It certainly wasn’t a fib to state that the most engaging contest of the Cheltenham weekend came in the First Section, as ‘The King’s Lie’ by Stan Nieuwenhuis saw a host of competitors deliver imaginative musical whoppers that would have made former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld look like a truth telling paragon of virtue.

Known unknowns

And on a work inspired by a tale of the ‘known unknowns and unknown unknowns’ of forbidden regal love, it was Tom Davoren and Filton Concert who produced the type of high risk interpretation of the colourful story of star crossed lovers Floire and Blancheflor that resonated most in the receptive ears of Mike Fowles and Philip Harper in the box.

It was also the musical approach that was clearly defined by them both as being the blueprint for success to follow if bands wanted to capture the essence of the exciting compositional tale.

“The story can only be revealed if you clearly unravel the multi layers of the score,” Mike said in his remarks to the audience.

“Get the absolute basics right and then the story can emerge — especially dynamic detail. That’s what happened with the best bands today — leading lines were not swamped and the clarity emerged.”

Top three

Meanwhile, fellow judge Philip Harper pinpointed that extras dimension required of a high class ‘storyteller’. “It’s really a question of how far MDs and their bands are prepared to take risks in delivering a performance on a wonderfully descriptive work such as this.

There were three bands that did that today — and they stood out a long, long way above the rest.

They really took big risks and it paid off, with excellent dynamic contrasts and diminuendos to the lower dynamic levels in particular. It was so enjoyable to hear. The winners had it all in every aspect — it was such an outstanding performance from them.”

And with the announcement of band number 16 as the winner, the contesting ‘truth of the matter’ was revealed — a quite remarkable band had given a quite remarkable performance in becoming the 2014 First Section Champion Band of Great Britain.

Attention from start to finish

In a competition that held the attention of both judges and audience like from the word go, Filton’s late number 16 performance of evocative drama, flowing musicality and precise technical execution finally proved to be good enough to overcome a superb number 1 marker from Oldham (Lees), with City of Bradford rounding off the contest on the stroke of 10.00pm with a boldly delivered account to end third.

With a number of bands producing performances to be proud of on the day, confident renditions from Ashton under Lyne, Thundersley and Hatfield filled the remaining top six places.

Amazing

None though could quite match the West of England Area champion from Bristol.

“It’s been an amazing year for the band,” the winning MD, Tom Davoren told 4BR. “Filton has very specific aims and objectives that make it unique and attractive to players who want do something different.

We are very much a project band in fact, and my thanks to Nigel Seaman who has been an integral part of this success in offering the advice and practical help required when I haven't been able to conduct due to other commitments.

It’s something the founder Jim Scott wanted to encourage and it’s something we are determined to carry on in his memory. We had our sights on the Area title earlier this year and then decided to aim for the Nationals. Now we plan very carefully how we want to approach life in the Championship Section.”

Tom added: “Even though we practice once a week, the commitment from the players to what the band wants to achieve is 100%. I love that different, innovative approach — and I think the players do too. That’s why we can go out on the contest stage and take the risks that can pay off.”

Echoes

And two familiar top flight banding faces in tuba player Jon Daw and soprano cornet Chris Howley, echoed Tom’s thoughts.

“It is a different approach to traditional banding, but for people who now lead busy lives and have other commitments it enables them to still be totally involved and enjoy music making to a very high level,” Chris said.

Jon added: “Tom understands the needs of the players perfectly, and as a result this type of banding brings the best out of us all.”

Belgian best

With the young Belgian composer in the audience, ‘The King’s Lie’ certainly brought the best out of the 17 competing bands.

It’s pop music influences featuring driving tuba led rhythmic passages, bold solo declarations of love and a dislocated slyness to the underpinning regal lie, saw the competitors that took that extra ‘risk’ and ‘go for broke’ in their approach, find favour in the box.

That was certainly the case for the judges with the youthful vigour of Oldham (Lees) directed by John Collins off the number 1 draw, as the North West qualifiers, aided by the excellent ‘Best Instrumentalist’ contribution of flugel player Tony Heywood laid down one heck of an impressive marker that very nearly held their rivals at bay until the finishing line.

No luck

In contrast though, no such luck for the much fancied Goodwick, as the Welsh band’s precise, detailed approach failed to capture the imagination of the judges in any way as much as it did many neutral listens in the hall, to eventually end tenth.

Instead it was the experienced conducting duo of Nigel Taken and Stan Lippeatt who led confident, solidly delivered approaches from Thundersley and Hatfield into the top six, whilst just after the mid-point break, Ashton under Lyne produced a thrilling account under Phil Chalk that just had a few to many little minor errors to push its way into the First Section podium enclosure.

Almost

Behind them came a plethora of rivals that delivered ‘almost but not quite’ accounts on a work that appeared to have captured the imagination and enthusiasm of both MDs and players alike — from the excitable and epic in approach to the more subdued and understated.

For Filton though, their innovative approach to all things banding, meant that despite the late finishing hour at Cheltenham racecourse, they had already had enough cars on standby to quickly make a speedy exit to their local pub in time for last orders and what promised to be one heck of a celebration.

We had our sights on the Area title earlier this year and then decided to aim for the Nationals. Now we plan very carefully how we want to approach life in the Championship SectionMD, Tom Davoren

Results:

Sunday 21st September
Test Piece: 'The King's Lie' (Stan Nieuwenhuis)

Adjudicators: Michael Fowles and Philip Harper

1. Filton Concert (Tom Davoren)
2. Oldham (Lees) (John Collins)
3. City of Bradford (Lee Skipsey)
4. Ashton-under-Lyne (Philip Chalk)
5. Thundersley (Nigel Taken)
6. Hatfield (Stan Lippeatt)
7. Blidworth Welfare (Martin Heartfield)
8. Staffordshire (Leigh Baker)
9. St Austell (Steve Sykes)
10. Goodwick (Matthew Jenkins)
11. York Railway Institute (Chris Hirst)
12. Kirkbymoorside Town (John Woodward)
13. Llwydcoed (Chris Turner)
14. Unison Kinneil (Craig Anderson)
15. Enderby (Simon Jones)
16. Sandhurst Silver (Ian McElligott)
17. Granite City Brass (Bruce Wallace)

Best Instrumentalist: Toni Heywood (Flugel) Oldham (Lees)