Four bands compete this year in the 34th Ern Keller Band of the Year — Waratah Brass, St Marys Band Club Brass Band, Presige Brass, Willoughby City.

Winner: Prestige Brass conducted by Mark Ford

The bands as we heard them:

Waratah Brass
Conductor: Matthew van Emmerik

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace
Effective opening. Choir not always convincing. Effective use of video footage. Goood dynamic contrast. Narrator is clear and concise. Great trombone sounds with much more clarity from the choir in the 2nd movement. Exciting sounds in the 3rd movement with excellent percussion work.

There has obviously been a lot of preparation for this performance. Bugle does very well. Benedictus was a real highlight. Lovely warm sounds from the soloist and band. Band under very good control at all times.

Some of the technique in final movement is not convincing.

Overall, a marvellous concept, generally highly effective and well played.

Prestige Brass
Conductor: Mark Ford

A composite band put together specifically for this event. A real who's who of banding. Players we recognise include: Marcus Salone, Jen Magoulas, Jason Mears, Paula Russell, Kevin Joughin, Jamie Lawson, Robin Ford, Tyme Masters, Charlie Young, Wendy Bardsley, Riki McDonnell, Stuart Dean, Aaron Ford, Greg Aitken, Gordan Lang, Allan McDonnell, Julie Woods, Steve Ford, Dean Morley, Tim Curnow, Broden Ford. Our apologies to those players we have missed.

Where Eagles Sing:
Excellent technique though some of the semiquaver passages don't link too well. Excellent dynamic contrasts. Some interesting alternative fingering in the Euphoniums. An exciting opening.

You Raise Me Up Danny Boy:
Lovely arrangement and it was nice to listen to two outstanding players — Riki McDonnell and Paula Russell.

Sirba Floriccaca:
Flugel captures the style really well. Great solo breaks by Riki and Greg Aitken. Percussion outstanding.

At the Going Down of the Sun:
Highly moving and a highlight of the day.

Malaguena arr. Smith:
Great flugel work. Some super sop playing. Powerful stuff and MD seemed to have a ball! This band was technically brilliant, as they should be. Also, very musical direction.

A real treat to watch this collection of great players together delivering a varied, entertaining program, with some quality playing and having a great time doing it. This is what its all about.

Willoughby City
Conductor: Andrew Snell

Off to a great start with some unconventional yet effective choreagraphy to Intrada — Ein Festa Burg. Quickly, the band then moved into the upbeat Valero, played at an excellent tempo with great drive from the percussion.

Quite a few chuckles came from the audience as Andy Snell took to the microphone. "...the only band with a CV to rival Matthew van Emmerik", was one of Andy's lines — a style of humour we have come to know so well.

Danny Boy followed but did not flow quite so well and intonation was not always true. A lovely arrangement which bought back many memories of Brassed Off for the capacity audience.

Its Not Unusual, complete with a trombone section to rival the real Tom Jones — chest hair and all, was a lot of fun and audience pleasing.

Sparke's Graduation Fugue was musically the highlight for this band, with the fugue style well captured, and some great tutti sounds.

St Marys Band Club Brass Band
Conductor: Howard Taylor

Great to see some special guest within the ranks — Warwick Tyrell, Steve Rudhall, Paul Terracini, Nigel Seaton, and Phil Johnston.

Softly Softly:
A bright opening number — technicallly brilliant and a great dynamic start to the program.

Autumn Leaves, soloist Warwick Tyrell:
Such a proficient soloist..an absolute pleasure to sit back and listen to. Style is captured beautifully.

Westside Story(officer Krupke):
Lots of fun — and lots of bass end grunt. The band obviously loves this piece — it really shows.

We Know That We Love You:
A real musical highlight — played and sang beautifully with such emotion. O my....

The Cuckoo:
Very funny — if a little loose..not much more to say really.

Reunion and Finale:
Some intonation issues in the opening. Effective and powerful use of video. Superb finale to a fine performance.

4BRDU Prediction
What a fantastic afternoon of entertainment with some real musical highlights. For us, Prestige Brass seemed just have its nose ahead of the other bands in terms of a complete musical and entertaining package. St Marys had the variety and contrast but perhaps not quite the quality of Prestige Brass. But what would we know...