2006 NSW State Championships - B Grade Retrospective

Another section with, in our opinion (and obviously Mr Jarrett’s), a clear winner. Warringah Concert Brass made a clean sweep of all events, but Sutherland Shire Brass were hot on their heels!

NSW B Grade Champions - Warringah Concert Brass

Test:  Le Roi D'ys (Edouard Lalo arr. Frank Wright)

Bands played the following own choice items:

Sutherland Shire Brass (Warwick Tyrrell)
Sacred Item:  I Know Thou Art Mine (Leonard Ballantine)
Own Choice: Paganini Variations (Philip Wilby)

City of Wollongong (Andy Yule)
Sacred Item:  Reflections in Nature (Robert Redhead)
Own Choice:  Cross Patonce (Goff Richards)

Warringah Concert Brass (John Saunders)
Sacred Item:  In Perfect Peace (Kenneth Downie)
Own Choice:  Endeavour (Philip Sparke)

Parramatta City (Jonathan Gatt)
Sacred Item:  Iste Confessor (arr. Michael Forsyth)
Own Choice:  Spectrum (Gilbert Vinter)

Firstly the sacred items - Sutherland opened with good sounds and the music flowed well in their sacred item.  The flugel needed to blend a little more with the horns.  Soprano did well and there were generally some nice musical nuances though much of the playing was not together.  Too many players were breathing in the same place which caused lots of gaps.  The band finished well.

Sutherland Shire Brass

Wollongong's sacred item was a bit below the standard of the top two bands in this grade.  The sound quality on the quieter playing was a little thin and general more bass and middle sounds would have been nice.  The performance could be described as very ‘neat' but lacking in emotion.

Warringah opened nicely.  Horn sound was terrific and bass trom adds so much to the sound of this band.  Sometimes the melody was lost but this was not a big issue.  Dynamics were bravely attempted.  Fine bass sound but we would have liked more.  This was a very enjoyable performance.

Our apologies to Mr Forsyth, but unfortunately, we did not like the arrangement of Iste Confessor, as a sacred item, at all!  But hey – we are not here to be subjective!  Objectively, this performance did have issues with balance, quality of sound, togetherness and intonation.

Now for the test piece – Le Roi D'ys.  We were always going to be listening intently to this section.  The choice of music for this grade was, in our opinion, probably going to be out of reach for most bands.  We hoped we were going to be proven wrong.........we don't think we were!

Even though the adjudicator awarded high points for the top two bands, the performances did not, for us, capture the musicality of the piece.  We are not saying the performances were bad – they just didn't ‘do the business' for us.

Warringah had some good playing from the flugel, bass trombone, Eb Bass, euphonium, and soprano.  On occasions, detail was lost and the quality of sound suffered as the band attempted to play pianissimo.  Sutherland showed great feeling and as an overall performance, came close to capturing some of the wonderful musical moments written by the composer.  However, the band had problems with intonation, general looseness, and didn't quite achieve the required dynamic contrast.

City of Wollongong with MD, Andy Yule

To Wollongong and Parramatta – it was not your fault you were required to play a piece beyond the capability of your band. 

Winner on the day – Le Roi D'ys.

The Own Choice item thankfully gave the bands a chance to choose a piece within their capabilities – and most chose wisely.  Warringah, the winners of the section by a clear margin of 2 points from nearest rival Sutherland, portrayed the moods of Sparke's Endeavour well.  The opening muted tuba section was effective with the instruments resembling didgeridoo's very well (not sure if that's a compliment or not!).  Overall, this was a very exciting performance.

Sutherland chose Paganini Variations.  This was either going to work or it wasn't.  Warwick Tyrrell extracted some great musical nuances from his band throughout this piece, however, some of the more difficult technical writing did seem beyond some of the players at times.  However, adjudicator Kevin Jarrett, didn't seem to have a problem with this on the day.  Worthy of mention was the solo cornet playing in the cadenza.  Comparatively, Sutherland's performance of Paganini would have rated very well against the performance by Holroyd of the same piece one day earlier.

Parramatta City

City of Wollongong chose sensibly with Cross Patonce as their Own Choice.  We felt this band played much better on this occasion even though the scores didn't indicate this.  Parramatta City band obviously enjoyed playing Spectrum and MD Jonathan Gatt tried hard to get the band to express the various colours.  Unfortunately, general untidiness and over-blowing were problems – with the side drum being way too loud at times.

Should Warringah Concert Brass move into A Grade?  They could certainly hold their own in this grade we feel.