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Re: Own choice contests

Surely the reasons are obvious? Almost all of the contest pieces are
totally unpalatable to any audience unless they are played at the
absolute top level of skill. Some of them are not palatable even then.
To suggest that anyone would try to build an audience for brass bands by
playing contest pieces is ludicrous. The top bands build their audiences
beyond the hard core brass lover by playing transcriptions of the
classics and by lollipops cleverly arranged to show their technical and
musical skills.

The brass band world seems to judge music by how difficult it is to play
not by how good it is. People keep getting me to listen to pieces that
they rave over but that to me offer little but a brief technical rush.
No Beethovens, Mozarts or Tchaikovskis seem to have shown up in the
brass band world yet. Sure I think Resurgam is a gem but still not in
the same league as The Pathetique Symphony. As technical skills improve
- is there room for improvement at the top level - at levels below the
top, the quality music will be more frequently played. The Year of The
Dragon probably is an example. Maybe the Horowitz piece may come to
favour. It struck me at the RAH in 1994 that it was outstanding music
that might be rearranged for concert bands and possibly even orchestras.
To me that is a hint of musical acceptance.

Lets set our tastes higher even as we enjoy the unique joys of playing
brass music.

Dave Buckley.

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