I've just watched the finals of this year's competition on BBC TV. Five finalists, one from each orchestral section plus a pianist, played the following concerti: Piano - Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Euphonium - Concerto by someone whose name I forgot to write down, re-arranged for full orchestra by the composer from the brass band original version Oboe - Strauss Oboe Concerto Percussion - Jimmy MacMillan's concerto "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel" Cello - Shostakovich Concerto No.1 The piano was OK but failed to hold my attention fully. The euphonium, oboe and percussion were all excellent - difficult to choose between them. The cellist broke his top string only a minute or so in, and had to re-start. He obviously played very well, but to me he didn't seem to project enough or dominate in the way the soloist needs to all the way through this marvellous concerto. I couldn't decide if it was him or if the BBC sound engineers (who must have had some rapid readjustments to make after the MacMillan) weren't doing him justice. The audience reaction suggested strongly that the BBC were at fault. The cellist began with a broken hair dangling off his bow. When he broke the string and had to go off to change it, he came back with the broken hair still there - strange that he didn't find a moment to tweak it off. At the end of the first movement there must have been twenty or thirty broken hairs dangling off each end of the bow - more than I think I've ever seen. Cellists among us - is a new string harder on the bow than a well-used one? What - if anything - does all this tell us about the player's preparation or the state of his equipment or the way he plays? The vox pop interviews afterwards suggested strongly that the cellist will win it. The result isn't announced for another half hour or so. Curiously, the BBC broadcast the performances on TV and on Radio 3 - but not simultaneously. The TV was running approximately one concerto behind the radio. As I was cooking dinner during the percussion concerto (fillet steaks, oven-roasted Mediterranean vegetables, stir-fried cardamon and lemon flavoured curly kale, baked potatoes and a madiera sauce) and moving between the kitchen (TV) and dining room (radio), I found this rather confusing (and suggestive of Charles Ives). I can't imagine why the BBC couldn't manage a simultaneous broadcast. Not all that many years ago, BBC TV showed heats and section finals in full as well as the concerto final, and all at early evening times. This year, they showed section finals only, after 11pm, and the final from 5.30 to 8.30. The section finals don't show the players' full programmes any more, just edited extracts, and even those are broken up by interviews and film clips about the musicians' home lives and hobbies etc.. And the BBC aren't dumbing down, no, of course not, how could you possibly suggest such a thing . . . As predicted, the cellist won. Watch out for the name: Guy Johnstone. Ian Crisp [log in to unmask]