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Steady progression by bands wins through in Wales

The venue for the Championships, Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall, is just a few steps from the beach, the hall’s facilities are comparatively luxurious and provided at peppercorn rates by the local council, and the lively acoustic in the auditorium itself attracts professional recording crews with brisk regularity. Enhancing this prime venue and location is an experienced organising team and a field of competitors that, traditionally, more than hold their own in terms of delivering quality music. With all that going for it, one might think that the Principality’s premier brass band event would attract buoyant audience levels. Yet, as for many of the Lower Sections in the Regional series, Section 1 competitors set about the business of qualifying for the National Finals with a just 26 listeners - a tad dispiriting for performers and the organisers.

Happily, audiences swelled for Wales’ elite outfits, which performed to capacity crowds as they brought the 2009 Welsh Championships to a resounding close on Sunday afternoon.

CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION

Playing off the advantageous last draw position, Cory, led by its resident conductor, Robert Childs, reclaimed the winner’s rostrum from the 2008 Welsh Champion, Tredegar. Cory's Principal Euphonium, David Childs, received the Best Instrumentalist Award whilst Tredegar's conductor, Ian Porthouse, notched up his second top section qualification in just seven days after leading Hepworth (Cookson Homes) to second place on 8 March in the challenging Yorkshire region. North Walean band, Northop was third off seventh draw slot - a good result for the 1994 Section 1 National Champion, which has joined the top section after two consecutive years in the 1st Section ‘Finals’. All three bands are now Kensington-bound.

Reviewing Wales’ elite bands after the competition adjudicator, David Read, said that the top section produced a number of good performances, but that Cory's was "superb" and one the composer, Gilbert Vinter, "would have been thrilled to hear." David Read, a native of South Wales, who performed his first contest with Windsor Colliery Band in Caerphilly Castle, also pronounced Tredegar’s performance as “excellent” and Northop's as "solid."

Playing off number 2 draw position, Tredegar’s performance led the field until Cory ascended the stage. Precision and shape was what the man in the ‘box’ was looking for and that is exactly what Cory delivered in abundance. The band’s cultured interpretation was controlled meticulously from the first note, conductor and players negotiating the piece’s rhythmic challenges and resisting any temptation to over-blow, or to sacrifice speed for clarity in the last, fast movement.

Asked about his approach to Vinter’s score after the event, conductor, Robert Childs, who listened to various old recordings during his preparation of the piece, said he focused on not over-cooking ‘Salute’ and proffered this useful advice for conductors on the verge of tackling the piece this weekend at three more regions. “The piece needs approaching in a different way from the way in which the modern pieces of today are approached – bands tend to play them extremely loudly and almost at full capacity, but I didn’t thing that ‘Salute’ warranted that.’

He added: “I was also aware of the marking on the score in the last movement – it’s crotchet 84 and says ‘for added excitement, take the piece as fast as possible.’ The combination of the increase in technique amongst players and advances in instrument technology mean that it is possible to go too fast.

“I also thought that all three movements had the potential for really big endings, but was also aware that the piece is a suite in three movements. If you make the first one sound like the end of the piece you’re defeating the object a bit. It’s the same with the second movement – some of the bands drew the last note out so slowly and so loudly, it sounded like the end and you felt like applauding – it felt like the piece had finished. So I saved the end for the final movement.

“It’s also important to remember that the fortissimo marking in the first movement is different from those in the second. The second movement is called Romance and it’s just that – a beautiful love song and you can over-cook it. What’s romantic to some people isn’t to others and some of the vibrato I heard was just vulgar. A lot of people find it ironic that the last movement is called Relaxation when, for the players, it’s so busy and technical, and anything but relaxing. I asked the band to imagine it as holiday music – exciting, light, nimble, happy and carefree music. I thought that was the kind of dynamic that Vinter put on it, so I took it back a bit and made it playful. So often, it has just got aggressive and in your face.”

Last year’s Welsh Champion, Tredegar, could slipped into second place as reward for a strong title defence which was poised and polished, hallmarked with space, shape and technical security, and interspersed with eloquent solo contributions. Similarly, Northop’s carefully rehearsed, assured rendition dispensed with many of the technical difficulties in the first movement, delivered a beautiful Romance and a controlled last movement. Conversely, the much-fancied BTM, punting for a third consecutive qualification, produced an error-strewn performance, the result of an apparent inability to settle from the start.

