The third semi final of the televised 2014 Band Cymru competition took place last Saturday evening when Tylorstown, the 2013 First Section National Champion of Great Britain, battled for a place in the final against the Chamber Winds Ensemble of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Capital City Jazz Orchestra.

Unfortunately, after victories in the first two semi finals for Tongwynlais Temperance and Tredegar, Tylorstown was unable to join them in the final reckoning for the £10,000 first prize, after the judges Oystein Baadsvik, Gareth Small and Barry Forgie opted for the high class entertainment programme provided by the Capital City Jazz Orchestra.

Rich winners

The winners opened their programme with Gordon Goodwin’s ‘Count Bubba’ and followed it up with ‘Chelsea Bridge’, which featured the trumpet talents of former brass band cornet star Gethin Liddington, and Buddy Rich’s ‘Love for Sale’ to close.

Big band expert Barry Forgie thought Capital City Jazz had displayed ‘total commitment to the music’, playing with, ‘sensitivity and accuracy’, whilst Oystein Baadsvik thought they were ‘very convincing’.

Gareth Small added that he felt ‘the worthy winner’ had given, ‘a very mature performance’.

Delighted

Capital’s delighted founder and leader Ceri Rees added after the result had been announced: "This is the first time for us to take part in a competition such as Band Cymru, and it was fantastic to see a jazz band like us go up against wind and brass bands.

What we wanted was to highlight that bands like ours exist in Wales.

We believe that our musicians are among the best, and each one loves playing for the band."

Bucketful of entertainment

The two respected television experts of Geraint Cynan and Branwen Gwynn also felt the group had deserved to come out on top, describing it colourfully as, ‘...a bucketful of entertainment’.

Tylorstown certainly provided a bold challenge with a ‘magic’ themed 15 minute programme set that included the march, ‘The Wizard’, the contrasting ‘The Witch of the Westmorlands’, Live and Let Die’ featuring soprano soloist Ceri Twohey and the closing selection of music from ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’.

This is the first time for us to take part in a competition such as Band Cymru, and it was fantastic to see a jazz band like us go up against wind and brass bandsCeri Rees

Contrasts

Further contrast was certainly shown by the Chamber Winds Ensemble of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, who featured arrangements of music by Glinka, Mozart and Dvorak in their programme.

The eclectic nature of the entertainment event has certainly captured the imagination of those watching at home, with excellent viewing figures reported by Welsh broadcaster S4C for the series, which carries on this Saturday evening when current National Champion Cory takes on James Clark’s Lonely Hearts Rugby Club Band and the Liberty Big Band.

Watch again:

A repeat viewing of the first three semi final programmes can be viewed at:

https://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=519870584