Young Musicians of the Year

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Anyone watching?

Quite enjoying the auditions, although not sure if it a dumbing down from the previous format.

The presenter and judges are good.

who does everyone like from last week and this week?

Indirectly know some previous winners and judges (haven't asked them what they think yet!) I don't think the new format works as well. There was prestiege in winning your instrument section as well as the final overall winner. It perhaps needed tweaking so the addition of a couple of wild cards from any section would work. Still watching though.

Hi all .

I’m enjoying Wang’s performance.

I am too, though not sure I like this fusion Beethoven/ragtime piece particularly, but I think he plays and performs well

Yes, as I wrote. It changed tempo.

who do you think will get through?

Don't know yet who I want to go through. I didn't hear all of the first competitor

There seems to be a trend for them to play something lighter/popular/different in some way to stand out, but I'm not sure if that's totally their choice or something they feel they need to do nowadays

I thought Jamil was home schooled?

Maybe they have to do something more modern.

He is homeschooled but studies music at the royal academy.

They also said something like he was the first harpist in the semi finals but I don't think that's the case so I must have misheard. It was quite a while ago that there was one though so maybe it was only category level. Lucy Wakeford maybe.

I didn't realise the judges chose which piece to carry through

I do think he’s the judges favourite, and I thought from when I saw him first in the auditions he’s going to win.

Loving this violinist, the Ukraine. Makes the instrument sing.

Well he is going through

I wasn't keen on Jacky's music so that made it hard to compare - i didn't specially want him through but a concerto might be different.

I did like Jamaal and also the cellist and would perhaps have preferred one of them

Meh.
Glad, Shlomi is through but that's about it (I'm a complete layperson however).

I’m also a layperson, and don’t really know anything about classical music.

However, from the finalists, Shlomi is my winner, Wang in second place and Jackie , third.

I wonder what concertos they'll play.
I would have really liked to hear a harp concerto for a change.

I thought Shlomi’s second piece, the Tchaikovsky had far too many mistakes- his intonation was all over the place. I thought it was interesting they didn’t show the beginning and ending of his pieces- something happened with his mute.

Jacky’s style is very forceful in contrast to Ryan who has a much more lyrical way of playing. His Chopin was the outstanding piece of the night. And overall as a musician he’s head and shoulders above the others. The colours that Ryan can bring out in his music are much more sophisticated than Jacky (who I think is a super talented young man in lots of ways and if you follow his musical progress is doing interesting musical things and also finished his A levels at 12!!!)

Jamaal studies at the junior conservatory but was homeschooled. So he doesn’t go to ‘private school’ as such. Just on Saturdays. I think he’s very talented but wasn’t quite in the same league in that semi final. He is very very talented though.

Hugo played exceptionally well as did Maya and I would have put both through ahead of Shlomi. Maya’s Poulenc was the second best piece of the night.

I'm glad someone mentioned the saxophonist. I couldn't understand why she wasn't in conversation for a semi-final place.

People have complained about the lack of instrumental diversity but I think it's ignoring that the general standard this year is stupendous, and the brass players were really not on the same level. None could have justifiably been put through to the semis. Same for the percussionists.

Shlomi, Ryan and Jacqui are all very seasoned international performers, it's rare to have such experienced competitors in the bbc young musicians.
I had them down as the finalists although I agree Shlomi's Tchaikovsky was not the best on the night, but his Debussy was insane. I thought Maya was going through until Jacqui played the Medtner. That level of command is on the level of big international piano competitions, it was hard to argue with. I was surprised they called him ahead of Ryan.

Absolutely love Hugo, he just doesn't quite have the mileage yet and/or fireworks.

My favourite was Hugo right from the start. I find it very hard to judge piano.
I did G7 but my friend would come round and play my piano and make if sound so much better.
Not that interested in the finl tbh

I'm really disappointed with the format, it seems so dumbed down compared to how it used to be. I realise they want to tick the diversity and accessibility boxes, but it's not a patch on how it was in the early days when I was young enough to have entered myself. Far too many inane comments from the judges and commentator and I think it's disrespectful to the competitors who have worked so hard to get to this point. Hours and hours a day of practice.

I'd like to see it return to the 4 sections format (strings, wind, brass, percussion) each judged by national/international specialists of high repute in that particular field.
Quite how the leader of the NYO (Rose Gosney) couldn't get beyond the 1/4 final astonished me, she's clearly a great technician as well as musician. I'm still trying to work that out in my own mind. I did think however that Schlomi made a better sound on his violin even if his performance wasn't as polished overall. Does he have a better violin than her perhaps?

Perhaps it's all down to the editing and I'm being unkind, but I do feel that these youngsters should all be being assessed by the finest specialists in their field, and personally I don't think that's happening in this current format.

Rose didn't pay any attention to her accompanist at all in the qualifying (I was shocked they didn't mention it) and then had tuning issues in the semis, still ignoring her pianist. I thought it was fair.

That’s interesting about the technicalities. As I say, I wouldn’t know if someone played the wrong note, unless obvious, so just go on what I hear. So I guess I could be influenced by the piece of music also.

They definitely should have different and/or additional judges throughout.

It's not worth watching for me without brass, woodwind and percussion as those are the instruments I really enjoy listening to. It's 'discrimination' to not have them in (for me)

I just find piano music boring whoever is playing it. If I'm listening to Classic FM I tend to turn off if some long piano piece comes on.

I find some of the stuff the judges come out with just waffle to fill a void and then they seem to contradict themselves.

I think the judges for the final should be specialists in those instruments.

It would definitely have been good to gave a string specialist on the panel though! I saw what they saw in Shlomi but it seems his technique is controversial so having a string specialist would have been enlightening.
All the semi-finalists were good and there would have been no scandal in any of them going through instead of Jacky or Shlomi.
I think Ryan was a unanimous choice.

I was away over the weekend so had to catch up with the semi final. I was disappointed that Hugo didn't make it as I felt there was a sincerity to his playing that would have made a nice contrast to the hammerklavier technique of Jacky and to a lesser extent Ryan. TBH I wasn't as impressed by Jacky's performance - he should be playing at that level given he's a fourth year at RCM. I'm still not sure its fair to have someone who has spent everyday of the last 3 years doing nothing but piano competing against the likes of Ryan and Hugo who go to more "normal" schools and presumably have to make their public exams their main focus. I also warmed to Hugo as he was the only one who looked nervous sitting there before he went on......

I really don't like the new format. Previously the final five or 6 in each category could call themselves a category finalist which is a better reflection of where they are then an "I got called for the televised auditions stage but not the quarter finals" and then someone in each category gets recognition as the category finalist ie the best string player in the competition etc etc. It also means that they can have specialist judges so controversial issues like poor technique are picked up on and then the specialist jury decide if the musicianship counterbalances the technique or not. I also think the new format is discriminatory against the brass and wind players who simply cannot physically practice for anything like the same amount of time as strings and piano. I'm just hoping that the conductor is on the jury for the final so there are two decent musicians contributing to the decision.

Anybody watching the grand final tonight? Any thoughts so far?

I'm surprised they allowed both pianists to play the pieces. I guess the judges can pick out the differences and nuances between the pieces but I certainly wouldn't be able to!

So far, and even before tonight's final kicked off, Shlomi is my choice. Such passion and depth in his playing. He is a star.