Kingdom returns to the top in Kinross
The Northern Counties Brass Band Association (NCBBA), held its annual Open Contest on Sunday 4 June with bands from across Scotland descending on Loch Leven Community Campus in Kinross, each bidding to entertain and impress with their own-choice entertainment programmes.
Adjudicator Andrew Duncan explained that two performances had really stood out for him on the day. In the end, however, it was a resurgent Kingdom Brass under the baton of Paul Drury which swept to the title, the Fife band making up for its Scottish Championship disappointment earlier in the year with a winning performance which denied reigning champion Bon Accord Silver a fourth consecutive title.
Kingdom opened its programme with bold accounts of Franz Waxman’s Taras Bulba overture and Shostakovich’s lively Folk Festival. Solo Trombone Alex Philip was in lyrical form on Hoagy Carmichael classic Stardust, before the band turned to music from Disney’s ‘Tangled’; the aptly named Kingdom Dance here in an arrangement from the pen of conductor Paul Drury. The laid-back swing of Eiliv Herikstad’s All to Jesus brought the tempo down, before the title was sealed with a final flourish - the day’s Best Percussion section winners and Best Soprano Martin Edwards in fine fettle on Matthew Hall’s showpiece Nightingale Dances. It was to be a fruitful return to form for the new champion, which also collected the Most Entertaining Programme, Best Non-NCBBA Band and Winning Conductor trophies.
There was to be no ‘four-in-a-row’ for Bon Accord Silver, the Aberdeen band and conductor Steve Malcolm eventually having to settle for the runner-up spot. Kicking the programme off with Philip Harper’s exciting Lionheart, flugel soloist Sarah Saum featured next in Mark Freeh’s arrangement of the Cole Porter standard I’ve Got You Under My Skin. The fiery rhythms of Johnny Bates’ Concertino Catalonia drew adjudicator praise for the “impressive playing” on show, before the day’s Best Soloist winner Richard Kidd excelled in the beautiful Philip Sparke euphonium solo Summer Isle. As it happened, the top two bands chose the same finishing piece, Bon Accord also rounding off its programme with a vivid Nightingale Dances, adding the Best NCBBA Member Band trophy along the way.
In third place, and taking home the Best 1st Section trophy, was Lochgelly Band under Paul McKelvie OBE. Opting to open with the fanfares of Richard Strauss’ Fest Musik Der Stadt Wien, a colourful rendition of the Cossack Fire Dance from Peter Graham’s Call of the Cossacks followed, with soloists on top form. A pair of Mark Freeh arrangements followed, firstly the music of Leonard Bernstein, with Tonight from West Side Story, then the up-tempo Latin sounds of Malaguena. Principal cornet Stuart Hepburn’s reflective interpretation of Share My Yoke was next, with the programme drawing to a close on Dean Jones’ Glorifico Aeternum.
Elsewhere, young trombonist Frankie O’Donnell provided the vocal on Sinatra favourite My Way, as Mark Good’s Renfrew Burgh took home the Best 2nd Section prize. Irvine and Dreghorn collected the Best 3rd Section award, with an eclectic programme including multiple bicycle bells in their conductor’s own arrangement of Queen’s Bicycle Race, while Dysart Colliery continued their fine recent run of contest form to claim the Best 4th Section title.
The full results were:
Adjudicator: Andrew Duncan
1. Kingdom Brass (Paul Drury) 190
2. Bon Accord Silver (Steve Malcolm) 188
3. Lochgelly (Paul McKelvie OBE) 186
4. Clackmannan District (Paul Kiernan) 184
5. Irvine and Dreghorn (Helen Douthwaite-Teasdale) 182
6. Renfrew Burgh (Mark Good) 180
7. Dysart Colliery (Ross Brotherston) 178
8. Bon Accord ‘B’ (Jennifer Cook) 176
9. Newmains and District (Michael Marzella) 174
Best 1st Section: Lochgelly
Best 2nd Section: Renfrew Burgh
Best 3rd Section: Irvine and Dreghorn
Best 4th Section: Dysart Colliery
Best NCBBA Member Band: Bon Accord Silver
Best Non-NCBBA Band: Kingdom Brass
Most Entertaining Programme: Kingdom Brass
Best Percussion: Kingdom Brass
Best Soprano: Martin Edwards, Kingdom Brass
Best Soloist: Richard Kidd, euphonium, Bon Accord Silver
Winning Conductor: Paul Drury, Kingdom Brass
