Prom 13 - 21.07.13: National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30pm – c. 9.45pm
Royal Albert Hall

Sean Shepherd
Magiya (10 mins)
BBC co-commission with Carnegie Hall: European premiere
Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto (33 mins)
INTERVAL
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 10 in E minor (45 mins)

Joshua Bell violin
National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America
Valery Gergiev conductor

Tonight's prom is the UK debut of the newly-formed National Youth Orchestra of the USA under conductor Valery Gergiev. The concert opens with the European premiere of American composer Sean Shepherd's Magiya, inspired by Russian musical traditions. Violinst Joshua Bell is soloist in Tchaikovsky's ever popular Violin Concerto, and the Prom ends with Shostakovich's mighty 10th Symphony.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Can any of our American friends tell us more about this new youth orchestra?

[bluestateprommer]

Can any of our American friends tell us more about this new youth orchestra?

Not much more than what's readily on view here (sorry):

http://www.carnegiehall.org/Education/National-Youth-Orchestra-of-the-United-States-of-America/

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not much more than what's readily on view here (sorry):

http://www.carnegiehall.org/Educatio...es-of-America/

Appreciated nevertheless. Thank you.

[Petrushka]

Did anybody listen?

[Barbirollians]

Yes I enjoyed it . Joshua Bell always seems to give eminently civilised and musical interpretations but seldom very exciting .

The Shostakovich 10 sounded like the young players were having the time of their lives . The new piece was unobjectionable but rather unmemorable .

[pilamenon]

The Shostakovich 10 sounded like the young players were having the time of their lives .

I was underwhelmed. The ominous feeling was missing at the start, and in the scherzo. I then gave up... perhaps it got better. I was also a bit disappointed the last time I heard Valery Gergiev conduct Shostakovich at the Proms, in the 8th with the LSO.

[Barbirollians]

I was underwhelmed. The ominous feeling was missing at the start, and in the scherzo. I then gave up... perhaps it got better. I was also a bit disappointed the last time I heard Valery Gergiev conduct Shostakovich at the Proms, in the 8th with the LSO.

I know what you mean about Gergiev's interpretation but I enjoyed the spirit , commitment and virtuosity .with which the young orchestra played .

[pilamenon]

Agreed.

[bluestateprommer]

Well, as one of the token Americans here, I suppose that I should weigh in, FWIW (i.e. not much ). By the very, very highest standards, the NYO-USA was good to very good, especially given that the young musicians have been together as an ensemble for less than a month, so that this must be like a high intensity music summer camp for them. They were perhaps more at ease in the first half, especially with the new work, perhaps because they didn't know any better and had no preconceptions toward it. The Sean Shepherd opener was OK, but nothing special to my ears. But he is young, and no doubt will grow as a composer, so one can't begrudge him this high-exposure opportunity, and willingness to put himself on the line. In the Tchaikovsky, I'm in agreement with the earlier comment on the nature of Joshua Bell's performance, in that it was well tuned and neatly delivered, but didn't seem to catch fire. That is, until the finale, where at some point, I got the sense that Bell kind of threw caution to the winds, and while there were some scruffy bits in the heat of the moment, the concerto came to greater life in the finale, IMHO.

In the Shostakovich, we did get applause after the 1st movement. Perhaps in reaction to that, Gergiev had relatively short pauses between the 2nd and 3rd, and later 3rd and 4th, movements, perhaps to forestall inter-movement audience applause. The solo horn did have some unfortunate bobbles of the "Elmira" theme in the slow movement, which I put down to very understandable nerves. Likewise, the brass did slip towards the high energy conclusion. But never mind, as the orchestra acquitted themselves quite nicely overall, and must have been thrilled at the sense of occasion.

Oh, and the encore gives something that I never thought I would live to hear, namely Valery Gergiev conducting Gershwin, an abridgement of selections from Porgy and Bess, complete with banjo in the orchestral portion of "I Got Plenty o'Nuttin", which got a bit of a laugh from the audience.

[Dave2002]

I didn't know about this Prom until I read about it here. I don't think the Listen Again/iPlayer feature is working properly yet. I went to the schedule to find the second half, and heard the end of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, which certainly sounded very good, and also the lovely encore (arranged Tchaikovsky).

I could have listened right through, but there didn't seem to be anyway of skipping directly to appropriate points in the programme, so I assume that something isn't working as it should.

[Mr Pee]

http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/prom-13-national-youth-orchestra-america-gergiev

[mercia]

Shostakovich 10 seems to have become a favourite youth orchestra piece, for some reason
...... well this was the third time at a proms by a youth orchestra anyway

[amateur51]

http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical...merica-gergiev

I wonder at what stage in rehearsals this youth orchestra encountered Gergiev and his tooth-pick?

[PJPJ]

I'd quite like to listen to the first part of this concert but iplayer isn't working for me (again).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0375pfs/BBC_Proms_2013_Prom_13_National_Youth_Orchestra_of_the_United_States_of_America/

Does this work for anyone? If not, please click on "report issue".....