The own-choice selections that will be performed by the competing bands at the forthcoming European Championships in Montreux have been announced.

As always there is sure to be plenty of speculation to which band will be playing what piece in both the Challenge and Championship Sections on Saturday 27th April.

Little wonder then that the day has long been sold-out.

One world premiere

Interestingly there is only one premiere work — 'Explorers on the Moon' written under the pseudonym Paul Raphael, whilst works first used in 2018 come with 'Glass' by Simon Dobson and 'King Kong on Rue Igor-Stravinsky' by Paul McGhee.

Compositions that were originally written as the set-piece for the Championships will be heard with 'Extreme Make-Over' by Johan de Meij (2005), 'From Ancient Times' by Jan van der Roost (2009), and 'Vita Aeterna Variations' by Ed de Boer under his compositional pseudonym Alexander Comitas (2012).

Meanwhile, works that have been successfully used to top the own-choice discipline of the contest are also to be heard with 'Concerto Grosso' by Derek Bourgeois (2002) and 'Music of the Spheres' by Philip Sparke (2004).

In addition, 'Old Licks Bluesed Up', which helped Manger to claim the overall title in 2011 and 'A Brussels Requiem' which was first performed at the Championships in 2017 and was later used as the British Open test-piece in 2018, will also be played.

There will also be two performances of Peter Graham's 'The 39th Parallel' written for the National Band of New Zealand and first premiered at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade in 2017, with a first performance of Roland Szentpali's 'Concerto for Brass Band' which has been played at both the Swiss and Belgian National Championships.

Challenge Section

In the Challenge Section there will be the opportunity to hear the former Championship Section set-work, 'A London Overture' by Philip Sparke (1991), as well as two performances of Gilbert Vinter's 'Spectrum', Edward Gregson's 'Essay' and 'Sinfonietta No. 3' by Etienne Crausaz.

Virtuoso performances

Commenting on the choices, Paul Hindmarsh, Chair of the EBBA Music Commission said: "Own-choice day at the Europeans is one of the special times in the brass band calendar, where high-octane virtuoso performance is guaranteed alongside some inspiring repertoire.

I'm particularly pleased to see in this year's varied selection that bands have been delving in the archive to freshen up some significant turning points in the evolution of the band test piece — two performances of Gilbert Vinter's vibrant 'Spectrum', Derek Bourgeois' incisive and witty 'Concerto Grosso', Johan de Meij's wacky 'Extreme Make-Over'of Tchaikovsky, Jan Van der Roost's ever popular 'From Ancient Times' and Philip Sparke's expansive soundscape 'Music of the Spheres'."

Own-choice day at the Europeans is one of the special times in the brass band calendar, where high-octane virtuoso performance is guaranteed alongside some inspiring repertoirePaul Hindmarsh

Fascinating

He added: "It will be fascinating to hear how these works will sound against crop of truly imaginative and stylistically varied new pieces that have impressed so many in recent contest seasons.

We also have two opportunities to hear Peter Graham's latest test piece, 'The 39th Parallel', used at the New Zealand championships, and after 'Destination Moon' in Ostend (2017), the enigmatic pen of Paul Raphael has produced a sequel, 'Explorers of the Moon'."

The 13 bands in the Championship will perform their choice of test piece after the Challenge Section bands have completed their performances, which will also include the set test piece TerezIn by Mario BUrki.

Championship Section:

A Brussels Requiem (Bert Appermont)
Concerto for Brass Band (Roland Szentpali)
Concerto Grosso (Derek Bourgeois)
Explorers on the Moon (Paul Raphael)
Extreme Make-Over (Johan de Meij)
From Ancient Times (Jan Van der Roost)
Glass (Simon Dobson)
King Kong on Rue Igor-Stravinsky (Paul McGhee)
Music of the Spheres (Philip Sparke)
Old Licks Bluesed Up (Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen)
The 39th Parallel (2x) (Peter Graham)
Vita Aeterna Variations (Alexander Comitas)

Challenge Section:

Sinfonietta No. 3 (Etienne Crausaz)
A London Overture (Philip Sparke)
Essay (Edward Gregson)
Spectrum (2x) (Gilbert Vinter)