Brass Band Logo

NJH Music Logo

Some of the contents of the pages on this site are Copyright © 2016 NJH Music
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

European championships , YBS and the rest of the world -Reply (quite long)

Dear all,

In reaction on Henrik Glanneskog stating the European results to be
scandalous,
I fully agree with Martin Irwin who denies this.

YBS just lost because of an unbelievable professional mistake.
When Sheona White (solo Horn YBS) was guest at my house somewhere last
February,
she told me David King had decided to play Blitz. I told her then already
that
this piece would leave YBS few chances to expose their musical capabilities=
, in
which they are accepted to be the best, after Fairey IMHO. Blitz is for
85% just
playing together while technically not too demanding. Only in the first
part you
have some really beautiful solos. 
After their playing I was even more convinced they would loose it all. To
their
standard, too much untidy playing, David King being too busy attracting
the
people lost the band when the percussion tried to hold the tempo up while
the
brass section lost it, just playing the notes (can you do much more in
Blitz?),
poor build up to the end and an even poorer fadeout at the end. 
You do not impress people like Peter Parkes with that, do you? 
YBS could have done much better which they showed indeed in the test-piece
where
they were in front of all the others. OK, 88 points for Blitz is too low,
but I
had them also no further then an overall 3rd place.

Meanwhile, Brighouse did very well on both pieces and with Contest Music
they
choose a good piece and played very well and controlled. For me not a
surprise
they won the contest. 

So Henrik, it=27s not because YBS is YBS, they should win it, it=27s about
musical
merit and again: Mr King made a surprisingly professional mistake. He
won=27t
sleep well I think. 
Why not take Fireworks, or Variations on a Ninth, I am sure they would
have been
difficult to beat.

And what about the other bands, it=27s not just a British battle guys=21

I must say in contradiction with other years, there were no really weak
bands
and bands like Goteborg and the Danish one were better then other years. A
bad
surprise to me was Manger who were poor to their usual standards. They
seem to
loose a lot of their capabilities when David King is not in front: so many
personal mistakes (each cadenza) and a very mathematical version of
Journey into
Freedom (did James Gourley listen a bit too much to his computer?). 

And of course Belgian=27s Midden-Brabant, YEAH=21 Coming 2nd and confirming=
 they are
a European top band and no surprise during the last 5 years. 
I was disappointed a bit however. I was even ashamed them standing with
the
cadenzas and especially getting the whole band standing at the last note
of
Spectrum. It looked like Hootenany on a veteran=27s ball and taking the
audience
for fools. Rubbish of course, but that=27s their typical vanity (sorry
dear
countrymen) and their real believe this stupidity pays off. They played
rough in
the fs and ffs, going for cheap effects with the cornets blowing too often
in
the hall (which other bands and even the English seem to adopt more and
more, I
regret). Apart from that they did play very well, especially the soloists
who
were great , and at least deserved a place within the first 4.

So my evaluation of this championship:
- incredible mistake of YBS/King to play Blitz
- Brighouse wins it on class and clever playing
- Belgium can be proud with Willebroek and Midden-Brabant being the
continent=27s
best for almost 10 years now (may I be a chauvinist once in my life) and
near to
a second European victory
- Webster and Mead (CWS) stepping down from outstanding to regular players
(is
Roger playing trumpet once and a while?, whoops * there we open the other
debate), while Graeme McCulloch (gorgeous sound) and the Childs boy did
very
well for Brighouse
- Manger and Gourlay very poor.
- The bottom bands getting better while the top bands stagnate (this
offers
further continental chances).
- Great evening concert with a brilliant Peter Roberts, oh man * HE IS SO
GOOD
=21=21


Edy Van Asch
Metropole Brassband
Belgium


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

[Services] [Contact Us] [Advertise with us] [About] [Tell a friend about us] [Copyright © 2016 NJH Music]