2007 New Zealand Brass Band Championships

Retrospective: A Grade set work/sacred item

Something ever so slightly strange tested the bands here this year as the set work - and for some it even rubbed off on their sacred item selections too...

The chance to travel for 22 hours to listen to the best bands in New Zealand and Australia battle it out here in the A Grade was something 4BR was really looking forward to as we boarded the plane at Heathrow airport.

The Friday afternoon contest held rich promise – especially as we thought we may be able to get an early finish, a few drinks in the bar of the hotel and 8 hours rest before the marathon of Saturday. Oh how we were in for a surprise!

First of all though - a complaint. How come it takes just 10 bands over 6 hours to play a short sacred item and set work then? By insisting that they all use their own percussion to start whilst the organisers sit back with little or no idea of any concept of time – that’s how. If there had been a line up like the British Open we would have been here until Saturday breakfast time.

Poor old Nigel Boddice in the box. He must have felt as if he had been transported to a land time forgot – or forgot time. It was mind numbingly boring waiting for bands to prepare themselves to play and it is surely something that must be addressed for the future. No wonder there was only a crowd of around 250 or so people on the hall at times to actually listen – most were out in the cafeteria getting another Red Bull and coffee to keep themselves awake as the tedium dragged on.

It also meant that any momentum was totally lost from one performance to another - no sense of the contest building into a series of mini climaxes at various intervals. You had more chance of a thrill if you went back home and sat on the washing machine for five minutes.

Still, if you did have the stamina to battle through in a strange, masochistic way it was worthwhile just to hear the bands struggle to get to terms with a very difficult set work, Derek Bourgeois’s, ‘Concerto No.1’.

And struggle they did too, although before that test they had to provide evidence to the Scotsman in the box of their ability to play with reflective melodic lyricism in their choice of sacred item. Nigel, knowing that there has been some dispute about the relevance of the marking process for this discipline took an eminently sensible approach and grouped the bands within 4 points of each other.

The rather liberal interpretation of what is and what is not a sacred item tends to divide opinion here somewhat, and although we are all for allowing progress it does seem a bit odd that some sort of criteria isn’t in place to ensure that what is played isn’t a succession of contrived concert based pieces that have little or no relevance to anything religious or sacred at all. If anyone can put in a decent argument why the hymns for Diana and Africa are sacred then we would love to hear it – perhaps they could also make an argument to the Pope whilst they are at it, as to why they believe the Turin Shroud or the face of Jesus on a pancake is genuine too.

As for ‘Concerto No.1’? Now this really was a piece few genuinely found out was either fake or genuine as the case may be. Written with a richly dark, almost black sense of humour, it also revealed itself to be a deeply musical piece of writing, especially in the middle movement which was Ravel inspired but certainly not pastiche writing. The titles of each of the three movements should have given the MDs a clue about the thought process behind its writing, yet few took the headings as anything other than slightly bonkers plays on words.

’Le Tombeau d’Arthur Benjamin’ was full of sarcasm and wit, dynamic contrasts, balance and technical hurdles that were built to stretch the unwary to the full. ‘Mr Bolt goes for a ride in his motor car and Monsieur Ravel turns in his Grave’ was also humorous, but this time with a more subtle edge to it –PG Woodhouse meets Jacques Tati. Finally the way out and wacky ‘The War March of the Ostriches’ that was a bit like a Tom and Jerry cartoon of animal violence. You knew they were pecking each others eyes out but you still laughed all the same – even if it was from behind the settee.

If you got your head around it then ‘Concerto No. 1’ was a delight. Approach it with the seriousness of Graham Henry on a bad day at the All Blacks office then you stood no chance. With just the odd exception most took the taciturn coaches approach and paid the penalty.

First up was Kew Band from Melbourne under the direction of Mark Ford who produced a slightly obscure account of  ‘Fanfare of Praise’ that seemed to finish untidily before launching into the set work.

Right on Kew: Mark Ford leads the Aussies into 3rd place on the set work

This was a bit hit and miss, with strong and purposeful playing interspersed with fine moments when the wit and humour did appear just at the right moments. The middle movement just seemed to be a touch strained and the last was hell for leather, but it appealed in the box and was eventually placed 3rd. It was well deserved.

Marlborough Districts followed under Kevin Moseley with the first performance of the day of the over long and rather contrived ‘In this Quiet Moment’ - which at times was anything but.

The set work found the band out somewhat with a lack of sly wit and sarcasm in the outer movements and a rather earnest approach missing colour and style in the middle section. There wasn’t enough quality in it to impress us, or Nigel Boddice for that matter and they ended up in 8th place.

Waitakere seems to have got off to a fine start with a warm and well balanced ‘I’ll Walk with God’ which just had enough about it to retain its dignity even if it was just an old Mario Lanza throat wobbler from years gone by.

