The 45th Swiss National Championships will take place in Montreux this weekend, when 63 bands will take to the Stravinski Auditorium and Miles Davis Hall stages to compete in six different sections.

As always the Montreux Convention Centre will be a hive of ambitious brass banding determination and brilliance — especially in the top-flight Excellence Division, where defending champion, Valaisia Brass Band will be looking to make it five wins in a row under the baton of Arsene Duc.

Jazz

To do that they will first have to tackle Philip Wilby's 'Jazz' on Saturday evening followed by their own-choice selections the following day.

Originally written for the All England Masters Championships in Cambridge way back in 1997, it could also have been the perfect homage to some of the great jazz icons that have performed over the years at Montreux's famous Jazz Festival — starting with it's Benny Goodmanesque clarinet inspired 'Rhapsody in Blue' euphonium glissando.

All that and then its the battle of the 'blockbusters' — with no less than five brand new compositions being given their world premieres. Whoever comes out on top will deserve to be crowned 2019 champion and go on to represent the nation at the 2020 European Championships in Palanga.

Extreme challenge

There is also plenty to look forward to in the other sections too — with the 10 contenders in the Elite Division faced with the huge metamorphosis Tchaikovsky challenge posed by Johan de Meij's former 2005 European Championship set-work, 'Extreme Make-Over'.

What will happen to all the empty hoketus technique beer bottles after the bands have played may pose a recycling problem too….

Sparke, Higgins, Moren and Hodel

Another European test-piece will face the 15 bands in the First Section, with Philip Sparke's 'Tallis Variations' from 2000, sure to prove a stern test, whilst Gavin Higgins' 'Fanfare & Love Songs' is a demanding test of contrasting musicianship in the Second Division.

Swiss composer Bertrand Moren's 'Sinfonietta Epica' should be an enjoyable challenge for the Third Division bands, whilst the quartet of contenders in the Fourth Division also get to test themselves with a work that was recently heard at the European Youth Championships in 2017, with Stephan Hodel's engaging 'Argos'.

The international panel of adjudicators of Bert Appermont, Etienne Crausaz, Thierry Deleruyelle, Andrew Duncan, Paul Holland, Jean-Claude Kolly, Rolf Schumacher, David Thornton and Chris Wormald, should enjoy themselves in the various boxes then — as will the audiences with their usual displays of vocal support.

Coverage

4BR will be there to bring you our usual live coverage with great images from Goldy Solutions and social media coverage by Ben Stratford of Mango Design.

Backed by the outstanding organisation of the Swiss Brass Band Association led by their President Ariane Brun, it should be a another great weekend of competitive music making.

Excellence Division:

Stravinski Auditorium
Test Piece: Jazz (Philip Wilby)
Test Piece: Saturday 23rd November at 6.15pm (local time)
Own Choice: Sunday 24th November at 1.30pm (local time)

Brass Band 13 Etoiles A (Frederic Theodoloz)
Brass Band Berner Oberland (Corsin Tuor)
Brass Band Burgermusik Luzern (Michael Bach)
Brass Band Fribourg A (Maurice Donnet-Monay)
Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien A (Blaise Heritier)
Ensemble de cuivres Mélodia A (Vincent Baroni)
Ensemble de Cuivres Valaisan (Francois Roh)
Liberty Brass Band Ostschweiz (Stefan Roth)
Oberaargauer Brass Band OBB (Christoph Luchsinger)
Valaisia Brass Band (Arsene Duc)

Own Choice Selections:
***** Concerto No 10 for Brass Band (Ludovic Neurohr)
A Brussels Requiem (Bert Appermont)
Absalon (Yannis Maes)
Cataclysms (Roland Szentpali)
Concerto for Brass Band (Roland Szentpali)
Looking Back (Tom Davoren)
Moonscapes (Benjamin Tubb-Hearne)
Other Lives (Oliver Waespi)
REM-Scapes (Thomas Doss)
Trance (Thomas Doss)

