Friday 2 & Saturday 3 May
Stavanger Concert Hall
Set work and own choice
Championship Section
Adjudicators: Saturday
David King, England (Australia)
Jens T. Larsen, Norway
Jan van der Roost, Belgium
Adjudicators: Friday
Armin Bachmann, Switzerland
Nigel Boddice, Scotland
Arvid Anthun, Norway
Results:
1. Cory, Dr. Robert Childs, 10/10, 99(1)+95(3)=194
2. Grimethorpe Colliery, A. Withington, 2/1, 97(2)+97(2)=194
3. Brass Band Willebroek, Frans Violet, 3/8, 88(9)+98(1)=186
4. Brass Band Fribourg, Arsene Duc, 6/11, 95(3)+90(7)=185
5. Stavanger, Garry Cutt, 4/7, 92(5)+93(5)=185
6. Brass Band Buizingen, Luc Vertommen, 8/5, 91(6)+94(4)=185
7. Brass Band Lyngby Taarbaek, C. Schmiedescamp, 9/6, 94(4)+89(8)=183
8. Brass Band De Waldsang, Rieks van der Velde, 7/9, 90(7)+88(9)=178
9. Stockholm, Kent Jonsson, 5/4, 86(11)+92(6)=178
10. Oberoesterreich Brass Band, Hans Buchegger, 11/3, 89(8)+86(10)=175
11. Kirkintilloch, Howard Taylor, 1/2, 87(10)+84(11)=171
Best Soloist Award
Stefaan Pillaert, Solo-Euphonium, Brass Band Willebroek
B Section
Friday 2 May
Stavanger Concert Hall
Set work and own choice programme
Adjudicators:
Armin Bachmann, Switzerland
Nigel Boddice, Scotland
Arvid Anthun, Norway
Results:
1. Brass Band Frener-Reifer Pfeffersberg, Italy, 2, 88
2. 3BA-Brass, Germany, 1, 84
3. Musikkorpset Gjallarhorn, Norway, 3, 83
4. Murley Silver Band, Northern Ireland, 4, 81
28 year gap
After a gap of 28 years Cory has been crowned European Brass Band Champion.
In what became an epic battle between the current British Open and National Champions, Grimethorpe Colliery, it was the Welsh band that just did enough to pip the Yorkshiremen and take home the title for the first time since 1980.
The foundation of their second European victory came on the Friday evening, when their stunning performance of ‘Brass Blot’ gave them a two point winning margin over second placed Grimethorpe to take into the Saturday own choice discipline.
Decisive
That was to prove decisive, as Grimethorpe shrugged off the handicap of being drawn first to lay down a marker with ‘Vienna Nights’ that saw them regain the lost ground on their rivals, but just fail to do enough to pip them and claim their first European crown.
Cory, drawn 10, had to wait the best part of five hours before they delivered a highly polished account of ‘Music for Battle Creek’ that saw them claim third place and crucially saw them take the title on the basis of their set work victory the day before.
Brave defence
Reigning European Champion, Brass Band Willebroek put up a brave defence of their title as they searched for a record hat trick win.
They came a lowly 9th on the set work, but conjured up all their strength and determination to win the own choice section with a rousing performance of ‘Music for Battle Creek’. It wasn’t enough though and the lost ground on the Friday proved to be too much of a hurdle to overcome, as they ended up eight points behind the British pair.
The band’s solo euphonium player Stef Pillaert was awarded the soloist prize.
Missed out
Fourth place overall was claimed by the Swiss champion, Brass Band Fribourg, who came 3rd on the Friday and 7th on the Saturday to end up a point behind their Belgian rivals and just miss out on a podium finish.
Fifth place meanwhile went to home town favourites Stavanger, whose consistency over the two days in coming 5th in each discipline saw them make their mark. The final top six place went to the second Belgian band, Brass Band Buizingen, who came 6th on the set work and 4th in the own choice selection.
Shock
The one shock for most neutral observers though was the lowly final placing of 10th overall for the Austrians, Brass Band Oberoesterreich.
Their own choice performance of ‘Dreams’ by Bertrand Moren on the Saturday brought a prolonged standing ovation from the packed Stavanger Concert Hall audience of around 1100 people, but failed to make any impression with the three adjudicators in the box, who placed them a lowly 10th.
That result allied to coming 8th on the Friday meant that even though the audience loved them, they became the latest band in this contest’s history to leave the event scratching their collective result.
Entertaining
The full results at the entertaining Gala Concert were relayed to the audience via an overhead screen, and there were some collective sighs of disbelief and then joyous celebration, as first the minor places were announced and then the major awards.
Seventh place overall was taken by Danish champions Lyngby Taarbaek, eighth went to the Dutch De Waldang, whilst debutants Stockholm Brass were ninth. With Austrians coming tenth, the final placing went to Scottish Champion, Kirkintilloch.
