The 158th annual British Open Brass Band Championship (2010)

WorldofBrass.com

WorldofBrass.com

Active Member
From 4barsrest;
Peter Graham's work Standing on the Shoulders of Giants has been selected for the British Open Championship that will take place at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Saturday 4th September.

The work was commissioned by Cory Band for its own choice selection at the European Championship in Ostende in 2009, and helped them on their way to retaining their title.


This performance is on both our CDhttp://www.worldofbrass.com/acatalog/25026.html and DVD of Highlights from the European Brass Band Championships 2009.

Cory Band have since made a studio recording of the work which appears on their latest recording Triumphant Brass. It appears on this recording under the name On the Shoulders of Giants which we understand is the title under which the work will be published.
 
ploughboy

ploughboy

Active Member
And are Cory appearing at this years Open?

Then why chose a piece (again) that will lead to bands pointing to an unfair advantage for one particular band! There are so many great pieces & composers out there I think there is no need to pick a work written specifically for one band.
 
Mr_Euniverse

Mr_Euniverse

Member
BRITISH OPEN 2010
BandConductorWorldRanking
CoryDr R. Childs1
FodensG Cutt2
Black DykeProf. N. Childs3
Grimethorpe CollieryA Withington4
Brighouse & RastrickD King5
LeylandP Harper6
Rothwell TemperanceD Roberts7
Tredegar I Porthouse8
Fairey BandR Grey9
Carlton Main FrickleyP McCann10
Desford CollieryS Roberts11
Co-operative FuneralcareM Fowles14
Hepworth (Cookson Homes)TBC14
WhitburnS Mead18
KirkintillochS Simonsen21
Virtuosi GUSJ Berryman25
Tongwynlais TemperanceN Seaman28
Brisbane Excelsior?TBC51



LUSH!
 
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Bass Trumpet

Bass Trumpet

Active Member
ploughboy said:
And are Cory appearing at this years Open?

The why chose a piece (again) that will lead to bands pointing to an unfair advantage for one particular band! There are so many great pieces & composers out there I think there is no need to pick a work written specifically for one band.
Click to expand...

Nobody's got the money (or spine) to commission new music for contests any more. All the new pieces written at the moment are commissioned by specific bands to use for specific purposes and commissioned from tried and tested sources.

And the last time anything even remotely challenging was used in a contest, Judith Bingham's Prague received such a response that the banding movement has lost any credibility it had in the (much) bigger music world.

Could anybody tell me, when was the last time a piece was commissioned for a contest? And, when was the last time the commissioned composer wasn't Philip Wilby, Philip Sparke, Peter Graham or Martin Ellerby?

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.....:biggrin:
 
Mr_Euniverse

Mr_Euniverse

Member
All they need to do is to look at the European Championships. So many new pieces being played as set and own choices but never seen the light of day in Britain. So they don't always have to look at commissioning.

However, to get audience to come they need an attraction. Peter, Philip and Phillip do do it very well and will attract.
If the piece was written by a more complex/avant garde composer say.. Aagart-Neilsson. Would they expect to sell tickets? This would be very a risky business decision.

However, could we see a commission by Karl Jenkins sometime? His euphonium concerto certainly has been really popular.
Now that'd be sooooooo good, and not in the slightest bit risky. Anyone listening.....?
 
HBB

HBB

Active Member
Bass Trumpet said:
Nobody's got the money (or spine) to commission new music for contests any more. All the new pieces written at the moment are commissioned by specific bands to use for specific purposes and commissioned from tried and tested sources.

And the last time anything even remotely challenging was used in a contest, Judith Bingham's Prague received such a response that the banding movement has lost any credibility it had in the (much) bigger music world.

Could anybody tell me, when was the last time a piece was commissioned for a contest? And, when was the last time the commissioned composer wasn't Philip Wilby, Philip Sparke, Peter Graham or Martin Ellerby?

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.....:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Simon Dobson for the Scottish Open? :)
 
JJ

JJ

New Member
Mr_Euniverse said:
BRITISH OPEN 2010
BandConductorWorldRanking
CoryDr R. Childs1
FodensG Cutt2
Black DykeProf. N. Childs3
Grimethorpe CollieryA Withington4
Brighouse & RastrickD King5
LeylandP Harper6
Rothwell TemperanceD Roberts7
Tredegar I Porthouse8
Fairey BandR Grey9
Carlton Main FrickleyP McCann10
Desford CollieryS Roberts11
Co-operative FuneralcareM Fowles14
Hepworth (Cookson Homes)TBC14
WhitburnS Mead18
KirkintillochS Simonsen21
Virtuosi GUSJ Berryman25
Tongwynlais TemperanceN Seaman28
Brisbane Excelsior?TBC51



LUSH!
Click to expand...