With a 40-strong training and junior bands, Northop is one of the stronger North Walean outfits and fielded about six homegrown youngsters in the top section band on Sunday.

Afterwards, Dave Flanagan, Contest Secretary for Northop, told us that the result was hard earned but deserved and commented: “The band enjoyed itself on Sunday – everyone was really focused and their hard work was rewarded. Certain elements of the band are very young – our soprano, who is only 17, was up against one of Europe’s best soprano players – Bert Van Thienen with Cory.”

Tom Wyss re-joined Northop three years ago and, said Dave: “Since then, the band has enjoyed a steady rise through the sections.”

Speaking about his approach to the piece, Thomas Wyss said that he did exactly what was on the score, commenting: “It’s quite finicky to get the many different tempi, which are close together in the first movement, exactly right. As far as the second slow movement and the slow section in the last movement were concerned, I set the metronome at 72 to achieve plenty of flow, which is really quite quick but, if you’re not careful, you can find that it drops to the low 50s and the music then becomes laboured. The last movement says play as fast as you can, so we played it as fast as we could play it, although it wasn’t as fast as some bands might take it. It’s all about finding a suitable speed for the band without losing clarity. Overall, I tried to stay close to what the composer intended.”

SECTION 1

Section 1 bands tackled the formidable task of Pentacle by Graham Cole – a fine work in five movements containing some quite brilliant music, when played correctly, but which often falls outside the comfort zone of players. As has proved the case in other regions, the Principality’s small field of six 1^st Section bands struggled to master the intricate groupings and tempi contained within the score. Yet not withstanding the piece’s technical difficulties adjudicator, David Read, felt that the field produced performances equal to the best in any of the current regional championships.

It was a good weekend for North Wales’ bands, as the resurgent Point of Ayr joined Northop on the qualifiers’ rostrum. Point of Ayr, directed by John Hinckley, dispensed with Pentacle’s technical difficulties to claim its second successive qualification, with Tongwynlais Temperance, conducted by Philip Harper, as fellow qualifier. The latter’s flugel, David James, was Best Instrumentalist of the Section.

Point of Ayr’s performance easily assimilated Pentacle’s technical challenges to reveal the detail of the score and the music within.

SECTION 2

Section 2 witnessed the solid progress of winner, City of Cardiff, which qualified for the second successive year, this time one section up and joined at the ‘Finals’ by compatriot, Deiniolen. One of the Principality’s stronger Lower Section contesting outfits, City of Cardiff also qualified in 2004 and 2006 as Radyr and Morganstown (Melingriffith).

Deiniolen, also no stranger to the ‘Finals’ fray having qualified in the 2^nd Section, in 2005, was relegated from Section 1 this year. Wyne Williams, who played cornet on the day, prepared the band on New World Sketches (Daniel Price) whilst notable tubist, Gavin Saynor, who progressed through the organisation’s junior band as a youngster and returned to lead it some years ago, led it to qualification from second place. Deiniolen fielded 12 players under the age of 18 at the weekend and said its Secretary, Meirion Jones: “Between them, the two conductors seem to be a good partnership. We’re very proud to be in Section 2 and going through to the ‘Finals’ – we’re a small village band and it’s probably the right Section for us.”

Adjudicator, Alan Hope, praised percussion sections from the stage, later reflecting: “I’d like to give a round of applause for the percussion sections – the piece has some of the busiest percussion writing that has been around for a while and I don’t think that it has emerged in the other regions how important the percussion section is in this piece. I heard a lot of pre-contest talk about the piece having too much percussion when the attitude should really have been ‘there’s a lot of percussion, let’s make the most of it.’ Welsh bands did. There wasn’t one bad percussion section.

He concluded: “Bands that came in the winning frame were directed by MDs who portrayed everything in the piece whilst also using the percussion to great advantage, to make the music roar.’

