BBC Young Musician 2024

[Ein Heldenleben]

"Hip hooray! It's the BBC way:
The world is a stage, the Beeb is a world of entertainment!"

Did they not describe the earlier broadcast stage of the competition as “the auditions “ ? I’m a bit uneasy about his as I think auditions should be private unless of such stellar quality they deserve broadcast. And the comments should definitely be private.
The whole idea of a panel of three judges opining to camera is straight out of Britain’s Got Talent and that other awful Simon Cowell talent show . At least we don’t have the grumpy” tell is like it is “ judge and the toe curling attempts at amateur psychological analysis which , in itself , is a bad idea with adolescents and young people. The whole TV talent competition genre (including Strictly) is pretty much out of control inflicting permanent damage on participants and run by producers who are only interested in ratings . YM must be very careful not to go too far into these murky waters.
Incidentally for the psychological damage music competitions can inflict watch the wonderful documentary Pianoforte .
There are too many competitions and they do more harm than good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tktn

[oddoneout]

Did they not describe the earlier broadcast stage of the competition as “the auditions “ ? I’m a bit uneasy about his as I think auditions should be private unless of such stellar quality they deserve broadcast. And the comments should definitely be private.
The whole idea of a panel of three judges opining to camera is straight out of Britain’s Got Talent and that other awful Simon Cowell talent show . At least we don’t have the grumpy” tell is like it is “ judge and the toe curling attempts at amateur psychological analysis which , in itself , is a bad idea with adolescents and young people. The whole TV talent competition genre (including Strictly) is pretty much out of control inflicting permanent damage on participants and run by producers who are only interested in ratings . YM must be very careful not to go too far into these murky waters.
Incidentally for the psychological damage music competitions can inflict watch the wonderful documentary Pianoforte .
There are too many competitions and they do more harm than good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tktn

The T&Cs linked earlier does say

The Live Auditions, Quarter Finals, Semi Final and Grand Final will be filmed for broadcast on BBC television.

What used to happen in the past? It's been a while since I watched from beginning to end as I disliked the way the presentation was going - but I don't recollect seeing auditions in the earlier years.
I see that only some of those auditioned are selected on geographical basis, two thirds go through on jury say-so. That to me would suggest needing a jury with considerable depth of musical knowledge, and enough members, to be able to assess properly the merits of what they are hearing and seeing across all instruments.
I'm not convinced either that the new arrangement meets this claim from Suzy Klein*

This year we’ve changed how easy it is for people to enter making it the most accessible, sustainable and democratic competition we’ve staged so far. Shining a light on different geographical regions allows us to showcase the best young classical talent from across the UK.

If the video preliminaries are a new feature then yes, that does make it easier for would-be participants to start the process. What I don't see is how regional is better(given that access to music tuition depends on family resources now, and those are not equal across the country) or that a small generalist jury is preferable to sectionals judged by a suitably clued up jury. Lumping everyone in together and choosing judges from outside the classical world does make it easier to move towards the showbiz approach though, as it all becomes about flashy performance and well known works, rather than how well the talented youngsters can interpret the music and convey that interpretation to the listener.

*https://www.classical-music.com/news...ates-announced

[Serial_Apologist]

I too feel that he inclusion of concertos by British composers would add some relief to the series,especially since there are 20th century British piano concertos quite as good as those by composers from other countries. .

In Russia they always play Russian concertos, in Germany German and Austrian ones,and so on. But in Britain, whenever the event is felt to have an international dimension, I sometimes feel that even the British organisers are ashamed of music by British composers . It's an old prejudice, I think,almost as if its a status symbol to be seen to be cosmopolitan. I think we're the only country (except perhaps India and Japan) that do this. They certainly don't do it in France.

The BBC's opening up to scheduling neglected or overlooked C20 composers and generations during the 1980s and 1990s was one good outcome of the post-serial postmodern reshaping by broadening out. My guess is that the establishment in this country has decided that process to have gone to far and retraction to a sterotyped version of what is supposed to constitute "classical music" is now in order for the "benefit" of the masses. I also detect this in the present-day version of what is presented as "electronica" - very much a watered down, post-Techno sub-order in terms of what the originators achieved with far lesser technical gagetry to hand. A 30-year old acquantance was shocked at "how good" Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jungelinge" was on having me play a tape the other day, not having heard the work previously. I'm digging out some Nono and Berio for his visit tomorrow.

[Roslynmuse]

I too feel that he inclusion of concertos by British composers would add some relief to the series,especially since there are 20th century British piano concertos quite as good as those by composers from other countries. .

In Russia they always play Russian concertos, in Germany German and Austrian ones,and so on. But in Britain, whenever the event is felt to have an international dimension, I sometimes feel that even the British organisers are ashamed of music by British composers . It's an old prejudice, I think,almost as if its a status symbol to be seen to be cosmopolitan. I think we're the only country (except perhaps India and Japan) that do this. They certainly don't do it in France.

It occurs to me that back in the first competition final, three of the four concertos were British - Elgar (cello), Finzi (clarinet) and Gordon Jacob (trombone - admittedly a pretty thin piece next to the other two).

[smittims]

Yes, I especially recall the Finzi, as it had only recently before that received its first commercial recording (on Lyrita, needless to say).

[oddoneout]

I too feel that he inclusion of concertos by British composers would add some relief to the series,especially since there are 20th century British piano concertos quite as good as those by composers from other countries. .

In Russia they always play Russian concertos, in Germany German and Austrian ones,and so on. But in Britain, whenever the event is felt to have an international dimension, I sometimes feel that even the British organisers are ashamed of music by British composers . It's an old prejudice, I think,almost as if its a status symbol to be seen to be cosmopolitan. I think we're the only country (except perhaps India and Japan) that do this. They certainly don't do it in France.

I would argue that playing a few very well known pieces by foreign composers from a limited number of countries and a limited period is hardly cosmopolitan! Not programming British composers(whether of the 20thC or earlier) becomes something of a self fulfilling prophesy when it comes to bums on seats at concerts, and gets worse as financial constraints become ever more limiting. For small choirs with a restricted demographic to draw on for audiences, such as the one I sing with, it can be very frustrating; however much the listeners might enjoy hearing "much loved", rehearsing them repeatedly get tedious - especially if one doesn't like them in the first place!
Which is where R3, if it was doing its job, would come in. It seems particularly perverse when so much is being made of other sidelined composers that at least equal attention is not paid to homegrown ones, or so it seems to me. If some of that repertoire was pushed as much as the likes of Florence Price et al it might become more familiar and "safe".