Regionals 2006

Black Dyke, Buy As You View, Scottish Co-op, Fairey FP (Music)
Conductors: Dr. Nicholas Childs, Dr. Robert Childs, Alan Ramsey, Major Peter Parkes
Doyen Recordings: CD206
Total Playing Time: 66.21

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It is less than six months away. The celebrations and disappointments of Harrogate are still fresh in the mind and the bunting hasn't even been out up at the Royal Albert Hall yet, but the spectre of the Regional Championships 2006 are already upon us.

The long hours of home practice and band room rehearsals, the commitment for yet another year to fund raising and trying to find players to fill empty seats, the battle of wills and egos from players and conductors alike and the erosion of a normal family life – all for what?

The possible, undeniable sense of absolute crass joyous celebration you get when your band is announced as winners from the contest stage, that's what.

It is not big, and it is not clever, but by heck, unless you ever get the chance in your life to score the winning try at the Millennium Stadium for Wales, do a bungee jump into a ravine in New Zealand or be present at the birth of your own child, it is a feeling that is worth all the misery of playing a piece of music you don't like and don't care for, for four months, week in week out can bring.   At its most elemental level, this is what playing in a brass band is all about – the chance to be a winner.

The treadmill slog towards glory can be made a little easier to bear if the music is something you can actually enjoy playing, and therefore that is why the choices which are made by the Music Panel for the Championships is so important. If they get it wrong (and they have done so on more than a couple of occasions of late) the effects can be far-reaching and possibly even disastrous – get it right and it is like a musical blood transfusion right into the veins of bands up and down the country.

This year, the Panel has just about got it as right as it possibly could with choices that will not only prove popular in the band rooms, but should prove enjoyable at the contests as well.

The Championship bands will have to get to grips with Peter Graham's ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth', which was written for Black Dyke to use as their own choice selection for the European Championships in Groningen in 2005.

There will of course be more than a few raised eyebrows in some of the rival bandrooms of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Wales to indicate a hint of disapproval that so soon after Dyke thrilled the audience on a piece written as a showcase for their specific talents, it will be used at the Regionals - but that would be a fallacy.  The piece stands on its own two feet as a superb brass band contest work for any top class band – and any real top class band will find it a piece that will reward them fully if they overcome its inherent technical and musical difficulties. Given that just about everyone wants the very best bands to make it through to the National Finals each year, this is a piece that more than most should sort the wheat from the chaff.  

The organizers will also have to think of a way in which they can ensure that the use of the recorded ‘whispers' is undertaken. No news as yet, but some clarity of thought will have to be by the conductors to ensure that this aspect of the performance does not degenerate into farce. Some guidance from the Music Panel may be in order.

Dyke produce a thrilling account once more for this recording. It is not the ‘live' performance from Holland, as the acoustic on that one was certainly not good enough to really allow the detail of the score to come through. This one does though – and what detail it is. The individual contributions from each section are immense and the use of percussion is integral to the ability of the music to come to life and portray the subterranean world that the story evokes.  It should prove to be a test of the very best bands in the land – and that is just how it should be.

First Section bands will get an immediate indication of how tough Goff Richard's ‘Voyage of Discovery' is with the opening few bars of the piece, which will take up a great amount of home and band room practice for cornet players over the next few months for sure!

BAYV produce an excellent, but certainly not error free account of the work, and although there won't be too many bands who will be able to overcome the technical hurdles with such facility as they do, Dr. Childs and his band give ample opportunity to showcase this surprisingly short work (it is only just under 11 minutes long) in an accessible way.  As with all Goff Richards works, there is a strong rhythmic foundation that underscores the work, as well as some lovely lyrical episodes that should give ample opportunity for the best bands at this level to shine. It is another good choice.

The Second Section band will also be tested to the full with Howard Snell's excellent ‘Images of the Millennium', originally a work for double band, but which has been rescored for this occasion.  It is the longest work (some 16 minutes in duration) and the three movements will demand a great deal from the players and conductors alike. You sense many will find it too difficult as the opening ‘Scherzo' and the final ‘Odyssey' are technically very challenging, whilst the lovely ‘Nocturne' will expose fragilities almost cruelly.  

As a test though it is a good one all right, and Scottish Co-op under Alan Ramsey showcase it with a great deal of musical respect in a performance that is well laid out and will allow both players and conductors the chance to earmark potential pitfalls with a clear understanding of the challenges that lie in wait. 

There are pitfalls aplenty in the Third Section though, with perhaps the hardest (or should we say, most ambitious) choice from the Music Panel in the form of Gilbert Vinter's ‘Entertainments'. Originally a four movement work for string orchestra, it was rescored in 1968 minus the ‘Taproom Ballad' which featured a slightly inebriated trombone. How wonderful it would be if that could added back to the work today!

It is a very difficult work for the Third Section, and as is shown in a fine performance from 1993 by Major Peter Parkes and the then soon to be Champion Band of Great Britain, it has not got any easier with time. It will prove too difficult for far too many bands at this level, although its saving grace is that it is such an enjoyable work to both play and listen too.

The opening ‘Caprice' is technically very challenging indeed and will require some top class euphonium, cornet and soprano playing, whilst the famous ‘Elegy' will place a huge emphasis on the nerve of the solo cornet players as well as the ability of the bands to produce a warm and balanced ensemble sound. Finally, the dislocated ‘March' is a mini tour de force.

After listening to it a number of time once more, you wonder if it should have been selected at this level.

Finally, Alan Fernie's excellent ‘Anglian Dances' which is a five movement suite that should prove a worthy tests of the Fourth Section bands. Light and breezy it also contains some lovely warm lyrical writing and just enough technical challenges to push bands and the players to a higher level of performance.

We did note some odd little episodes though, such as the last part of ‘God Save the Queen' and for some strange geographical reason, a tune from the North East, which somehow made its way into the score? We could be wrong though. Each of the movements is so well crafted by the composer that it all adds up to a delightful piece of music. 

It should also be a work that will bring the best out of the bands at this level, although the recording made here by Scottish Co-op is spoilt somewhat by poor balance (the soprano and solo cornet line overpowers everything, as it does to a lesser degree in the Second Section offering).  

All in all then – four out of the five choices seem to be good ones, whilst one seems to be misplaced. The recordings themselves are well thought out by the conductors and their bands for the lower section conductors and players to appreciate and pick over (although the Fairey recording was certainly not done with this in mind), and you can imagine the CD will get more than a few hours of play time in cars and portable CD players in the next few months.

It all adds up to a well produced release (John Maines notes are well worth reading), and it will give players and conductors alike the chance to enjoy themselves as they gird the lips for the marathon of practices and rehearsals that lie ahead. Only six more months to go…  

Iwan Fox.

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