Overall, the adjudicator hailed the standard of Section 2 bands in Wales as “good”,

The adjudicator’ also praised City of Cardiff’s bass trombone player, Paul Jenkins, to whom he awarded the Best Instrumentalist Prize. “He was absolutely superb,” said Alan Hope

SECTION 3

Black Dyke’s percussionist and composer of the moment, Paul Lovatt-Cooper), notched up his first ‘regional’ win with Royal Buckley Town, while Ynyshir slipped into first and second places respectively in Section 3. Adjudicator, David Read, later described the winner’s bid as a “quite outstanding performance” and few in the audience would have argued with that. It was tidy, majestic, and distinguished by secure solos and detailed percussion.

Royal Buckley last qualified in 2004, in the same Section, but believes that this is the first time that it has topped a Regional section. “It was a big win for the band – a big confidence booster,” said percussionist, Jonathon Moss. Royal Buckley has been led by resident baton, Dave Davies, for the past four years and competes under the baton of Black Dyke percussionist, Paul Lovatt-Cooper, who seems to have the Midas touch at the moment. Not surprisingly, Royal Buckley’s team was well drilled, adding colour and texture to the rendition, although Jonathon Moss said that the section had received no special treatment from the maestro in the middle. “We’re just a very tight percussion team anyway,” he commented. Performing off the number five draw in another diminutive field of six, Royal Buckley achieved the requisite balance, texture, colour and style in The Once and Future King (Andrew Baker).

Ynyshir, which joins Royal Buckley at Harrogate, was delighted to have qualified for the first time in a decade courtesy of a performance underpinned by consistency and hallmarked by a memorable trombone solo by Norman James, which won the Best Instrumentalist Award.

Rounding the 3^rd Section competition up, adjudicator, David Read, said he was “pleasantly surprised by the standard of competitors and pronounced the test-piece a good choice, which allowed the exploration of the music. He said although the test wasn’t the severest test for Section 3 level bands, nevertheless, it provided technical challenges. Areas of disappointment for him included some of the opening sections, which lacked majesty, the Lyonesse movement, which needs an injection of mystery and the finale, which should be approached with care and caution.

SECTION 4

Pontypool Brass and Ebbw Vale earned their 'Finals' colours in Section 4. Ebbw Vale was a former 4^th Section National Champion Band – way back in 1971, but hasn’t qualified for some time! The band's Solo Cornet, Paul Jones, picked up the Best Instrumentalist Award.

It was a great result for Pontypool, which has endured tough times lately. Patrick O’Leary conducted the winning performance but, before he rolled up little more than a year ago, the band was struggling to attract players. Since then, he has invested a huge amount of time in the rebuilding process. Said Principal Cornet, Stephen Evans: “Since Patrick arrived, the band has gone from strength-to-strength and, since Christmas, we have been relentless in rehearsing the test-piece for the Regional Championship.” Such relentless preparation didn’t go unnoticed by adjudicator, Alan Hope, who was in no doubt that the band had discovered sufficient accuracy to deserve the top slot. He later commented that he was “quite pleased with a number of the bands’ in Section 4, observing: “Some of them were young bands, but they didn’t make the same mistakes that I had heard previously.”

Questioned about mounting and widespread criticism of the severity of this year’s Section 4 regional test, The Talisman for Brass Band (Frank Hughes), Alan Hope, who is also Secretary of the Music Panel, had this to say: “It’s a test of conductors. Some conductors were hell bent on trying to take the piece too quickly for the bands. I couldn’t understand why, when they got to the Nocturne, a number of the bands forced the pace – it wasn’t what was required and it didn’t give bands the opportunity to show how good they are. The first and third movements are rhythmically difficult and bands had a good crack at them but, on some occasions, conductors didn’t quite handle the rhythms involved.”

SUMMARY

Over-viewing the two-day event, Welsh Secretary, Philip Morris, said: “Everybody enjoyed themselves – the weather was fabulous, which probably led to people sitting outside, rather than in the Hall, for Sections 1 – 4 bands. However, the auditorium was full for the top section.”

ROLL OF HONOUR STARTED IN WALES

This year’s Welsh Regional Championships saw the creation of a brand new Roll of Honour to pay tribute to those who have given long and dedicated service to banding in Wales.

The first names to be added to the new roll were Graham Hedditch and James Williams, both of who were presented with framed certificates.

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