Cory rises to the occasion with a heart-stopping performance
THE British Open Brass Band Championships took place on Saturday, September 8, at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, with 19 bands competing for the title of British Brass Band Open Champions 2018.
The set work for this year – the 166th – of the British Open Brass Band Championship was A Brussels Requiem by Belgian composer Bert Appermont. It was originally commissioned by Brass Band Oberosterreich in Austria and received its world premiere at the 2017 European Brass Band Championships in Ostend. The composition reflects the tragic circumstances that arose from the series of terrorist attacks in the Belgium capital in 2016 which left 32 people dead and more than 300 injured. The piece has four interlinked movements – Innocence, In Cold Blood, In Memoriam: We Shall Rise Again and A New Day.
The hall was noisy as people shouted greetings to each other and you could feel the excitement of anticipation in the air. Suddenly there was silence as players of the first band entered the stage from the wings. Then, as one, they started to applaud the champion band of Scotland, Whitburn. The band settled, conductor Floren Didier raised his baton and you could touch the overbearing silence. Then the sole, lonely, beautiful sound of a cornet was heard cutting through the silence and gripping the emotions of the tense, still, breathless audience. It was a lovely start and you could feel the band and the audience begin to relax and enjoy the lovely playing.
Brighouse and Rastrick, playing third, gave a wonderful performance and certainly raised the bar. Band after band displayed real style and virtuosity and it was difficult to separate them as to standard.
However, the bar was raised once again by Eikanger-Bjorsvik from Norway, who gained rapturous applause from their many fans who had followed them from Norway. The standard of musicianship was truly great and when the 11th band to play, Tredegar, under Ian Porthouse, performed, we heard a totally different interpretation of the piece, which I found to be an emotional experience.
Tredegar had followed 2017 Open Champions Valaisia, who had given a very competent and solid performance. I really do not envy the adjudicators their task of placing these bands in order from one to 19. Black Dyke, playing 14th, gave their usual firstclass performance under Welshman Professor Nicholas Childs and they received a great ovation. Following Dyke was Wales’ Cory Band and from the first bar we knew this was going to be different. There was an expectancy within the audience, almost willing them to be spectacular, and, by Jove, they did not fail to do just that! They played with ease and confidence which raised them above the mark of excellence to that “never to be forgotten performance”. It was magnificent and as I clapped and listened to the roars and whistles of praise, I realised that I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. What a performance!
The packed hall had been empathetic to the ebb and flow of pathos and tragic feelings evoked by such emotional playing by these top-class musicians. This was a day that will be remembered far into the future for the magical performances of so many bands playing such a moving tribute to the victims of such horrendous acts. After the highs and lows of the emotions engendered by the playing of all the bands, the winning performance will be remembered for a very long time.
Cory had four new players with them at the Open and what a stage to be on for your first contest with the world’s number one ranked band. The pressure on them must have been enormous, but they coped and did not let their new band down. So well done to Harvey Rees on cornet, Bobby Corkish on tenor horn, Karen Fletcher on tenor horn and Kyle Blake on trombone – and of course all of Cory Band, who are led by a fine musician, Philip Harper.
On Saturday and Sunday, September 15-16, the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain take place at the Centaur Hall, Cheltenham Racecourse. Representing Wales will be Ebbw Valley and Burry Port Town in Section 1, Pontardulais Town and Ifton Colliery in Section 2, Taff Vale Brass and Usk in Section 3 and Upper Rhondda and Cwmtawe Youth in Section 4. We wish them all every success.