Following our 3rd place finish in the regional contest, on the 16th of September, Regent Brass headed to Cheltenham to take part in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain Finals in the 1st Section.
The set test piece was St. James: A New Beginning by Philip Harper, a tribute to Sir Christopher Wren and the St James Church in Picadilly. The piece descriptively tells the story of the great fire of London in 1666, with its lively first section ‘The Great Fire’, followed by the slow reflective ‘Aftermath’ which moves into the more optimistic ‘Vision’, and ends with the firework-filled grand finale ‘Renaissance’. The piece uses the hymn tune ‘St James’ throughout, fragmented at first and in full in the grand finale.
It was a great piece to work on with challenges and opportunities to shine. Our MD Alan Duguid led the band through an intensive rehearsal schedule through the Summer. The band met in Cheltenham for a rehearsal on the morning of the contest. The band were drawn to play 9th out of 20 bands and performed to a busy Centaur theatre at the Cheltenham Racecourse.
The performance drew praise for the soloists and band sound but intonation and ensemble issues led the band to a slightly dissapointing 18th placed result out of the 20 finalist bands. As is tradition, the band celebrated the day with a well-earned curry in Cheltenham. We’ll continue to build on the performance, one which we are proud of, and get prepared for the next set of concerts and contests.
A recording of the performance can be found on wobplay.com.