Where is this info coming from?

Brisbane back again in 2010??

Also some strange band/conductor assertions???
 
Mr_Euniverse

Mr_Euniverse

Member
Yes, I should have thought before I posted it. They are all my own assertions i.e. the conductors that have conduct them last. Even the rankings will be different soon.

Just ignore most of the post, in fact ignore all of it.

I heard though the piece isn't going to be available for purchase until July. Now is that fair (if it's right!)?
 
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Aidan

Aidan

Active Member
Bass Trumpet said:
Could anybody tell me, when was the last time a piece was commissioned for a contest? And, when was the last time the commissioned composer wasn't Philip Wilby, Philip Sparke, Peter Graham or Martin Ellerby?
Click to expand...
Little bit short sighted here? You don't have to look very far... Every year at the europeans just being one example.
 
JJ

JJ

New Member
Mr_Euniverse said:
Yes, I should have thought before I posted it. They are all my own assertions i.e. the conductors that have conduct them last. Even the rankings will be different soon.

Just ignore most of the post, in fact ignore all of it.

I heard though the piece isn't going to be available for purchase until July. Now is that fair (if it's right!)?
Click to expand...

No issue, your very well deserved enthusiasm is totally understandable

What a brilliant time you've enjoyed of late..........

Is your assertion regarding Nigel Seaman's engagement for the open official?
 
Bass Trumpet

Bass Trumpet

Active Member
Aidan said:
Little bit short sighted here? You don't have to look very far... Every year at the europeans just being one example.
Click to expand...

Well, I am short sighted as a matter of fact ;)

The point I was trying to make, is that there are much fewer commissions nowadays than there were 10/20 years ago and the commissions tend to often go in the direction of the same small pool of composers. As a movement, we seem to be going through a 'safe' period, with very few contest organisers wanting to take risks for fear of upsetting the die-hards.
 
brassneck

brassneck

Active Member
Bass Trumpet said:
Well, I am short sighted as a matter of fact ;)

The point I was trying to make, is that there are much fewer commissions nowadays than there were 10/20 years ago and the commissions tend to often go in the direction of the same small pool of composers. As a movement, we seem to be going through a 'safe' period, with very few contest organisers wanting to take risks for fear of upsetting the die-hards.
Click to expand...

Duncan, choices for the Scottish Open have went to emerging composers such as Pete Meechan and now Simon Dobson. I would expect that the financial resources of the British Open are bigger than the Scottish, so there is no real reason why others such as Nigel Clarke cannot be commissioned.
 
S

simonium

Member
ploughboy said:
And are Cory appearing at this years Open?

Then why chose a piece (again) that will lead to bands pointing to an unfair advantage for one particular band! There are so many great pieces & composers out there I think there is no need to pick a work written specifically for one band.
Click to expand...

Clearly there's no duplicity, disingenuousness or confusion. There's obviously two different pieces - "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" and the entirely unrelated, totally distinct "On The Shoulder Of Giants".

On a more serious note I wonder why the need to change the title. Everybody knows it's a Cory commision, specifically composed for their particular squad of star players, so why the hints it's not a level playing field?
 
Gavin

Gavin

Supporting Member
simonium said:
Clearly there's no duplicity, disingenuousness or confusion. There's obviously two different pieces - "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" and the entirely unrelated, totally distinct "On The Shoulder Of Giants".

On a more serious note...
Click to expand...

I like what you did there! It would be funny to see someone try to argue that point! However, it must be a typing error on someone's part unfortunately. When we played it at Cory it was called "On the Shoulders of Giants", it's currently for sale on Peter Graham's website as "On the Shoulders of Giants" and the news item on www.thebritishopen.net also clearly says "On the Shoulders of Giants".

"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" is part of the quote Peter Graham used as inspiration for the piece.

Gavin
 
Bass Man

Bass Man

Active Member
simonium said:
Clearly there's no duplicity, disingenuousness or confusion. There's obviously two different pieces - "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" and the entirely unrelated, totally distinct "On The Shoulder Of Giants".
Click to expand...

Gavin said:
I like what you did there! It would be funny to see someone try to argue that point! However, it must be a typing error on someone's part unfortunately. When we played it at Cory it was called "On the Shoulders of Giants", it's currently for sale on Peter Graham's website as "On the Shoulders of Giants" and the news item on www.thebritishopen.net also clearly says "On the Shoulders of Giants".

"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" is part of the quote Peter Graham used as inspiration for the piece.

Gavin
Click to expand...

That must be some typo, even the European 2009 CD lists the track as being 'Standing on the Shoulders of Giants'
 
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