Kings of Europe

Yorkshire Building Society Band
Conductor: Professor David King
Doyen Recordings: CD174
Running Time: 3.24.34

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We know it sounds like a worn out cliché, but records are made to be broken. However, when it comes to the record of winning the European Brass Band Championships seven times in eight years, it may be a record that will last as long as Bob Beaman's long jump effort at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. It will be a very long time in coming for another band to surpass this one.

Perversely though, it is also a record that might very well be broken by the current holders in Glasgow this year (and by the time you have read this review the band may well be celebrating the fact). However, whatever the outcome at the Royal Concert Hall one thing is for certain – there hasn't  been a contesting band quite like Yorkshire Building Society since the heady days of Black Dyke in the 1970's. This is a CD that may very well be out of date, two days after it is officially released.

The bands record since David King took over in 1994 is phenomenal and bears repeating: Winners of the European Championships on seven occasions (1996 and 1997, 1999 to 2003); Winners of the British Open on four occasions (1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003); Winners of the All England Masters on 2 occasions (1999, 2000); Winners of the Grand Shield in 1995 and Winners of the Yorkshire Regional Championships on 3 occasions (1994, 2000 and 2004). That is some record by anyone's standards.

There have of course been the disappointments – the National title still eludes them, but just as John McEnroe never won the French Open Tennis Championship, it still doesn't mean he isn't regarded as one of the greatest tennis players ever to have played the game. Their time at the Royal Albert Hall will surely come and YBS have been, and remain, a truly great brass band. Then there is the thorny question of the European title that eluded them in 1998 in Kerkrade in Holland – but more of that later.  

This massive release – all 3 and a half hours of it, is first and foremost a celebration of the fact that YBS have won the European contest seven out of the eight times they have entered the competition. It is not an anthology of every piece that they have performed in doing so though. Therefore we have a few exclusions from the overall contest list and the inclusion of a non-contesting work. It is also a release that musically as well as historically charts the bands progress and maturity as a contest-winning outfit.

It all started back in Norway in 1996, and it is worth reminding yourselves that YBS were invited to compete at the European contest due to the fact they had come runners up at the National Finals in 1995 behind Black Dyke who were the reigning European Champions. A couple of points less at the Albert Hall, or Black Dyke not winning, and the great YBS hegemony may never have happened.  YBS may not have had much luck at the Nationals over the years, but in 1995, the contest gave them one heck of a helping hand to make history.

The "live" contest performances from each of the subsequent years are ones to savour.  They are true contest performances as well – none are perfect, although many come perilously close, but all of them have an intensity of brilliance that continually makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. In fact, the hairs on the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end in places! 

The sound of the band has undergone a subtle change over the years as well. You may think it is the difference in the acoustics in the varied concert halls in which the European Championships have taken place, but just as the players and MD have matured and grown, so has the sound of the band. The early performances from Bergen, London and Kerkrade are full of youthful exuberance (YBS were and are still a young band in age terms) and there is a shrill brightness to their tone at times. However by Birmingham, Montreux and Brussels that has been subtlety replaced by a broader deeper bass led foundation with an immense middle of the band sound. The classic brass band pyramid of sound has been constructed in much the same way the Egyptians did at Thebes – it is a minor eighth wonder of the brass band world.   

That first win in Norway saw the band win the Set Work Section to set them up for their victory, and that has been the possible secret to their success at the contest over the years. On five occasions (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003) they have grasped the European Trophy by at least one hand after winning on the Test Piece, whilst only on three occasions (1999, 2001 and 2002) have they actually won the Own Choice Section. So much for the theory that it is just the Own Choices showcases that win the contest then. What the record books do show though is that in just the one year, 1997, have they failed to win at least one section of the contest, and that was the year of their least impressive victory. It is the combination of the two that is the secret, and given that only once since 2000 have the band not come either 1st or 2nd in each of the two sections, you can see why they have been such a success. YBS have cracked the winning code at the contest.    

After that first win came London and the year when the bands "Own Choice" selections were confined to repertoire from the pre Second World War period. This was the year in which they held the title by coming 2nd and 3rd in both sections, and although we do not get to hear the Set Work, "Salamander", we do get to hear a rather error strewn "Pageantry" – sometimes a bit of luck is needed to win a "Major" and this was the year in which YBS had their little bit. Grimethorpe won the Set Work Section and Tredegar the Own Choice, but neither could do enough to win the overall title.  

Luck though was certainly not with the band in Kerkrade the following year. Everything seemed set up for a hat trick of wins, but for some reason they were placed 8th for their performance of "Blitz".  This recording makes you wonder what on earth the trio of judges – including Peter Parkes wanted, for it is a quite breathtaking piece of playing. The conspiracy theorists have had a field day ever since and just like the JFK story, this one will run and run – YBS were certainly "Blitzed".  It will get you wondering for sure.

After that comes the performances in Munich (although we don't hear the Seet Work of Kevin Norbury's "Oddessy") and Birmingham (which includes Brenton Broadstock's "Winds of Change" – a fine work which set the trend for the litany of alliterative themed works that followed). The 2001 win in Montreux is celebrated by a storming performance of "Montage", although it is a pity we don't get hear the band's performance of the Carl Ruetti "Montreux Wind Dances" – a great piece.

Finally the record equalling 2002 win is celebrated by a cracking run through the underrated "Chain" by Piet Swerts, where perhaps David King took the greatest interpretative chance with a performance that winds and winds up like an ever tightening screw towards a fantastic ending. It's a great pity for us though that their "Concerto Grosso" from the contest isn't included (the band won both sections of the 2002 contest), as it remains for us one of the very best performances ever in the history of the Europeans.

That said, the 2003 effort that created record breaking history and which features some truly epic playing on Eb tuba from Gavin Syanor isn't too far behind – and although once more there are a fair share of blips and blobs around the stand, it is a show that leaves you gobsmacked. In addition there is the surreal Messian inspired "Aubade" by Torstein Aagaard Nilsen which more than anything shows that YBS are masters of any repertoire, old or new.

"Kings of Europe" is a fine record of a brilliant achievement (even the Queen it seems is a bit of a fan) and a true celebration of a unique brass band. Anthologies are great things, but just having a historical musical playlist of contest performances wouldn't have done either the band or Professor David King, justice. It is a release that is enhanced by some superb sleeve notes from both Rodney Newton and Nicola Bland and production values from Doyen and SP&S that is as good as anything they have done – the live performances are recorded without any loss of their immediacy and clarity.

For a band that has set so many records over the years, you don't think YBS or David King would mind if this CD becomes out of date very quickly indeed. You wouldn't bet against them would you? 

Iwan Fox

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