The National Brass Band Championships 2006

Five Winning Performances
Grimethorpe Colliery; Kibworth; St. Dennis; Long Eaton; Dodworth Colliery MW
Conductors: Allan Withington, John Berryman, Brian Minear, Sharon Stansfield, Eliot Darwin
Doyen Recordings: DOYCD219
Total Playing Rime: 54.43

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This is a fine idea that has long been overdue. Fans of each of the bands will of course be delighted that their ‘live' performances has made it to release, whilst for the informed listener it provides a musical snapshot of the standard of the best bands in each of the sections for a given year. Both will take satisfaction from the performances on offer.

As with any ‘live' recordings there are sometimes problems with balance and the immediacy of the recording sound. Doyen has done a pretty remarkable job given the quite awful acoustic of the Royal Albert Hall (despite the millions spent on it, it remains a bucket of a stage to play on with an acoustic to match) and Harrogate (which is also a dreadfully lifeless auditorium – not helped as well by the lack of numbers of people in the hall to listen). Informed positioning of the recording microphones and some pretty good post production work give each of the performances a clarity that was not that readily apparent when listening at the contests themselves.

The centre piece (and perhaps the main selling point) for the casual listening will of course be the performance of Grimethorpe on ‘Les Francs Juges' – a cracking performance, not without fragility, that still manages to thrill even if the hackneyed arrangement does grate with its naïve construction.

Allan Withington brings colour and vibrancy to what was a somewhat monochrome score and there was little doubt that it was a superbly crafted interpretation that found favour with the vast majority in the hall, and with the three men in the box.  This was Grimethorpe and their MD on the top of their form with a bass end of Trojan strength and power underpinning a performance of immense vitality.

A month before the Royal Albert Hall saw Grimethorpe take the title for the first time in 14 years the lower section finals took place at the Harrogate International Conference Centre.
Here the bands battled it out for the titles on music that varied in quality.

Kibworth certainly did a very fine job in making the most of what was an unacceptably poor production of Gustav Holt's ‘Ballet Music from the Perfect Fool'. Many a performance on the day was ruined by the plethora of mistakes in the score, but John Berryman had worked his socks off to correct just about everyone of them by the time Kibworth took to the stage.  He was rewarded with a wonderfully balletic performance from his band in return – full of a lovely sense of lightness and delicacy as well as mischief and pathos too.

Alan Fernie's ‘Gothic Dances' was on the other hand was a fine production, and certainly asked a number of searching questions of the competing bands and their conductors with its sense of style.

In the end it was St Dennis under the direction of Brian Minear who produced a little gem of a performance that had just about everything and more in it. From the quality of the playing on show here it is hard to imagine just how young his band were at the time – they sound so mature and controlled. It is a fine performance indeed.

Gordon Langford's lovely ‘Sinfonietta for Brass Band' proved to be perhaps the most popular choice of the entire weekend – the tunes bringing back memories of ‘Best of Brass' on the television in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Age had not wearied it though and the tricky dislocated rhythms of the first movement, the lovely sense of relaxation in the middle movement and the bright and breezy third posed problems for all the bands.

Long Eaton Silver won through on the day with a performance rich in style and detail and with a wonderful array of secure soloists and an MD who allowed the sense of style and the flow of the music to come through from the word go. It was an impressively consistent performance of what was a stern test for the bands at this level.

Finally a real glimpse into what could be a band and MD with a very big future ahead of themselves.

Dodworth Colliery Miners Welfare delivered a cracker of a performance of Philip Sparke's enjoyable  ‘Valerius Variations' that gave them the Fourth Section title in real style. There was so much to commend it on the day and listening to it again you can hear why. It is playing of a very high standard with excellent solo lines and warm and secure ensemble, whilst the interpretation is mature and intelligently shaped from their young conductor.

All the featured bands were worthy winners in 2006 and this recording is a perfect record of their great achievements.

Doyen should be congratulated for their efforts here on what can be ‘hit or miss' recording conditions, although the release would surely have benefited from sleeve notes on each of the test pieces. We would also just question whether the atmosphere of a bygone era really was recreated at the Royal Albert Hall for the finals even though there was substantial and welcome increase in audience numbers there.

Thousands forming queues on Kensington High Street in the early morning to savour the thrill of the Nationals? That may be a bit of poetic license, but who can blame them for it? If the standard of playing continues to be as good as this then no one will complain if there are queues longer than your post office on pension day both in Kensington and Harrogate in the years to come.

Iwan Fox. 

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