Leyland Band placed 6th in the order of merit at the 2015 Brass in Concert Championships, and the band’s Ashley Jeffers is awarded Best Baritone prize.
Drawn to play off the dreaded number 1 slot, the band had an early start arriving at the Sage, Gateshead just after 8:00am, and were quickly set up and rehearsing.
The band opened the competition with a flourish of fanfare cornets at the beginning of Ray Farr’s arrangement “Intrada, Ein Feste Burg” followed by sonorous bass and middle band sounds, building to huge climax.
Next up was a new arrangement by John Doyle of his namesake, Patrick Doyle’s hymn “Faith in Our Fathers” featuring the quintet of John, Rebecca Doyle, James McLeod, Chris Doran and Pete Shaw. A reflective setting enhanced by a poignant visual tribute to some brass band legends who have passed away in recent years.
Ashley on top
Another of the band’s lead players, principal baritone Ashley Jeffers, featured heavily in the band’s next offering, Howard Snell’s brilliant arrangement of Percy Grainger’s “Molly on the Shore“. Ably assisted by 2nd baritone Alec Banks, Ashley was on stunning form and was rightly rewarded with the award of Best Baritone performance of the championships.
Brave Gamble
The most daring item in the program was the penultimate piece, “The Hummningbrrd“, again arranged by John Doyle for the band’s euphonium soloist James McLeod. James was accompanied by Matt Denny switching from bass trombone to bass guitar, with the rest of the band on their feet singing the whacky and catchy vocals.
The final offering from the band was a work commissioned by Leyland Band by young composer Christopher Bond titled “Sprites & Flares“, a bold and dynamic piece driving to a massive finale.
Conductor Thomas Wyss was delighted with the band’s performance – “the band have worked incredibly hard with two concerts in the week leading up to BIC, plus extra rehearsals, and the quality of the performance today reflects that. It’s another step in the development of the band, which we will carry into 2016”.
There wasn’t much time to dwell on the performance though, as the band were on the move again by 11:00am, travelling from the east coast to the west coast for an afternoon concert in the beautiful St Michael’s church in Workington.