Besson Scottish Open Solo and Ensemble Championships Report

Following the success of yesterday’s Youth Contest, the focus at Livingston’s Howden Park Centre today was on the senior soloists and quartets who had entered the 2017 Besson Scottish Solo and Ensemble Championships.

The judging of Sunday’s three events, the Open Solo, Open Slow Melody and Open Ensemble contest once again fell into the capable hands of Besson Artists Owen Farr and Les Neish and, although there were far fewer contestants to adjudicate compared with the youths from Saturday, each category was as keenly fought with several outstanding performances on show.

The Scottish Open Solo contest featured 10 soloists with, unusually, not a cornet player in sight. Eb Basses, tenor horns, bass trombones and euphoniums all featured twice, supplemented by a flugelhorn and baritone. As a result, there was perhaps an even more diverse array of repertoire, from the traditional ‘air varie’ to concerto excerpts and concert studies.

The only piece that featured twice, Capriccio Brillante by Herman Bellstedt, proved to be a wise choice as both performances found their way onto the podium. Kirkintilloch tenor horn player Rachel Neil (pictured above) pulled off what was, in adjudicator Les Neish’s eyes, “a near-perfect performance” of the excellent Sandy Smith arrangement, fending off a late title-defending bid from runner-up Kyle McCorquodale to reverse the top two placings from last year. Les commented: “It was a pleasure to sit and listen to Rachel today; it was a controlled musical performance from start to finish.”

Bass trombonist Kyle, having arrived later than expected, was granted the opportunity to defend his crown by playing last in the contest but his impressive, unaccompanied performance of Prelude and Dance (Raymond Premru) just fell short of convincing the adjudicators that Rachel should be denied her victory. As well as collecting the Bram Thomson award for best horn, Rachel was also crowned Champion of Champions, earning a year's free on-line subscription to the British Bandsman.

Whitburn tenor horn stalwart Ian Fleming (pictured above), a veteran of Scottish solo contests for many years, had to be satisfied with third place on this occasion but managed to find solace in defending his Open Slow Melody crown, lifting the Archie Hutchison Trophy in fine style with a near flawless rendition of Hugh Nash’s Demelza. In doing so, Ian denied Rachel Neil a ‘double’, her A Time for Peace from Peter Graham’s Essence of Time claiming second spot. The fact that tenor horn virtuoso Owen Farr was judging a contest in which all three tenor horn players made the podium may have raised the odd eyebrow, however Whitburn’s Alison Hall was most deserving of third place with her fine performance of Peter Graham’s Swedish Hymn.

Perhaps the most keenly fought contest of the day was the Open Ensemble match between the Whitburn Horns and 'Four'. It was abundantly clear from the outset of their winning performance that ‘Four’ had spent far more time rehearsing their immensely challenging piece, Gilbert Vinter’s Fancy’s Nell, than they had choosing a name for their quartet. In Chic Cullen, Ronnie Wotherspoon, David McKellar and Trevor McCormack, there were many years of experience (226 years to be precise!) to be drawn upon and their thoroughly entertaining and concise performance was a highlight for many an observer in the Howden Park auditorium. The Whitburn Horns had set a high standard with Scott Kerr’s piece, October, but it wasn’t enough in the judges’ opinion to deny their more ‘experienced’ adversaries. The winning quartet, who also picked up a sponsor's prize voucher for a Besson BE120 cornet, are pictured below.

In their closing remarks, both adjudicators praised what they felt was a high standard of performance throughout the day, lamenting the quantity but not quality of what they had to adjudicate. Tributes were paid by the judges to both compère for the day Damian Martin, who did a fine job in between performers, and pianist Gina Baker whose concentration and professionalism in accompanying the soloists was admirable.

SBBA President Carrie Boax brought proceedings to a close by thanking all involved and encouraged everyone who had enjoyed playing or listening today to maybe bring a friend to next year’s event.