Has anybody else on the list been following the BBC Young Musician of the
Year 2002 competition?

(BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusicians/ - concerts streamed
through Real Audio and played on BBC Radio 3; televised on digital BBC4
and highlights today on BBC TV2)

Although in many ways it is an awful competition, pitting percussionists
against pianists, woodwind, brass and string players, it is fascinating
seeing just how good these young players are.  Technique - astounding;
musicianship - of a very high order.

However, there has been an emphasis on the "virtuoso"; I am glad to say
that certainly in woodwind, piano and strings section sheer musicianship
won through; and it was notable how those winners differentiated
themselves, and for me it came down to two things:

1.  Intuitive musical response: it just sounded "absolutely right" from
note 1.  This is incredibly difficult to define, but the most obvious
examples were Jennifer Pike (violin) and Sarah Williamson (clarinet).  The
moment they started playing I listened to the music rather than thinking
about the performance.  It seems to be a combination of micro-timing (the
nuances of phrasing and freedom of expression within timing) and sound
quality.  (To be honest, when I heard that Jennifer Pike was 12 (!!!!!)
I was dreading it, thinking "another flash/bash violinist with fingers
well ahead of brain".  How wrong I was!!)

2.  Dynamic and tonal contrast: some competitors seemed to have a
limited palette of tone colour, dynamic, vibrato, inflexion change which
made their performances seem inelastic and therefore playing the notes
but not rendering the music.  Those who won seemed to naturally use an
appropriate "brush" wherever the music required.

The concerto final is on Sunday 26 May (broadcast on BBC2 TV at 1600 BST)
and webcast simultaneously
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusicians/competition/webcast.shtml).  I can
heartily recommend listening in!  See if you agree.

Dr Christopher Rosevear
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