BBC Young Musician of the Year Finals - BBC Four

[DracoM]

Totally agree about the poor tuba player - what terrible on-air sound.
Just hope the judges got it direct, because we didn't IMO

[ardcarp]

Percussion Final

Hugely impressed by the standard of musicianship as shown by the on-air potted version. Look forward to seeing the whole thing on i-player. Particularly spectacular was the solo Persian [?] drum plus vocals and a bit of acting. I'd love to hear Gongers' comments on it.

After the brilliance of the keyboard finalists, I felt a bit indifferent about woodwind and brass. But this one was, for me, definitely back up to scratch.

[Nick Armstrong]

Hugely impressed by the standard of musicianship as shown by the on-air potted version. Look forward to seeing the whole thing on i-player. Particularly spectacular was the solo Persian [?] drum plus vocals and a bit of acting. I'd love to hear Gongers' comments on it.

Me too, astonishing wasn’t it? A world away from my usual listening but I couldn’t take my ears (and eyes) off it

[Barbirollians]

First time Ive agreed with the judges!

Interesting - I thought the judges entirely right in the brass and piano finals - I did not agree with their woodwind choice.

[jonfan]

Me too, astonishing wasn’t it? A world away from my usual listening but I couldn’t take my ears (and eyes) off it

Agree, no idea how to judge any of this. Again, a bunch of dedicated, thoroughly nice brilliant people. For what it’s worth I liked the last one best of all.

[ardcarp]

The judging must be very difficult. Much percussion repertoire is recently composed, and the marimba seems so prominent in the Competition. I'm not quite sure what my point is, but given that technical musicianship (i.e. the nuts and bolts of rhythm) is a sine qua non of being a good percussionist, it seems hard to put a cigarette paper between the contestants on that score. I look forward to seeing the complete performances.

[Dave2002]

Agree, no idea how to judge any of this. Again, a bunch of dedicated, thoroughly nice brilliant people. For what it’s worth I liked the last one best of all.

I liked 2,3 and 5 most - but they were all very good. The outstanding performance was the vocal+drum one. This was an amazing programme, and I probably should find time to watch more of these performances.

[MrGongGong]

The judging must be very difficult..

I think it is
but not impossible
It's NOT a competition to judge technical skill but all-round abilities
the folks I know who have been in it (and some who won) are all extraordinary players so one would take that as read.

The other things aren't impossible to make a call on IMV

[Oakapple]

It must be much the same when percussionists are auditioned for an orchestra. I'm not keen on the sort of marimba music that relentlessly goes binga-bonga-binga-bonga. At least the winner's piece had more variety than that and I think that helped him to win, although the 5th player got my vote. Maybe the 3rd player would have won if he'd used an English translation; as it was it just sounded like random shouting to me. Vaughan Williams' 8th symphony is good for percussionists and I especially love the vibraphone at the beginning.

[ardcarp]

Maybe the 3rd player would have won if he'd used an English translation; as it was it just sounded like random shouting to me.

Not random shouting at all. Regardless of the language (and aren't we allowed Schubert in German, Faure in French?) it was the syllabic rhythm that was as important as the drum. Think Facade, for instance. A real tour de force IMVHO. Let's hope he'll go on to be one of the famous non-winners!

[jonfan]

A stand out winner in the string finals, a superbly communicative musician. Closely followed by the harp IMHO. A very disinterested 'expert' with Anna Lapwood, she could have done far better without him and she probably wished he'd never turned up. Possibles for the final: piano, horn and violin?

[visualnickmos]

A stand out winner in the string finals, a superbly communicative musician. Closely followed by the harp IMHO. A very disinterested 'expert' with Anna Lapwood, she could have done far better without him and she probably wished he'd never turned up. Possibles for the final: piano, horn and violin?

Who was he, anyway ? I'm not so sure about the winner; yes - stunning playing - but where was the 'human touch ?'

[Dave2002]

I think it is
but not impossible
It's NOT a competition to judge technical skill but all-round abilities
the folks I know who have been in it (and some who won) are all extraordinary players so one would take that as read.

The other things aren't impossible to make a call on IMV

Isn't it also the case that the judges actually see some of the run up performances too, so they can decide whether particular musicians have specially good technical skills, or very good interpretive skills before the finals, or before the "potted for TV" versions get put out? That would explain some of the apparent anomalies in some of the highlight programmes. That might count as prejudice, but might also be considered to be "better informed".

[Rolmill]

Who was he, anyway ?

Matthew Trusler.

Jonfan, disinterested yes (as he should be), but uninterested is perhaps a little unfair - he was glowing in his praise for the eventual winner, for example. I read it as naturally understated + slightly nervous = wooden appearance.

I fully agreed with the winner in this category - as I did with the brass and percussion, but not the woodwind or the piano categories.

[ardcarp]

I deliberately avoided the 'potted' version (thus avoiding the un- dis- interested 'expert') and having heard the full concert, I was pretty impressed with both the harpist and the winning violinist. How do you begin to compare them though?

I can't remember how the semi-final works....do all the category winners play different repertoire? I do hope so. I get slightly bored by the Carmen/Carnival of Venice virtuoso-variation-type things.