BBC Young Musician Final at Symphony Hall by Christopher Morley

-
Whether or not one approves of the gimlet-eyed exposure of glitzy music competitions, as opposed to the charmingly modest nature of local competitive festivals, it's undeniable that events such as the BBC Young Musician offer students at the highest level of talent a valuable opportunity of making music with supportive, expert professionals.
And the warmth oozing from the CBSO under conductor Mark Wigglesworth at Sunday's final celebrating the 40th anniversary of the biennial event was palpable, generous to each of the three finalists in turn. None of these youngsters appeared fazed by the fact the goings-on in this packed hall were being recorded for television relay and radio broadcast later in the evening (the social media-users among us were sworn not to divulge the result until at least 9.30pm).
Instead the trio were relishing performing alongside one of the world's greatest orchestras in one of the world's greatest concert-halls, and they all took their opportunity with aplomb.
18-year-old cellist Maxim Calver, calm and composed, interacted attentively with the orchestra in an elegant account of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. Another 18-year-old, Robert Burton, played with character, zest, and a huge dynamic range in Paul Creston's Concerto for Alto Saxophone.
But it was a 16-year-old, Lauren Zhang, a Saturday student at Royal Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, who made the jaw drop to the floor with her stunningly assured account of Prokofiev's stamina-sapping and finger-crunching Second Piano Concerto, a triumph of mental- and muscle-memory.
She was a deservedly popular winner, presented with the trophy by Sheku Kanneh-Mason, winner of the 2016 Final at a similar age, and who had just regaled us with a movingly inward finale to Elgar's Cello Concerto.
The rest of Lauren's week was taken up with GCSE exams at her King Edward VI High School for Girls in Edgbaston. This whole event really trumpeted Birmingham to the rest of the world.
Christopher Morley

Popular posts from this blog

Jacquie Lawson e-card music

-
THE MUSIC BEHIND THE E-CARDS MIKE HUGHES-CHAMBERLAIN AND JACQUIE LAWSON E-CARDS by Christopher Morley It's always a joy when an e-greetings card plops into your inbox, not least at festive times of the year. It's easy to understand why the sending of these cyber-messages has become so popular, given the huge cost of postage nowadays At the forefront of this trend are the e-cards produced by Jacquie Lawson, and in addition to the attractive artwork, witty and sensitive storylines, and interactive opportunities offered by these little gems, comes the input of music, atmospheric and appropriate. Whether specially composed or arranged from other sources, these sound-pictures are masterminded by Mike Hughes-Chamberlain, who has made the seamless connection between a musical education and Information Technology in order to create scores for these scores of delightful little gems. He was brought up in Hindhead in Surrey, where his mother founded a music school in 1975.
Read more

Some Enchanted Evenings at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne

-
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY ENJOYED THREE ENCHANTED EVENINGS AT EASTBOURNE'S GRAND HOTEL SOME ENCHANTED EVENINGS Appassionata at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne ***** Eastbourne's breathtakingly magnificent Grand Hotel, so imposing yet also so welcoming, has an impressive roster of visiting musicians since its opening in 1875. Among the many luminaries who have crossed its portals are Debussy (who completed La Mer here), Kreisler, Caruso, Nellie Melba, Ysaye, Paul Robeson, Myra Hess… the list goes on. Latest to join them is the young vocal quartet Appassionata, who, together with pianist Will Sharma, presented a three-night entertainment "Some Enchanted Evenings" at the end of March. It began with baritone Matthew Siveter, already a much-loved veteran of Gilbert and Sullivan productions, presenting his one-man show "A Source of Innocent Merriment", drawing material from the likes of G&S themselves, Noel Coward, Flanders and Swann, Tom Lehrer, as well as d
Read more
-
  Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra 80 th   anniversary concert Birmingham Town Hall   5 stars *****   Eighty years is a ripe age for any orchestra, and two years after Covid scuppered the planned anniversary concert, the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra didn’t stint on what was actually its 82 nd  birthday celebration. The BPO had assembled a chorus specially for the occasion, and with representatives from (among others) Birmingham Bach Choir, Wolverhampton Chamber Choir, Dudley Choral Society and Walsall Choral Society, what was billed as a birthday party for the West Midlands’ pre-eminent amateur orchestra actually served as a much wider showcase for regional amateur music making at its most buoyant.    You wouldn’t have guessed that this was an  ad hoc  choir: tuning was secure, ensemble was tight and the tone glowed, especially up top. With the entire first half devoted to Elgar’s  The Music Makers –  the last masterpiece thar Egar created specifically to be sung here in Birmingh
Read more