Elite Division:

Stravinski Auditorium
Test Piece: Extreme Make-Over (Johan de Meij)
Saturday 23rd November at 1.45pm (local time)

AEW Concert Brass Fricktal (Adrian Schneider)
Brass Band Cazis (Susanne Rechsteiner)
Brass Band Eglisau (Andreas Buri)
Brass Band Emmental (Jan Muller)
Brass Band Fribourg B (Maurice Donnet-Monay)
Brass Band Harmonie Neuenkirch (Manuel Imhof)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg A-Band (Rafael Camartin)
Brass Band Rickenbach (Enrico Calzaferri)
Brass Band Sursilvana (Russell Gray)
Ensemble de Cuivres Euphonia (Michael Bach)

First Division:

Stravinski Auditorium
Test Piece: Tallis Variations (Philip Sparke)
Sunday 24th November at 8.30am (local time)

BML Talents (Patrick Ottiger)
Brass Band 13 Etoiles Formation B (Eric Fournier)
Brass Band 43 (Olivier Neuhaus)
Brass Band Breitenbach (Reto Naf)
Brass Band Kirchenmusik Flühli (Armin Renggli)
Brass Band Lotschental (Aldo Werlen)
Brass Band MG Reiden (Roland Froscher)
Brass Band RosAlp (David Bonvin)
Brass Band Uri (Markus Steimen)
Ensemble de Cuivres Ambitus (Gilles Rocha)
Ensemble de Cuivres la Covatte (Boris Oppliger)
Feldmusik Knutwil (Enrico Calzaferri)
Musikgesellschaft Risch-Rotkreuz (Adrian Schneider)
Oberwalliser Brass Band (Lionel Fumeaux)
Universal Brass Band Wil (Gian Stecher)

Second Division:

Miles Davis Hall
Test Piece: Fanfare and Love Songs (Gavin Higgins)
Saturday 23rd November at 1.00pm (local time)

Brass Band Abinchova (Roman Caprez)
Brass Band Berner Oberland Junior (Jan Muller)
Brass Band Feldmusik Escholzmatt (Roger Muller)
Brass Band Harmonie Rickenbach (Lukas Scherrer)
Brass Band Junior Valaisan (Aurelien Darbellay)
Brass Band l'Avenir de Lignieres (Cyril Perrenoud)
Brass Band Zurich (Werner Kubli)
Burgermusik Untereggen (Stefan Roth)
Constellation Brass Band B (Olivier Vergeres)
Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien B (Rainier Chetelat)
Ensemble de Cuivres Melodia B (Joelle Gaillard)
Liberty Brass Band Junior (Christoph Luchsinger)
MG Konkordia Aedermannsdorf (Simon Gertschen)

Third Division:

Stravinski Auditorium
Test Piece: Sinfonietta Epica (Bertrand Moren)
Saturday 23rd November at 9.00am (local time)

Brass Band Gurbetal (Amos Gfeller)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg B-Band (Stefan Aegerter)
Brass Band Matzendorf (Marcel Bossert)
Brass Band Prattigau (Lothar Uth)
Brass Band Solothurn (Yannick Mathys)
Hinterlander Jugend Brass Band (Luca Frischknecht)
Jugend Brass Band Michelsamt (Peter Stadelmann)
Musik Frohsinn Oberburg (Jan Muller)
Musikverein Brass Band Henggart (Amos Gfeller)
Musikverein Rothrist (Cyrill Schaub)
Thunerseebrass (Christoph Hertig)

Fourth Division:

Miles Davis Hall
Test Piece: Argos (Stephan Hodel)
Saturday 23rd November at 10.30am (local time)

Brass Band des Franches-Montagnes (Frederic Praz)
Entlebucher Jugend Brass Band (Patrick Notter)
Jugend Brass Band Oberer Sempachersee (Manuel Imhof)
Jugend Brass Band Regionale Musikschule Liestal (Ivan Estermann)