Great Orchestral Bake Off

[Barbirollians]

Leominster (in Herefordshire) is pronounced "Lemster".

In each case, however, I ask why?, as I wonder how many people from outside the counties concerned (never mind from outside the country in which they're situated) could possible guess; it's Cholmondeley and Featherstonehaugh all ove again...

Watching that semi final the London Gay Symphony Orchestra had to go . It was painful to listen to. The poor soloist struggled and they did not follow his tempo . Probably the hardest concerto though as much the most familiar of the three .

[oddoneout]

I very much enjoyed seeing the 'non-standard' concert venue of the Devon orchestra. Sitting in sunshine on benches outside the Lifeboat station wasn't great for acoustics,but what a backdrop, and what a good way to enable young families to enjoy hearing the music, and also reach passers-by.
Stirling amused me with their opportunity to 'dance in the aisles' of Dunblane cathedral, which might have raised a few eyebrows, but again helps to remove the 'stuffiness' of a concert. There was also the space to allow the piper to walk slowly into the music of the 'concerto'(I'm not sure that that P M-D piece is a concerto? But then there's not a lot of choice for bagpipes in the orchestral repertoire...)
It was a pity about the LGSO not rising to the occasion for the soloist, but it looked as if on a personal level that was cancelled out by what he got from the experience. For them, as indeed for all the finalists, there is the opportunity to learn from watching and listening to themselves and from having had objective professional input from Chi-Chi Nwanoku and Paul Daniel, and so hopefully increase their level of performance and enjoyment.

[kernelbogey]

I was moved by last night's final episode - especially the finale in the ROH, and the performance by the winning orchestra (avoiding spoiler here) at the Proms in the Park.

I would have liked more throughout about the coaching and the orchestras' learning, and fewer shots of the players at home and so on: but recognise that this was conceived as entertainment tv rather than a specialist music programme.