Radio 3 in Concert, Monday 28.04.25: National Youth Orchestra

[edashtav]

My first encounter with conductor, Alpesh Chauhan, a 35 year old Brummie, took my breath away. His direction of the National Youth Orchestra this evening in the Bridgewater Hall was sensationally good.



This is what the conductor has said about his time with the orchestra on-line :

“It’s taken a while to decompress from a brilliant and totally inspiring time with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain over the past couple of weeks - alongside superstar percussionist Jordan Ashman!



Working with some of the best young musicians in the world was seriously special! Impressive beyond belief - congratulations to all involved.”

I listened to Stravinsky’s 1947 Petrushka, the interval talk from NYO players, interspersed with recordings of movements from Janacek’s Mladi, and Jennifer Higdon’s wonderfully cogent Percussion Concerto - a piece I first encountered at the Proms with Evelyn Glennie in charge of a panoply of tuned and untuned percussion and Kirrill Karabits expertly marshalling ‘his’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra which included a posse of percussion ‘extras’. The piece is not bombastic but neither is it bashful; there’s no sentimentality but it not unromantic. There is one movement which conceals several sections and moods. Structurally it’s sophisticated but its material is conservative. The work engages mind and spirit. I’ve heard a dozen percussion concerti and I’d rate it in my top three.

The Stravinsky was remarkable for lucidity and accuracy. As it started, I whispered my wife, “I’m going to hate this piece as I have heard it too often”.

I was utterly wrong!

[smittims]

In contrast, the Petrushka was the only piece I would have wanted to hear out of that programme. I've always found the NYO excellent , so I expect they played it brilliantly. . I've heard some of Jennifer Higdon's music and disliked it so much I'm afraid she's another of those composers I think a waste of our money.

[Ein Heldenleben]

In contrast, the Petrushka was the only piece I would have wanted to hear out of that programme. I've always found the NYO excellent , so I expect they played it brilliantly. . I've heard some of Jennifer Higdon's music and disliked it so much I'm afraid she's another of those composers I think a waste of our money.

Odd programme that - it ended with the massively overplayed Symphonic Dances from West Side Story which is really a curtain raiser in my view.

[edashtav]

In contrast, the Petrushka was the only piece I would have wanted to hear out of that programme. I've always found the NYO excellent , so I expect they played it brilliantly. . I've heard some of Jennifer Higdon's music and disliked it so much I'm afraid she's another of those composers I think a waste of our money.

You are correct re the orchestra's playing of the Stravinsky.

Many critics praise Higdon’s music and shower her with Awards.
from her short biography:

Jennifer Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed and most frequently performed living composers. She is a major figure in contemporary Classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy for her Viola Concerto and a 2020 Grammy for her Harp Concerto. In 2018, Higdon received the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University which is given to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition. Most recently, the recording of Higdon's Percussion Concerto was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

[edashtav]

Odd programme that - it ended with the massively overplayed Symphonic Dances from West Side Story which is really a curtain raiser in my view.

Certainly, the Symphonic Dances are played too often but it’s just the ticket for training orchestras.
It is too meaty for a curtain-raiser. Bernstein tended to play it second, to end the first half of his concerts.
It ends, as the Opera does, with a question mark, unresolved chord. So, it can work as a Terminator: why not?

[Pulcinella]

I was not as taken with Petrushka as ed seems to have been.
I haven't heard of the conductor, and with the concert not being televised have no idea of his conducting style, but it struck me that a tighter rein was needed.
I thought that some of the entries were a bit awry, the ensemble (togetherness) a bit ragged, and some tempo changes rather abrupt/odd (occasionally seeming to throw the players).
That said, there was some lovely playing and detail in the performance.

Nor was I taken with the Higdon, and side with these comments in a review of the Colin Currie recording:

The solo part ... is disappointingly limited in its invention and rhythmic profile, while the orchestral part – a mild distillation of Stravinskian and Coplandesque gestures – is unlikely to set the pulse racing.

Personal circumstances (drugs round in the hospital ward: hoping to be allowed back home later today!) meant that I didn't listen to the Bernstein.

I'm not sure if the players got more involved than usual in activities other than the main concert, or we just heard of them for the first time, but I thought that the idea of there being more members around than needed for this particular repertoire a great idea, enjoyed by all participants and hopefully spreading the word of talented young players outside the concert hall.

[smittims]

Thanks for the info. edashtav, but I'll stick with 'disappointingly limited' which sums up Higdon's music for me better than anything I could write. Her recent viola concerto was like Samuel Barber circa 1939 but without the tunes. 'One of the most acclaimed' and 'a major figure' must be among the most frequently inserted autotexts these days. It reminds me of Woody Allen's 'He's a genius; she's a genius. You ought to meet some stupid people occasionally. You might learn something'.

Am I cynical? Very well then , I am cynical.

[smittims]

Just to be fair I did listen to the Higdon on BBC Sounds. Oh dear; I'm glad I didn't sit up to hear it on Monday evening. I think it was the worst piece of music I've heard for a very long time. I was not at all surprised to hear it had won a Grammy award.

I would however be interested to see in their own words (i.e. not just 'well, I thought it was just great') exactly what qualities anyone who really liked it found in it.

[LMcD]

Just to be fair I did listen to the Higdon on BBC Sounds. Oh dear; I'm glad I didn't sit up to hear it on Monday evening. I think it was the worst piece of music I've heard for a very long time. I was not at all surprised to hear it had won a Grammy award.

I would however be interested to see in their own words (i.e. not just 'well, I thought it was just great') exactly what qualities anyone who really liked it found in it.

Happy to take your word for it!

[richardfinegold]

My first encounter with conductor, Alpesh Chauhan, a 35 year old Brummie, took my breath away. His direction of the National Youth Orchestra this evening in the Bridgewater Hall was sensationally good.



This is what the conductor has said about his time with the orchestra on-line :

“It’s taken a while to decompress from a brilliant and totally inspiring time with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain over the past couple of weeks - alongside superstar percussionist Jordan Ashman!



Working with some of the best young musicians in the world was seriously special! Impressive beyond belief - congratulations to all involved.”

I listened to Stravinsky’s 1947 Petrushka, the interval talk from NYO players, interspersed with recordings of movements from Janacek’s Mladi, and Jennifer Higdon’s wonderfully cogent Percussion Concerto - a piece I first encountered at the Proms with Evelyn Glennie in charge of a panoply of tuned and untuned percussion and Kirrill Karabits expertly marshalling ‘his’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra which included a posse of percussion ‘extras’. The piece is not bombastic but neither is it bashful; there’s no sentimentality but it not unromantic. There is one movement which conceals several sections and moods. Structurally it’s sophisticated but its material is conservative. The work engages mind and spirit. I’ve heard a dozen percussion concerti and I’d rate it in my top three.

The Stravinsky was remarkable for lucidity and accuracy. As it started, I whispered my wife, “I’m going to hate this piece as I have heard it too often”.

I was utterly wrong!

What is a Brummie?

[smittims]

A Brummie is a native of Birmingham (England, not Alabama).

I once lived in Birmingham and when I went there it had not occurred to me that there was such a thing as a Birmingham accent. At first I could not understand what some people were saying. 'Weys yow bin? ' means 'where have you been?'

[edashtav]

A Brummie is a native of Birmingham (England, not Alabama).

I once lived in Birmingham and when I went there it had not occurred to me that there was such a thing as a Birmingham accent. At first I could not understand what some people were saying. 'Weys yow bin? ' means 'where have you been?'