BBC Young Musician of the Year Final

[Hornspieler]

What a terrific performance by the cellist Laura van der Hagen of the Walton Cello Concerto . She is an astonishingly mature artist . I missed the recorder player but I thought she knocked the technically brilliant but mannered pianist into a cocked hat

Messages 9 to 13 on the "semi final" on Platform3 actually refer to the YMOTY final, transmitted tonight.

Would it be a good idea to transfer those posts to this thread? FF please comment.

[Alison]

Laura's musicality and magnetism readily outshone the previous winner IMHO.

Perhaps not a vintage final but an outstanding player has surely emerged.

[rodney_h_d]

.....I don't agree about the cellist.....

Nor do I! I don't know what instruments Mr Pee has played but I would have thought that most string players would have found her playing to be of a very high order!

[MrGongGong]

Nor do I! I don't know what instruments Mr Pee has played but I would have thought that most string players would have found her playing to be of a very high order!

Didn't mr P play in a band with John Williams, Herbie Flowers and Tristan Fry ?

[Hornspieler]

It was a very good performance, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it terrific. I thought she was the best of the three finalists, but I didn't think that this was a vintage final. The pianist seemed terribly mechanical, and the recorder player- well, I'm sorry, but the recorder just doesn't excite me as instrument, however fine the player.

As for the presentation- the universal gushing praise from the CBH and the two blokes with her- (who were they?)- was really over the top. There's nothing wrong with a bit of contsructive criticism. I seem to remember before YM targeted an audience with the attention span of a mosquito, that the presenters would comment on the performances, offering criticism where it was justified. Tonight every performance was apparently the greatest in recorded history.

I totally agree with this comment, Mr Pee.
Regarding the final itself, how on earth did that recorder player win the woodwind section and then get through the semi final? Excrutiatingly out of tune. No evidence to me of any musicianship or musical phrasing.

Just novelty value, I suppose, but what the decision says about the judges sums up the whole contest for me.

Wanabe experts judging wanabe virtuosi.

HS

[Alison]

Perhaps not until Laura figures on Sky Arts will Mr P give the huge credit surely deserved now.

[Barbirollians]

I do agree. The cellist rightly won tonight, but it wasn't a vintage final. And as for the presentational style, I also agree- I don't know who those two were with CBH, or who the other presenter was doing the backstage interviews- or whether she had any musical knowledge whatsoever; but they all seemed to be chosen as much on looks as anything else. And a little constructive criticism wouldn't have gone amiss, rather than insisting that every performance was the greatest in the history of classical music.

I really hope the BBC rethink their approach to Young Musician before the next contest, but I fear it will just get worse rather than better.

I could not disagree more about the cellist . I thought her performance was far from " contained " it was quite superb.

She also goes to a comprehensive school so three extra cheers for her !

[Barbirollians]

HS I did not look at the rest of the panel very closely but Paul Lewis is surely one of the very best UK pianists around ?

[ardcarp]

how on earth did that recorder player win the woodwind section and then get through the semi final? Excrutiatingly out of tune. No evidence to me of any musicianship or musical phrasing.

Oh dear HS. While I respect your views about the rceorder (without necessarily sharing them) I think you're a bit harsh about the young, talented player. I personally enjoyed her playing very much. And a bit of 'note-bending' is part of the recorder player's art. The competition is called Young Musician of the year; so it is perfectly possible to be a fine musician playing something outside the 'standard' set of symphony orchestra instruments plus piano. How about an organist next year????

[mercia]

CBH and the two blokes with her- (who were they?)

Eric Whitacre
Milos Karadaglic

I think