100 Greatest Test Pieces: THE RESULTS

[BreadOfHeaven]

Well here we are finally!! After a month of spreadsheets and sorting through pm's I finally have a list of the 100 greatest Test Pieces as voted by you the tmp public (well over 80 of you anyway!!!). Thanks for all the voting and thought that you put into it. A clear winner that appeared somewhere on nearly everyone's list.

It's been great fun. Now the debate begins........................

=96 Triptych Sparke 7
The Shipbuilders Yorke 7
James Cook Circumnavigator Vinter 7
Les Preludes Rimmer 7
A Moorside Suite Holst 7
=88 Albion Van Der Roost 8
Henry V Price 8
Freedom Bath 8
Carnival Romain Wright 8
Leonardo Wilby 8
Cambridge Variations Sparke 8
Haselmere Suite Graham 8
Malvern Suite Sparke 8
=81 The Maunsell Forts McCabe 9
Purcell Variations Downie 9
Prometheus Unbound Bantock 9
Tintagel Wright 9
Comedy Overture Ireland 9
High Peak Ball 9
Sinfonietta No 2 Ballisat 9
=74 Five Blooms In A Welsh Garden Wood 10
Chorale and Tocatta Buller 10
Downland Suite Ireland 10
Un Vie De Matelot Farnon 10
Tournament for Brass Ball 10
Benvenuto Cellini Wright 10
Kensington Concerto Ball 10
=70 The Aeronauts Richards 11
Symphony Of Marches Vinter 11
Fantasy Arnold 11
La Forza Del Destino Wright 11
=67 Sinfonietta - The Wayfarer Ball 12
Whitsun Wakes M Ball 12
Fireworks Howarth 12
66 Oceans Richards 13
=63 Lydian Pictures Dobson 14
Kennilworth Bliss 14
Prague Bingham 14
=58 Vizcaya Vinter 15
Diversions For Brass Band Bourgeois 15
Lowry Sketchbook Wilby 15
Music For A Festival Sparke 15
Partita Gregson 15
=56 Hymn at Sunrise Steadman-Allen 16
Royal Parks Lloyd 16
=54 Ballet For Band Horowitz 17
Odin Butterworth 17
=52 Trumpets Of The Angels Gregson 18
Checkmate Ball 18
51 Seascapes Steadman-Allen 20

=49 Chain Swearts 21
Plantagenates Gregson 21
=47 Triumphant Rhapsody Vinter 24
Suite Gothique Ball 24
46 Energy Simpson 25
45 Rhapsody In Brass Goffin 26
44 Enigma Variations Ball 27
43 Coventry Variations Tovey 29
42 Partita Sparke 30
=40 Connotations Gregson 31
Le Roi Dy's Wright 31
39 Diadem of Gold Wright 32
=37 Dances And Arias Gregson 33
Diversions on A Bass Theme Lloyd 33
36 Of Men And Mountains Gregson 34
35 New Jerusalem Wilby 36
=32 Between The Moon And Mexico Sparke 41
Tallis Variations Sparke 41
Sounds Golland 41
31 Land Of the Long White Cloud Sparke 46

=28 Harrison's Dream Graham 49
Variations on A 9th Vinter 49
Legends and Myths On Alderly Edge Graham 49
27 Montage Graham 50
26 Apocalypse Bourgeois 51
25 Epic Symphony Fletcher 53
=22 Spectrum Vinters 56
Variations on an Enigma Sparke 56
Festival Music Ball 56
21 English Heritage Lloyd 58

20 Pageantry Howells 59
19 Issiah 40 Redhead 63
18 Life Divine Jenkins 65
17 Les Preludes Gay 68
16 Cloudcatcher Fells McCabe 70
15 Jazz Wilby 78
14 Tristan Encounters Ellerby 89
13 Devil And The Deep Blue Sea Bourgeois 91
12 Masquerade Wilby 97
11 Dove Descending Wilby 105

=9 Harmony Music Sparke 108
Revelation Wilby 108
8 The Essence Of Time Graham 123
7 Concerto Grosso Bourgeois 129
6 Blitz Bourgeois 138
5 Contest Music Heaton 174
4 Paganini Variations Wilby 232
3 Resurgam Ball 246
2 The Year Of The Dragon Sparke 248
1 Journey Into Freedom Ball 288

 

[Maestro]

Well done on a great idea. I didn't envy you once having to sort out that little lot.
There are some great and very interesting pieces there.

 

[MRSH]

All I can say BreadofHeaven is what a fantastic job you've done. Thank you.

I think 6 of my top 10 are in the all time top ten. WhaHay.
And I wouldn't argue at all with the number one.

Can I just ask - would it be possible to sort and post here the composers of the top 100 pieces in order of number of pieces voted for - if you understand what I mean. I know I could work it out from the list but as you have it on spreadsheet - a couple of clicks and hey presto. :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: . That stat would also be very interesting.

Anyway - great job.

 

[PeterBale]

Well done indeed :!:

Can you also let us know how many other pieces were suggested, but scored less than 7, and fell outside the top 100 :?:

It would also be interesting to know how many people voted for each one, as there could be quite a wide variation, with 10 points being available for a No 1 place, eg a count of 100 could be made up of votes from only 10 people, or 100 placing it tenth on their list.

 

[Anglo Music Press]

I think this ties up pretty closely with a poll the Bandsman did some years ago.

 

[Darth_Tuba]

Well done indeed :!:

Can you also let us know how many other pieces were suggested, but scored less than 7, and fell outside the top 100 :?:

It would also be interesting to know how many people voted for each one, as there could be quite a wide variation, with 10 points being available for a No 1 place, eg a count of 100 could be made up of votes from only 10 people, or 100 placing it tenth on their list.

