Prom 3: BBC Young Musician 40th Anniversary - 15.07.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00
ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Camille Saint‐Saëns: The Carnival of the Animals
Maurice Ravel: Tzigane
James MacMillan: Britannia
David Bruce: Sidechaining BBC commission: world première
Iain Farrington: Gershwinicity BBC commission: world première
Ben Foster: Fantasia on the Young Musician Theme BBC commission: world première

Nicola Benedetti violin
Jennifer Pike violin
Nicholas Daniel oboe
Ben Goldscheider horn
Alexander Bone saxophone
Jess Gillam saxophone
Alexandra Ridout trumpet
David Childs euphonium
Natalie Clein cello
Guy Johnston cello
Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello
Laura van der Heijden cello
Michael Collins clarinet
Emma Johnson clarinet
Colin Currie percussion
Owen Gunnell percussion
Adrian Spillett percussion
Sam Walton percussion
Martin James Bartlett piano
Freddy Kempf piano
Lara Melda piano

BBC Concert Orchestra
Andrew Gourlay conductor

BBC Young Musician has launched the careers of scores of artists since it began in 1978. We mark the competition's 40th anniversary with the help of an array of previous winners and finalists, joining this year's finalists; and we take a look at the competition's rich history.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Confused?

I am - a little - in not knowing what the ex-winners are going to do.

[oddoneout]

Perhaps the new commissions have been given the task of providing parts for whatever selection of finalists will be available on the night?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I did wonder whether that might be the case.

If I were one of the composers, I might have considered writing "no vibrato" on Emma Johnson's part. She's very much in the Jack Brymer tradition, which I'm not keen on.

[BBMmk2]

What a performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming. I was quite aghast! Percussion being my first sojourn into playing music.

[Barbirollians]

What a performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming. I was quite aghast! Percussion being my first sojourn into playing music.

Seldom have so many fine players been wasted on so much second rate music and guff.

A horribly cut Carnival of the Animals - what was the point of that ?

[jonfan]

Great evening’s entertainment, everyone having a ball. Sir Henry would have approved; fitting to finish with his over the top Great Gate. Good to celebrate the Young Musicians past and present and to thank the BBC for its generous support; thus pointing out the dire condition of music education in state schools today.

[Barbirollians]

Great evening’s entertainment, everyone having a ball. Sir Henry would have approved; fitting to finish with his over the top Great Gate. Good to celebrate the Young Musicians past and present and to thank the BBC for its generous support; thus pointing out the dire condition of music education in state schools today.

To each their own .

[jonfan]

To each their own .

Obviously you weren’t entertained, but you disagree with the rest of my post?

[Bryn]

Obviously you weren’t entertained, but you disagree with the rest of my post?

Oh, come on. What would you expect from someone with such a lack of appreciation of the musical qualities of Reich's Drumming? There again, I have not yet listened to this Prom, so am somewhat perplexed as to how a work of such duration might have fitted in. Perhaps it was just a brief extract.

[Barbirollians]

Oh, come on. What would you expect from someone with such a lack of appreciation of the musical qualities of Reich's Drumming? There again, I have not yet listened to this Prom, so am somewhat perplexed as to how a work of such duration might have fitted in. Perhaps it was just a brief extract.

Lots of brief extracts - and for some reason Nicola Benedetti got the only solo of the night a pretty tepid performance of Tzigane.

The previous winners seemed to be having a ball as did Clemency and Humphrey Burton . I suspect Sir Henry Wood would not have approved of the programme. It was just the sort of thing one might have expected - like an Essential Classics version of BBCYM.

A much better way of celebrating their qualities might have been to have offered each of the past 20 winners/finalists a concerto with the BBCSO over the season .

[Bryn]

Lots of brief extracts - and for some reason Nicola Benedetti got the only solo of the night a pretty tepid performance of Tzigane.

The previous winners seemed to be having a ball as did Clemency and Humphrey Burton . I suspect Sir Henry Wood would not have approved of the programme. It was just the sort of thing one might have expected - like an Essential Classics version of BBCYM.

A much better way of celebrating their qualities might have been to have offered each of the past 20 winners/finalists a concerto with the BBCSO over the season .

I will not argue with your final sentence. It's a bit late for me to watch tonight, but I will catch up via the iPlayer (possibly better definition in its version of HD than the standard broadcast BBC Four, which, as I keep moaning about, is all I can get here via Freeview. BBC1 HD, BBC2 HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD all work perfectly well, but no BBC Four HD.

[LMcD]

I will not argue with your final sentence. It's a bit late for me to watch tonight, but I will catch up via the iPlayer (possibly better definition in its version of HD than the standard broadcast BBC Four, which, as I keep moaning about, is all I can get here via Freeview. BBC1 HD, BBC2 HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD all work perfectly well, but no BBC Four HD.

Interestingly - or do I mean perversely? - Freesat has BBC 4 HD but recently dropped Channel 4 HD. Or is your lack of BBC4 HD a local quirk? Certain parts of the country have a limited choice of Freview channels for various reasons - geographical, meteorological, industrial (if you happen to live too near the docks here) and also, in Scotland, for socio-political reasons.
As for the Young Musicians Prom...if I may use a food-related analogy, it seems that, for some at least, it all added up to a Dim Sum.

[jonfan]

Lots of brief extracts - and for some reason Nicola Benedetti got the only solo of the night a pretty tepid performance of Tzigane.

The previous winners seemed to be having a ball as did Clemency and Humphrey Burton . I suspect Sir Henry Wood would not have approved of the programme. It was just the sort of thing one might have expected - like an Essential Classics version of BBCYM.

A much better way of celebrating their qualities might have been to have offered each of the past 20 winners/finalists a concerto with the BBCSO over the season .

NB had the starring role as she is YM Ambassador. Wood often programmed short pieces in the early days of the Proms to tempt concert goers. Didn’t he call new pieces ‘novelties’? I think yesterday’s concert would be right up his street. No one was there to further their career; other ex YMs are appearing later in the season, eg Mark Simpson and Benjamin Grosvenor. It was very generous of the professionals of the BBCCO to invite finalists from the 2018 competition to join them in their respective sections(is there a more versatile group in the UK?).

[Bryn]

Interestingly - or do I mean perversely? - Freesat has BBC 4 HD but recently dropped Channel 4 HD. Or is your lack of BBC4 HD a local quirk? Certain parts of the country have a limited choice of Freeview channels for various reasons - geographical, meteorological, industrial (if you happen to live too near the docks here) and also, in Scotland, for socio-political reasons.
As for the Young Musicians Prom...if I may use a food-related analogy, it seems that, for some at least, it all added up to a Dim Sum.

The lack of BBC Four Freeview reception here is indeed a local problem. I really should consider Freesat. I have now listened to/watched the performance of Part 1 of Reich's Drumming. I thought the phase transitions were carried out rather too quickly, thus losing much of the phsychoacoustic effect of apparent increasing resonance changing into the perception of separate drum strokes. I suppose the RAH acoustica would have made the transition less clear.

[One good thing to come of this performance of Part 1 of Drumming is that I went in search of details of the first performance I attended (Hayward Gallery 1972). I had already heard a Radio 3 broadcast of the work and we were practicing its basic rhythmic cell in Cardew's Experimental Music Class at Morley College. My search turned up a ver inacurrate report which claimed that Hayward Gallery performance to have been it premier. I am not too sure about some of its claims re. perfromers involved. However, further serching led me to a site advising that the recording of the actual premier had recently been re-issued on both vinyl and polycarbonate. I have just ordered the latter format from Five Rise Records. Whether they actually have it in stock or not, I am not entirely sure. We shall see.]