, Sparke

In summary, this was a 'close but no cigar' effort. The mid and low sections are substantially better than the cornet section and the best thing to be said about the performance is that it will serve as a good practice run for the upcoming Aussie Open. 'Nuff said we think!

7. Marlborough District Brass
MD: Kevin Moseley
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Graham

In a nutshell, this band has some exceptional players but wasn't a particularly convincing ensemble tonight. There was some very exciting playing but also there were ongoing issues with pitch and balance and the music occasionally lacked flow. Not this time we fear.

8. Brisbane Excelsior
MD: Howard Taylor
Harmony Music, Sparke

Good opening with scarily good bass trombone sounds. We wish the band sound was warmer and richer but, still, it's very effective and as they settle into their work the warmth eventually comes. Slightly messy into the euph solo. Euph is almost great — just a little slip on the way down. This is another case where the cornet sound isn't matching the quality of the rest of the ensemble — slightly thin and coarse to our ears.

Every time the band builds up a head of steam something creeps in to disrupt. Slow section offers real quality playing — the cornet solo is superb! Some lovely Ravelian sounds followed by world-class cornet and horn cadenzas. Bravo!!! The ensuing build up is — to our taste — a little contrived and happens too quickly. But when it does get there it's lovely. Excitement builds and there's quality work happening but maybe the bass / sop go a little OTT? Don't get us wrong....this is really good playing, but perhaps not what we've come to expect from this very, very good band. It probably isn't enough to overtake the locals. Big finish.

9. Moreland city Band
MD: Wally Pope
Elgar Variations, Ellerby

A very different sort of sound from most of the other bands in this field. Less warmth and depth and some of the sections struggle with the technical demands of the music. At times it gets very messy. Good sop and euph playing and there are flashs of excitement. On the whole, however, this performance isn't really A Grade quality. We can't, however, fault the enthusiasm of the performance! There's plenty of commitment on show — just not much finesse.

10. Canterbury Brass
MD: Shane Foster
Elgar Variations, Ellerby

A very different sort of sound from most of the other bands in this field. Less warmth and depth and some of the sections struggle with the technical demands of the music.

At times it gets very messy. Good sop and euph playing and there are flashs of excitement. On the whole, however, this performance isn't really A Grade quality. We can't, however, fault the enthusiasm of the performance! There's plenty of commitment on show — just not much finesse.

This a more bombastic Elgar than the Australian version. Commitment aplenty — just not the cultured polish of the best bands. Much of the detail is getting lost in the noise but every now and then there's a flash of beauty. It needs more consistent shape and definition.

Towards the end good things start to happen. We're hearing some gorgeous flougel playing.

Maybe we're getting a glimpse of what this band is capable of developing into? Finally we're getting some very good full band sounds — where was this earlier on? Nice finish!

Overall

Well, tonight was so much more enjoyable for us than last night. There were some very good performances on offer and only one repeat.

The 4BRDU Own Choice prediction is:

1. Woolston Brass
2. St. Kilda Brass
3. Brisbane Excelsior

Overall all, 4BRDU thinks it will be:

1. Woolston Brass
2. Brisbane Excelsior
3. Ascot Park Hotel Brass
4. St. Kilda Brass