2005 Norwegian Brass Band Championships

Various bands
Doyen Recordings: DOY CD197
Total playing time: 2hrs 35.25

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The 27th Norwegian Brass Band Championships held at the magnificent Greig Hall in Bergen in February this year proved to be one of the most interesting European brass band contests of recent times.

There was in fact something for everyone; great music, fine performances and a fair share of controversy and intrigue. All this was mixed up in the usual blend of friendly rivalry that is such a feature of Norwegian banding and it made for a fascinating few days for those of us who were lucky to make it to the contest.

It was of course the Elite Section where all the drama unfolded. Ten quality bands took to the stage over the two days of the contest in a format that copied that of the European Championships.

On the Friday, the bands had to get to grips with the set work – Torstein Aagaard – Nilsen's clever and slightly subversive, ‘Riffs and Interludes' – all full of technical wizardry, atmospheric colours and moods, and even the odd nod to some leviathan Amercian prog rock band of old.

It was however a very fine piece of brass work – enlightening in fact and the performances from all of the ten bands never once fell short of excellent. 

The contest was hailed as a battle between the reigning champions, Stavanger conducted by Professor David King and their old adversaries, Eikanger – Bjorsvik Musikklag, conducted on this occasion by Dr. Nicholas Childs.  It held all the promise of an Ali/Foreman' Rumble in the Jungle' (or ‘fight on the fjord' as the case may be), but in the end it became something of a non event.

The reasons were perhaps a bit more complex than just the draw (which saw Stavanger drawn number 1 for both sections), but truth be told, it didn't help matters that the first performance from Stavanger of the set work was rather dismissed by the judges, Aline Nistad, Morgens Andresen and Bengt Eklund.

Unfortunately we don't get to hear that performance on this extended 2 hour release, but we do get to hear Eikanger's fantastically coloured performance (complete with bells immersed in anti freeze – although you can't really tell, apart from the fact that some windscreens of the cars around the hall seemed to be more than a bit dirty). It is a corker of a show that deserved to take top billing and reveals a piece that deserves to have further airings, even in old conservative Britain.

It meant that the contest as such was over and done with by the time the bands lined up to play their own choice selections on the Saturday (not of course that we knew that).

Stavanger drew the shortest of straws again and produced a cracking ‘Music of the Spheres' (again, not featured here) which really set alight the hall. Eikanger must have thought they had their work cut out to take the title (not so of course, as Stavanger started the day some 16 points behind them), but Eikanger really pulled out all the stops on their ‘Concerto Grosso' to produce a stunning account that fully justified their win. It was engrossing playing, and you can sense here the real force of both passion and purpose in their performance. It was playing of a very high order indeed, and secured them their ninth National title.

Stavanger had to make do with a very disappointing 6th place, and some rather injudicious comments from one of the judges about their own choice selection, whilst a resurgent Manger Mussiklag took the runners up spot with a classy rendition of ‘Harrison's Dream' which Jesper Juul Sorensen their conductor milked better than a Friesian cow on an overtime production bonus. It is an interesting performance to say the least.

Nothing could deny Eikanger though, and you can hear why. On this type of form (as heard recently on ‘Tales and Stories') there are not many better ensembles around in the banding world.

Elsewhere the standard of playing was very high, although it must be said, so were the somewhat unreal expectations of some of the conductors in the lower sections to what they believed their bands could play. Some of the choices of pieces in the lower sections were a tad ambitious to say the least, and many a band ran headlong into a whole litany of problems before their pieces were more than a minute old. Some were car crash gruesome stuff – not nice at all, but still in a strange way, riveting to observe.

Not so with Tertnes who won the First Division title with a fine account of ‘Dances and Arias' which made Gregson's old war horse sound as fresh and as interesting as if it were written yesterday and Tromso who produce a neat and tidy ‘Whitsun Wakes'. Both bands were a class above the rest of the field on the day and fully deserved their top spots.  

Meanwhile, Thor Arne Pedersen and his Haukas Musikklag took the top honours in the Second Section with a very accomplished performance of Gregson's ‘Connotations', which after nearly 30 years now seems rather staid and conservative in approach – and a far cry from the ground breaking effect it had on the movement when it first appeared in 1977. Listening to it here is rather like looking at an old photo of Joan Collins in her pomp in the film ‘The Bitch' – all sex and on legs, and then looking at her now: all wrinkles and bus pass. Time can be very cruel.

Runners up, Tromso put in a rather heavy handed account of ‘Blitz', which rather missed the point of the inspiration behind the work. Death and destruction indeed, but also hope and salvation. This one was a bit over enthusiastic on the Luftwaffe bombing spree at times. 

The Third Division was full of ambition, much of which was realised, especially in the performances of winners Borge Brass Band conducted by Torstein Aagaard Nilsen (who revealed himself to be a real dab hand with a stick) and Tysnes Musikklag under the experienced baton of Yngve Nikolaisen.

Borge produce a wonderfully rounded and balanced sound in their rendition of ‘The Present Age', whilst Tysnes are equally balanced and detailed in ‘The Plantagenets' – something of a gem from Mr Gregson, even after all this time (more a Sophia Loren than Joan Collins for us).

That just left the delights of the Fourth Division, which was held amid a wonderfully friendly atmosphere. Bands were welcomed to the stage with some witty repartee from the compere, whilst the judges (in the open, hooray!) could actually sit back and listen to some brave and at times rather inspired performances.

Manger Old Star Brass were one such band and they produced a cracking account of Langford's ‘Sinfonietta' whilst the winners Fagernes give a very bold and enjoyable romp through ‘Triptych for Brass' by Philip Sparke.

It rounds off another fine release from Doyen of a wonderful event. Our only gripe is that somehow the CD just misses the real drama of what went on this year; the battle for the Elite Section title and the intrigue and controversy that surrounded Stavanger's 6th place compared to Eikanger's victory.

We understand the need to put as many bands on the release to increase potential sales, but it would have been a real bonus to have been able to listen and compare the performances of these two fine bands once more and try and understand why the judges felt they were so far apart come results time.

Still, you can't have everything – as Stavanger found out didn't they. 

Iwan Fox.

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