THE most entertaining band in the land ... That's the verdict on Brighouse and Rastrick Band by a panel of top judges at the final major brass competition of the year.
B. & R., under the baton of conductor Richard Evans, were placed fourth overall in the sell-out Brass in Concert 2009 contest but scooped the award for best entertainment performance at the Sage in Gateshead with a near perfect score of 59 out of 60.
The band's composer in residence Leigh Baker helped his fellow musicians to success with his arrangement of the Dixieland classic 'Tiger Rag', featuring Shaun Crowther on E-flat bass, sousaphone, trombone and cornet – complete with a Dixieland quintet in pearly waistcoats.
This was a guaranteed crowd-pleaser with judges Nigel Boddice and Derek Broadbent remarking: "Great stuff, everybody loved it."
Sandy Smith arranged the band's opening number, an impressive big band version of Henry Mancini's 'It Had Better Be Tonight' which won approval from the audience.
Featured soloist Steven Walsh, principal euphonium player, dedicated the following piece, Pearce's arrangement of 'Macushla', to his former tutor Geoff Whittam who died earlier this year. His delicate and heartfelt performance left hardly a dry eye in the hall.
A new arrangement of Johann Strauss's 'Where Our Flag Waves' followed, performed with a sense of Austrian swagger and winning B. & R. their second award of the day for the Best Own Choice March Award for the fourth consecutive year.
Led by eight-times winning conductor Richard Evans, the band closed their programme with a new composition, 'Enchanted King-dom' by Paul Lovett-Cooper. The piece was a delight to play, helping the band to their fourth place overall, joined on points by current World Champion band Cory and just behind Grimethorpe Colliery in second place and Fodens Band in first place.
Just two points separated the top four which shows what a tough decision the judges faced.
According to 4barsrest, the brass band world's website, B. & R. 'went into overdrive' in their bid to entertain and successfully produced a crowd-pleasing performance. "It was a little edgy at times but right on the button for the vast majority of the audience," read one of the comments.
