Brass Band Oberösterrich (Conductor: Günther Reisegger) -

And away we go - we're live for the European Brass Band Championships. It's set to be a real celebration of music making!

An atmospheric opening from Brass Band Oberösterrich which manages the aleatorics with convincing musicality.

Not all textures are managed successfully however, with dense material being quite complicated and not always clear where the focus should be and individual voices dominating.

There are some nice sostenuto moments, but not all entries are 100% secure.

Ensemble is well organised, but there are moments of uncomfortable tuning and intonation issues, especially in muted sections.

Brilliant tuba!

A nice transition into the agitato, but not all detail is heard through this quicker material. The wild swing is handled well, but tuning suffers, particularly in the higher register.

The deciso is big, but a bit heavy handed and not sustained enough for me - we could do with more phrase to really bring the chorale to life.

Good dynamic effects drive to a colourful conclusion and a very large last chord, including outward facing instruments.

A fine marker for this wonderful event and what a wonderful world premier! But a real testament to just what a challenging work this is all around the stand. We're in for a great show this afternoon.