[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Australian Nationals Newcastle at Easter

To the Brass-band List:

		The Australian National Band Championships will be held in 
Newcastle New South Wales  over Easter, in about 2 weeks time. The 
A-grade competition will be in the Newcastle Town Hall on the nights 
of Good Friday (28th March, Hymn and Test Piece) and Easter Saturday 
(29th March, Own Choice and March).

  There were twelve bands entered for A-grade:
Brisbane Excelsior (Queensland)
Brisbane Brass (Queensland)
Footscray-Yarraville (Victoria)
Foster's Auckland (New Zealand)
Greater Bendigo (Victoria)
Kew (Victoria)
St Marys (New South Wales)
Tanunda (South Australia, may have withdrawn)
Waratah-Mayfield (New South Wales, local to the Newcastle area)
Warringah Concert Brass (New South Wales)
Willoughby City (New South Wales)
Holroyd City (New South Wales)

  Newcastle is a slightly industrial city located about 90 miles 
North of Sydney on the East coast of Australia. It is a pretty place 
on the Hunter River, with good beaches, fine wines, mountains, water 
sports and an excellent brass band and rugby league team. It also has 
a fine brass band tradition. The Australian "Newcastle Steelworks 
Band" which won the British Open in the 1920's came from this area.

  The Test Piece has been especially commisioned for the event by the 
Newcastle regional organisers. It is called "Coal River", after the 
original name given to the Hunter  River which enters the Tasman Sea 
at Newcastle. It was written by Barry McKimm, who is 
principle trombone of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

  It is written in the style of a modern tone poem, in (about) seven 
movements. These are:

The Fatal Shore - inspired by Robert Hughes' great book about the 
experiences of the early convincts in New South Wales and Tasmania.
Includes a long "allegro vigososo" (sic) solo for basses only, with 
lots of awkward intervals.

The Baying Hounds - based on early convict experiences in Newcastle 
area. 

Come you not from Newcastle? - variations on an English folk theme. 
An interesting and fun "giocoso" section.

Beneath Tidal Water - The slow movement, with some wonderful (IMHO) 
writing for brass band.

The Fatal Shore (revisited). This time its the Bb Basses only with 
the solo - at a faster pace.

Shaping the Hunter - about the struggle to tame the land, including 
what we refer to as "the train crash theme", where the band rises to 
an almighty deafening crescendo, to decay to a series of somber 
tuba and trombone chords.  Perhaps there is reference here to the 
 recent tragic earthquake.

Finale - including a fine recitative trombone solo.

A New beginning - the tragic themes of the early movements are 
re-stated in a more optomistic style.

 I don't mind confessing that we (Warringah Concert Brass, first 
time in A-grade) have found this piece to be extremely difficult, 
both in technical demand and in finding a suitable interpretation of 
the composer's intent. I would like to hear from any other Aussie 
A-grade banders as to how they feel about the piece. It has taken a 
while, but we are just now starting to find our feet with it.

Philip Anderton
BBb Bass,
Warringah Concert Brass Band
Sydney, Australia.
Philip Anderton
School of Optometry
UNSW, Sydney 2052
Australia
Phn: (+612) 9385 4375
Fax: (+612) 9313 6243
http://www.optom.unsw.edu.au/


--
unsubscribe or receive the list in digest form, mail a message of 'help' to
listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx