Spring Festival Tests Announced
The Mortimer family, the owners and promoters of the British Open series of competitions have announced details of the trio of test-pieces that are to be used at the 2025 Spring Festival. The Championships will be held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Saturday May 10th.
The family is greatly indebted to Artistic Advisor Dr Robert Childs for his guidance on the selections which they state: “renews our ethos of providing challenging musical tests for the bands on audience friendly compositions.” They also confirmed that consideration of duration was given in respect to being able to accommodate 60 performances in three different sections on the day.
Grand Shield: Dances and Arias (Edward Gregson)
In a change to more recent policy, the Grand Shield competitors will perform ‘Dances and Arias’ by Edward Gregson. 2025 marks the 80th birthday of the composer. The music was commissioned for the 1984 National Championships of Great Britain.
Dedicated to the composer’s brother and sister, it is written in one continuous movement, alternating between fast (dance) and slow (aria) sections. Each in turn offer both subtle as well as more defined processes of thematic cross-reference and transformation – the opening dance energetic and vibrant, followed by long cornet led melodic aria. The second dance is a frenetic scherzo, whilst the following aria is a lament led by the euphonium and featuring two flugel horns. The finale is a toccata-like dance that brings the music to a triumphant coda close.
The work has been performed throughout the banding world – including the Norwegian National and All England Masters Championships, the Scottish Open and Swedish National Championships. It has not been previously used at the Spring Festival.
Senior Cup: Terra Australis (Martin Ellerby)
The Senior Cup competitors will perform Martin Ellerby’s ‘Terra Australis’. Written for Prof David King and the YBS Band for their 2005 ‘Kings of Brass’ tour to Australia, it was first used as a contest piece at the 2007 Australian Championships, followed by the 2010 Royal Albert Hall National Championship. It has also been used at the Swiss Open and Belgian National Championships, but not previously at the Spring Festival.
In its tripartite structure it sets out to describe “the beautiful yet dangerous" Australian landscape, the explorations of the new settlers following Captain Cook’s ‘discovery’ and the final establishment of a nation.
Senior Trophy: Fantasy for Brass Band (Malcolm Arnold)
The musical life of composer Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) will also be celebrated with the selection of his 1974 National Final test-piece, ‘Fantasy for Brass Band’ (Op. 114) for the Senior Trophy. The work has been performed extensively across the banding world, most recently at the First Section Butlins Mineworkers Festival in 2017.
Although the work has no narrative inspiration it can be seen to reflect a disturbed time in the composer’s life - the structure of bold fanfare optimism and breezy scherzos built around a central elegy of deep and telling loneliness.
All three test-pieces are currently available from major music publishers.
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