BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008
13 May 2008As I said here in May 2006 "I love the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition" so it was eager anticipation that I sat down to watch the broadcast of this year's concerto final. I don't think I would go as far as Susan Tomes who says on the Guardian website "the BBC ruined the Young Musician of the Year" but it was a major disappointment not to be able to watch the five concerto performances in full. This year the concertos were performed un-broadcast on Saturday (though later available on Radio 3 and can now be watched in their entirety at www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusician) and the finalists then returned on Sunday to each play an unaccompanied piece followed by a movement from their concerto. Apart from depriving us of the luxury of five full back-to-back concertos, it also reduced the fun of trying to guess the judges' decision as they had seen more of the finalists than we had. Nevertheless I maintained my record of failing to pick the winner. The performance by twelve-year-old trombonist, Peter Moore (the youngest ever winner) was actually the one I enjoyed the most but I was convinced he wouldn't be the judges' choice. I had narrowed it down to two - neither of whom won! As usual I enjoyed discovering some fantastic pieces of music. I really liked the Tomasi Trombone Concerto and the Flute Concerto by Ibert - neither of which I had heard before - and it was wonderful to hear the Rachmaninov 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'. Do watch the full performances online while you can but don't bother with the 'Grand Final' programme. How sad that the impact of this landmark musical event should be so watered down in its thirtieth anniversary year - I do hope we can return to a full live broadcast of the concert in two years' time.
Labels: BBCYoungMusician, Music, TV
posted by Robin Simpson @ 2:07 pm
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