Pointing in the right direction: Waitakere take 5th place on the Friday

The set work also started in the same vein too, solid and precise and with the sly, dark humour on display right to the end of the first movement. Add to that a fine third section that had power and purpose but also that sense of the wickedly surreal with comic menace from the ostriches and this was two thirds the way to a cracker. It was just the second movement that spluttered and misfired like an old Citroen 2CV that did for them. It was a pity as they had obviously worked hard on this one, and 5th place was perhaps a tad harsh.  

The first performance to really crack the piece came with Brisbane Excelsior under Howard Taylor. First they delivered an impressive (if again, overlong and contrived) ‘In this Quiet Moment’ before really capturing the wit and dark humour of the opening movement. The second section didn’t quite have the same sense of understanding perhaps, but the finale was brisk, comic and ever so menacing – just as it should be.


The Aussie's of Brisbane Excelsior claim number 2 on Concerto No:1 

There was also some fine individual playing on show too, notably from soprano, solo cornet and flugel player Amanda Casagrande, who was rewarded for her contribution by taking the soloist prize on offer. 2nd place for us was perhaps also a tad harsh – we had them as leaders, but it was a fine performance nonetheless.

The sense of excitement that should have been generated with the arrival on stage of the reigning champion Woolston Brass was dissipated somewhat by the 15 minutes or so it took for them to final be ready to play.

Woolston who came away with 6th place have their minds on the job

A powerful and emotive performance of ‘The Light of the World’ soon put things back into gear, although the first movement of the set work was delivered with far too much testosterone injected passion and a lack of subtlety. We knew it was supposed to have a dark humour this, but not as we said of the Bernard Manning meets Chopper Harris variety. It hurt the senses.

The performance carried on in much the same vein so the drier wit of the second movement was lost too, whilst the third was just plain scary even if it was well played. We felt they over did it to some extent and so did Mr Boddice. 6th was what it got and possibly fully deserved even if we thought it may have come higher.

Ascot Park Hotel Brass directed by John McKinlay followed with a rendition of ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ that was well shaped but too error prone, before a performance of the set work that was decent enough but so lacking in character or wit. One thing you can’t get away with on a piece like this is being bland, and that was just what this one was – confident to start, sensible in the middle section and wary in the third, but bland nonetheless. 10th place was the result. 

North Shore Brass directed by Brent Large also delivered a nicely shaped sacred item in ‘Jesus answers Prayer’ before they produced an obviously well rehearsed account of the test piece that had moments when it felt as if they had really got to grips with the sly sense of humour and dark comic menace required. Not so in the box, and the rather non descript middle section may have cost them valuable points. They could still count themselves a touch unlucky to have come 9th though.

Much was expected of Dalewool Auckland Brass under Nigel Weeks and they certainly set their stall out in impressive fashion with their sacred item, ‘The Day Thou Gavest’ with high quality playing and just the right amount of true emotional content.

Nigel Weeks does his best Frankie Howerd impression to get the humour just right to take top spot on the set work with Dalewool

They followed that up with a performance of the set work that found appeal in the box too – starting solidly with a hint of dark almost caustic humour. The middle movement didn’t quite have the same quality even if it was refined playing, whilst the final movement was a bit like ostrich droppings off the proverbial zookeepers shovel. My word it was rapid! Still, it had the hallmark of high quality right through it and even though we had it in 3rd, Mr Boddice had them in the lead.

That just left the final two bands, with St Kilda Brass first up under the impressive direction of Steven Miles. ‘Hymn for Africa’ was well played and would have impressed Nelson Mandela himself even if the sacredness of it was a bit beyond us.

A touch of experience: St Kilda's baritone section uses their grey matter to come 4th

The set work started with the right touch of the dark and deathly about it with wit and rumba laced teatime drink to end before the second movement just robbed the band of any chance to have come higher than it eventually did in 4th place. Too many unforced errors and nasty clips proved costly and even though they got back on track with the third movement full of character and a sense of the comic absurd, that poor middle section was costly. It was very impressive at times though.

Finally, and with jet lag just about ready to kick in, the young band from Darebin City directed by Jason Mears went for the Royal angle with ‘Hymn for Diana’. It was well played all right but heaven help us if this is what we are now thinking is sacred music.

The set work did test the band to the full and at times it was a more than a bit hit and miss. Confidence was not something that was in short supply though and they went about their work with a sense of fun and with a smile on their faces. Colourful and full of character, but perhaps not always for the right reasons, it found some resonance in the box and Nigel Boddice awarded them 7th place – about right come to think of it given how others approached the work on the day.

With the clock ticking inexorably towards 11 pm we were quite glad to be able to make it back to the hotel and chew the cud over with a few cold glasses of beer in our hand. It had been an enjoyable day (if a long one) and talking to the players and conductors, it was interesting to note that they didn’t quite know what to make of the test piece and whether or not they had approached it in the right way. We didn’t either perhaps but we felt that Nigel Boddice would opt for a lighter touch than many gave it and so it came as little surprise that he opted for Dalewool, Brisbane and Kew as his top three with Woolston down in 6th just behind Waitakere and St Kilda.

It was all to play for the next day.

Iwan Fox and Anthony Banwell