BBC Young Musician of the Year Finals - BBC Four

[french frank]

I'm not a pianist, but I find this notion rather odd. At least in relation to the two instruments I play, fingerings are very personal: there isn't one right way to finger anything. You settle for a fingering based on the requirements of the piece, but just as much, your own hand and body shape, and--I would say--the way your mind works. What seems natural to one person may not make sense to another. What you do has to be something that seems intuitive to you, so you can play it with ease and fluency.

Interesting. One of the few things I remember my aunt telling me when she tried to get me started on the piano was that you had to avoid using your thumb when possible because it was 'bad' fingering. I do feel though that when players have reached a certain level on an instrument they can probably make their own rules because they have points of comparison.

In guitar playing there's also a concept of 'classical' = standard fingering (you don't use your thumb there either!)

[Panjandrum]

It's a concerto I know well (recently went through a stage of buying lots of recordings and comparing them) and I was struck by the freshness of the interpretation.

You're either a Grieg fanatic or a Building a Library reviewer.

[Firebird]

You're either a Grieg fanatic or a Building a Library reviewer.

Neither! I initially bought a recording by Leif Ove Andsnes, which was of course supposed to be definitive because he's Norwegian and Grieg is Norwegian and this is national conjunction is supposed to do magical things for the performance. I was unsatisfied by it, so bought another recording, and then another, and so on. It wasn't this particular concerto that hooked me, so much as the issues of interpretation. (I've succumbed before, with other concertos.) Whatever else this expensive process did for me in this instance, it convinced of one thing: this notion that a national of the same country as the composer will always be a better interpreter is just nonsense, although one often hears it trotted out as uncontested truth by Radio 3 announcers.

[Mr Pee]

Neither! I initially bought a recording by Leif Ove Andsnes, which was of course supposed to be definitive because he's Norwegian and Grieg is Norwegian and this is national conjunction is supposed to do magical things for the performance. I was unsatisfied by it, so bought another recording, and then another, and so on. It wasn't this particular concerto that hooked me, so much as the issues of interpretation. (I've succumbed before, with other concertos.) Whatever else this expensive process did for me in this instance, it convinced of one thing: this notion that a national of the same country as the composer will always be a better interpreter is just nonsense, although one often hears it trotted out as uncontested truth by Radio 3 announcers.

Well I thought Leif Ove Andsnes' recording was superb, the best I've heard for a long while, but then I also thought that the YM finalist's performance was mechanical and unmusical, and also frequently not together with the orchestra.

[Barbirollians]

I find Firebird's response fascinating . I think the pianist did have something to say but more about himself than Grieg !

[Firebird]

Well I thought Leif Ove Andsnes' recording was superb, the best I've heard for a long while, but then I also thought that the YM finalist's performance was mechanical and unmusical, and also frequently not together with the orchestra.

Andsnes has made at least three recordings of the Grieg, with different orchestras/conductors. I have only one of these; the others may be different, but I didn't feel inclined to invest more in that one performer.

[Pegleg]

For what it's worth, Grieg is next week's COW and they have chosen the Hyperion Hough/Litton recording of the piano concerto. Another one for Firebird's collection?

I always thought the cellist was a likely winner, an individual/musician mature beyond her years who gladly survived the Beeb's attempt to glam her up for the final. That was about as crass as the x-factor presentation.

I felt sorry for the recorder player, whom perhaps was not mentally, or otherwise, expecting to be a finalist. Nor from some brief televised moments did she seem to get particularly sympathetic treatment from Kiril Karabits. I still wonder what went on there.

Call me ignorant and banish me to a corner with a dunce's hat, but I really didn't care for the pianist at all and it was a relief to me that he didn't win.

[Mr Pee]

Call me ignorant and banish me to a corner with a dunce's hat, but I really didn't care for the pianist at all and it was a relief to me that he didn't win.

Well, I'll be joining you there- I agree 100%.

[BBMmk2]

Well, I'll be joining you there- I agree 100%.

Well I would disagree with you there!

[Ariosto]

Pegleg - an excellent post!!

[Ariosto]

Brassbandmaestro

We could fix you up with some theory of musak papers, some aural and ear training tests if you like ...

[verismissimo]

I thought it was a pity that the percussionist didn't make the final. Remarkable musician IMO.

[BBMmk2]

Brassbandmaestro

We could fix you up with some theory of musak papers, some aural and ear training tests if you like ...

Haha! ;)

[Ariosto]

Haha! ;)

I'm going to enrol on the course myself, after trying to play Bach today ... (Bach, you know, that geezer with a spinster in the attic ...)

[Flosshilde]

Didn't he play with the spinster in bed, because she was nice & quiet & wouldn't wake his wife?