2007 Norwegian Brass Band Championships

Various bands
Doyen Recordings: DOYCD216
Total Playing Time: 73.31

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One of the joys of following the worldwide brass band circus is the chance every February to skip across the North Sea to Bergen and listen to the Norwegian National Brass Band Championships held in the splendid surroundings of the Grieg Hall. 

The weather may be a touch on the chilly side but the welcome is warm and the standard of the playing from the bands (63 this year and growing) is such that the time flies by. It may an expensive old place to visit, but it is worth every last Krone, as the contest is so well organised and run whilst the sense of ambition and progressive thinking is palpable. You leave Norway each year invigorated by what you have both witnessed and listened to.

Although this release of the highlights cannot quite manage to capture the friendly atmosphere that buzzed around the venue for the entire weekend, it does give a wonderful reminder of the quality of the playing that took place in all the five sections. 

The Norwegians are an ambitious lot – sometimes a bit too ambitious musically it must be said in the lower sections where despite the best efforts of those involved the choices of some bands raised a grimaced eyebrow or two. On the face of it, the surreally entitled ‘A Breathless Gnu Kiss’ was one such piece – given that it was written for Langhus Brass, the eventual champion in the lowest 4th Division.

However, it was one of the highlights of the entire weekend, and its vibrant and colourful writing (as well as loud) brought a real smile to the face. The title by the way is a play on words rather than a musical description of a smooch from a sloppy tongued reindeer.   In comparison ‘Gothic Dances’ by Alan Fernie seems decidedly less exotic although this descriptive piece is delivered in fine style by Kjolsdalen Musikklag.

One of the other highlights of the Championships is that a number of top line performers with some of the very best bands in the country still take the time to put something back into the movement by conducting their local bands. Espen Westbye is the thrilling soprano player with Stavanger but he is also a thoughtful conductor too and directs a solid account of ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’ from his Gjallarhorn Band to win the 3rd Division title. Kopervik meanwhile also benefited from a talented MD at the helm and John Philip Hannevik also directed a quality performance of ‘Trittico’ that took the runners up prize.

The eclectic choices of music performed at all levels was shown to great effect in the 2nd Division where Jolster Musikklag conducted by Arvid Anthun took the honours with a fine performance of ‘The Lord is King’, whilst Tormod Flaten directed the fast rising Tertnes Amatorkorps into second place with an equally musical rendition of Bramwell Tovey’s challenging ‘Coventry Variations’.

The 1st Division contest is packed with ambitious bands and the standard this year was perhaps the highest ever in the contest’s history. The playing of the eventual winners, Jaren Hornmusikkforening was a joy to behold (as was the conducting technique of Helge Haukas) and their performance of ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ would have held sway against a great number of Championship bands in the UK. So too the runners up Oslo Brass with a powerful and colourful account of ‘Revelation’ which although just a little lacking in finesse still shook the foundations of the great hall.

That just left the fantastic spectacle of the Elite bands – and it was a contest to savour over the two days.

The Friday saw the bands tackle the set work, John McCabe’s ‘Cloudcatcher Fells’ and despite a number of bands failing to reveal the evocative musical beauty of the score to its most persuasive effect Stavanger produced a cultured account under the direction of Allan Withington that held the attention and the imagination of the listener from the first note to the last. So too their performance of their own choice work, ‘Vienna Nights’ which is not featured on the release. This was hot, hot, hot (especially the finale Turkish romp) and brought the house down to give them the title.

Instead we have a fine performance from Krohnengen Brass conducted by the talented Selmer Simonsen of Johan Evenpoel’s massive ‘Ginnungagap…seeming emptiness’ – a title which certainly doesn’t do the exotic work justice. This really is a finely structured account and deservedly gave the band second place overall in the standings.

Once again the Norwegian Championships thrilled the visiting listener and showed that the the banding culture in the country is going from strength to strength. This is a fine reminder (the production values are very high, despite some boomy old acoustics) of a contest that is now a must see and hear occasion for everyone – 4BR included.

Iwan Fox. 

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