Indeed Peter. In fact, a piece could come top of the poll without anyone at all placing it as their number one. If this was the All England Masters there'd be uproar! :wink: hehe.

Sorry, bit off topic. Wasn't surprised by the list at all really. Journey into Freedom, Year of the Dragon and Resurgam were certainly my top 3. I still think JitF should have been used at the RAH last year as part of the Eric Ball centenary, rather than one of his arrangements. It's the definative brass band test piece for me. Full on music and would still test any band today

 

[bassinthebathroom]

Well done! What a project this must have been!
Can't argue with the Number 1 spot either! Excellent stuff!

 

[WhatSharp?]

Super work mate. You can now be entered in the annuls of history under the category of Super-BOC

Terrific stuff, all my favs in there (though JiF isn't one of them though I can see it's popularity), and better yet not all Championship pieces either!.

Interesting that Coventry Variations comes in higher than Rhapsody, wonder if this will still be the case in a couple of years time (after the memory of the piece at the areas fades).

 

[dyl]

Excellent! Thanks for the hard work.

Will 'un-stick' the voting thread and make this one a sticky for a while to give it the prominence it deserves.

Cheers.

 

[BreadOfHeaven]

Can I just ask - would it be possible to sort and post here the composers of the top 100 pieces in order of number of pieces voted for - if you understand what I mean. I know I could work it out from the list but as you have it on spreadsheet - a couple of clicks and hey presto. . That stat would also be very interesting.

Don't say I'm not good to you!

Composer total
Sparke 11
Ball 10
Wilby 8
Gregson 6
Vinter 6
Wright 6
Bourgeois 5
Graham 5
Lloyd 3
Ireland 2
McCabe 2
Richards 2
Steadman-Allen 2
Arnold 1
Ballisat 1
Bantock 1
Bath 1
Bingham 1
Bliss 1
Buller 1
Butterworth 1
Dobson 1
Downie 1
Ellerby 1
Farnon 1
Fletcher 1
Gay 1
Goffin 1
Golland 1
Heaton 1
Holst 1
Horowitz 1
Howarth 1
Howells 1
Jenkins 1
M Ball 1
Price 1
Redhead 1
Rimmer 1
Simpson 1
Swearts 1
Tovey 1
Van Der Roost 1
Wood 1
Yorke 1

Can you also let us know how many other pieces were suggested, but scored less than 7, and fell outside the top 100

It would also be interesting to know how many people voted for each one, as there could be quite a wide variation, with 10 points being available for a No 1 place, eg a count of 100 could be made up of votes from only 10 people, or 100 placing it tenth on their list.

There was 139 pieces in total voted for Peter. Hopefully soon the whole spreadsheet will be available to peruse at your leisure I'm away for a lie-down now 8)

 

[Maestro]

If you're at a loss at what to do now for entertainment, you could always let us know who voted for what piece :roll: :twisted: :wink:

 

[dyl]

Composer total
Sparke 11
Ball 10
Wilby 8
Gregson 6
Vinter 6
etc.

Congratulations Mr. Sparke! Officially tMP's favourite composer of test-pieces!

 

[BreadOfHeaven]

BUT.... if you look at this way......

Composer and TOTAL points

Ball 700
Wilby 679
Sparke 608
Bourgeois 424
Graham 279
Heaton 174
Vinter 162
Gregson 152
Lloyd 107
Ellerby 89
McCabe 79
Gay 68
Jenkins 65
Redhead 63
Howells 59
Fletcher 53
Golland 41
Steadman-Allen 36
Tovey 29
Goffin 26
Simpson 25
Richards 24
Swearts 21
Ireland 19
Butterworth 17
Horowitz 17
Bingham 14
Bliss 14
Dobson 14
Howarth 12
M Ball 12
Arnold 11
Buller 10
Farnon 10
Wood 10
Ballisat 9
Bantock 9
Downie 9
Bath 8
Price 8
Van Der Roost 8
Holst 7
Rimmer 7

Lies, dammed lies and statistics

 

[Anglo Music Press]

BUT.... if you look at this way......

Composer and TOTAL points

Ball 700
Wilby 679
Sparke 608

Lies, dammed lies and statistics

I don't think there's ANY need to look at it that way!!!!

I'd like to thank my family, my manager, Malcolm Roberts and all the people, too many to mention, who worked behind the scenes :mrgreen:

 

[euphoria]

Great job - well done.

I find it interesting that none of the top 10 pieces are new (I believe that Revelations must be the newest piece in the top ten, and that is at least 8 years old I think).

I wonder if it takes some years for a test piece to become a true "classic" favourite within the brass community or has the test pieces of the last 8-10 years just not been as good as they used to be?

 

[Accidental]

WOW - fab job Bread 8)
A few surprises, and what a fantastic top 10 (including 4 of my faves, woohoo!). Wouldn't they make a great selection for a cd or own choice contest?!

 

[Gorgie boy]

Well done my man! What a piece of work - you can now stop neglecting your studies and more importantly stop wasting all my income tax!!

It's always interesting to note how some pieces which are topical score well. for example I don't think that 'Tristan' would score so highly if the poll was conducted this time next year. The same could maybe be said for 'Coventry Variations'.

Maybe you should do it again next year, Martyn, just in order to see if my theory's correct!

Paul Drury
Edinburgh Gorgie SA Band

PS I've sent you a very 'anoraky' PM - sorry!

 

[eckyboy]

thanks for a very good poll-highly impressed
Thought Plantagenates would have came higher up the ladder but not surprised with the winner

 

[jambo]

Good work bread.

Doubt i'd hve had the patience for the task so well done.

Great results too, most of my fave's finishing up there...no indian summer in the top ten...surprising eh?

 

[Andy_Euph]

Number 1 = Journey Into Freedom... not complaints here and absolutely fantastic piece, a true band classic and one of my faves