2014 National Finals test pieces announced

The works to be used at the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall and Centaur Centre have been announced.

The test pieces that will be performed by the National finalists at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Centaur Centre in Cheltenham later this year, have been announced by Kapitol Promotions Ltd, organisers of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.

Far and wide

The Music Panel has certainly cast its net far and wide this year with its selections, which include compositions from some of the most innovative brass band composers currently writing for the medium as well as a reprise for some demanding, but enjoyable works.

King Arthur

As rumoured, Dr Peter Meechan’s, ‘The Legend of King Arthur’ will be the set work for the 20 bands that will compete for the Championship title at the Royal Albert Hall on 11th October.

Originally commissioned by Brass Band Bürgermusik Luzern, the 16 and half minute work was given its premiere as their own choice selection at the 2010 Swiss National Championship.

It has subsequently been used by bands at major events around the world — including the Australian, Norwegian and English National Championships — although this will be the first time it will be used as a set work.

It is inspired by some of the most important tales, myths and legends surrounding the man who would be King, who pulled the magical sword Excalibur from its embedded stone; from his tragic love for Guinevere and his relationship to the magician Merlin, to the final battle with his nephew Mordred and subsequent final resting place at Avalon.

First Section:

A regal tale of duplicity and doomed love also forms the inspiration of the First Section set work by rising Belgian composer Stan Nieuwenhuis.

‘The King’s Lie’ is a 13 minute work, in three joined movements. It was originally commissioned by Brassband Hombeek and dedicated to its long standing conduct Michel Leveugle.

It is based on the story of 'Floire et Blancheflor' — young lovers who are deliberately separated by the cruel actions of Floire’s Muslim father, who does not want the heir to his throne to marry a Christian girl.

In a complex tale, the King sends the girl away, tells his son she is dead and shows him her grave. He then decides to kill himself, the King tells him of her real fate, and he sets off to get her back from the Emir of Babylon.

After finding them both in bed, the Emir decides to put them on public trial, where the young girl asks the Emir to forgive them for their innocent love.

It is not known if they then live happily ever after.... as the work ends with story handing in the balance...

Second Section:

The competitors in the Second Section will have to get to expertly balance musicianship and technique with Oliver Waespi’s ‘Traversada’, which was premiered as the set work in the Second Section of the 2013 Swiss National Championships in Montreux.

The man who brought us ‘Audivi Media Nocte’ was inspired by the ‘Traversada’, (in the Swiss Romansh language) — the treacherous mountain passes which link high areas of the Swiss Alps.

It is a musical journey which encompasses hope and opportunity as well as farewell and reunion as the players negotiate the unpredictable crossings, with use of four off-stage soloists (although played at each side of the contest platform in Montreux).

Elements and ciphers from his European masterpiece are heard in parts in a work based on a simple song or traditional ‘S-chura not’ melody.

Third Section:

There is a welcome reprise for Victor Vladmirovitch Ewald’s ‘Symphony for Brass’ in the Third Section in an wonderful transcription by Michael E. Hopkinson.

The work was first used as the 2002 Second Section Area test piece, and has subsequently been utilised at the Swiss National Championships in 2007 and Butlins (Third Section) in 2008.

Initially a small brass ensemble work dating back to around 1890, Ewald wrote a further three ‘Symphonies for Brass’, with his writing influenced by the likes of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Tachaikovsky.

Fourth Section:

There is another welcome reprise in the Fourth Section, where Geoffrey Burgon’s, ‘Narnia Suite’ will be an elegant test of musicianship for the competing bands.

One of the most successful, and recognisable writers of film and television series music (including ‘Brideshead Revisited’ and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy’) this suite is developed from background music to another television play, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis.

The work sees Aslan, the great hero through whom good overcomes evil, portrayed at the start, with his death described in the ‘passacaglia’ and his resurrection, ending the suite.

The work was initially used as the Fourth Section Regional test piece in 2000.