Reviews
2008
Royal Concert Hall 3rd. March
Some people would say a three-hour concert - even if it is celebrating "The Best of British" - is too much of a good thing. But those who drifted out towards the end missed a major landmark in the NYO's distinguished history, when jazz legend Sir John Dankworth took to the stage and challenged the young players to improvise with him. It brought the house down.
He was there for the world premiere of his Jazz Concerto, commissioned by the NYO and played by top jazz violinist Christian Garrick whose breathtaking ability to improvise was married to the exciting melodic and rhythmic ideas supplied by the composer.
Audience comment:
What an excellent concert. Our 10yr old daughter thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it as did myself and my wife. The NYO performed excellently and didn't seem at all overawed to be playing with the Jazz maestros. John Dankworth and Christian Garrick's evident enjoyment at jamming with the youngsters was a real highlight and a great encouragement for the young musicians. If you missed it you missed a treat. Gareth Dickens, Aspley
Southwell Minster 28th. April
Just when you think that the NYO cannot possibly top their previous astonishing performances, along comes another concert which leaves their audience open-mouthed.
The long silence which conductor James Lowe maintained after the mystical end of Vaughan Williams' London Symphony was just one example of the emotional commitment he expected.
In Dvorak's The Noon Witch there was a similar concentration on the drama of the narrative and on vividly conveying the musical imagery.
The NYO also took in their stride the structural complexities of Concentricity, a brilliant new work.
The name of violinist Jian Ren, 15, is one to look out for. There can be very few soloists of his age who have managed to impress with such technical assurance and emotional maturity. William Ruff.
2007
Friday 29th July 2007
St Mary's - Post Tour Concert
Variety and bit of spice
A wise conductor will only select Rossini's William Tell Overture when he had a first- rate cello section. The NYO cellos provided the richly atmospheric opening to Friday's concert in the lace market.
Solo flute and cor anglais sketched a Swiss idyll before the trumpet call to military action and the spring-heeled cavalry charge.
A first half of extraordinary variety next visited the Highlands of Malcolm Arnold's Scottish Dances. Here the second movement's tipsily sauntering bassoon stole the show - to the extent of repeating the feat later on.
Delicately supported by the orchestra, principal cellist Hannah Edmonds revelled in the Romantic passion of Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei.
A French offering had profited by the NYO's visit to Paris . Among other delights the saxophone added spice to extracts from Bizet's incidental music for "L'Arlésienne". In their whirlwind finale, the ensemble maintained a great sense of rhythm.
The main demand for Sibelius' dramatic Fifth Symphony is concerted interplay of the greatest cohesion. In-depth preparation made this one of the orchestra's most impressive performances to date under the baton of Derek Williams
Peter Palmer (nottingham Evening Post)
3rd March
Royal Concert Hall
From Gone with the Wind and The Great Escape through to Pirates of the Carribean and Gladiator , this concert of well -known film music struck exactly the right chord with performers and audience alike.
Derek Williams drew some superb playing from the members of the Youth Orchestra, their full-blooded vitality matched by excellent control to produce an exciting sound which also had depth. They revelled in the drama and energy of John Williams' Star Wars theme and the medley of John Barry's James Bond music but exuberance was always coupled with discipline and precision.
The chorus of some 170 pupils from local primary and secondary schools rose well to the challenge of parts which ranged from a Disney medley to Vois sur ton Chemin from Les Choristes and Orff's O Fortuna from Carmina Curana.
With almost 250 young people performing and with two pieces on the programme by recent orchestra member Luke Freeman, the evening was a striking celebration of the musical talent and energy of the young. Simon Theobald, standing in at short notice was an informative and effective compère.
Grahame Whitehead (Nottingham Evening Post)
3rd March
On 3rd March NYO ran a string chamber day with some terrific input from members of "Pro Corda". The four guest tutors were led by Ioan Davies who used to be the cellist in the internationally known Fitzwilliam String Quartet. The kids students took part in workshops on improvisation, ensemble/quartet playing, and eurythmics. a short performance was held at the end of the day and all had a great time. Click here to see some photos.
Busking
Perhaps not strictly classed as concerts but each year members of all three orchestras get togther to 'busk' at various venues during the month of December. All the old Christmas favourites get played and money raised to support the orchestra!
For more information on our December 2007 busking activities and to see some photographs click here.
2006 Concerts
Not strictly a concert but click here for details of December 2006 Busking efforts when members raised over £1600 for Orchestra funds.
6th December - Albert Hall
A FEAST OF EASTERN EUROPEAN MUSIC
Russia and Bohemia were the source of the music presented by the Nottingham Youth Orchestra under Derek Williams on Sunday.
In Shostakovich's Festive Overture the NYO brought out the wit and merriment of his instrumentation in a performance that was notable for the balance of the sound.
Khachaturian's three pieces from Gayane contain some familiar tunes and the well-known Sabre Dance. The bright and bouncy first piece was full of the composer's favourite scoring and rhythmic devices; the second had an Eastern feel, with plangent oboe sound prominent. The Sabre Dance had all the brio anyone could want.
Rachmaninov often made the piano sound, on its own, like an orchestra. Add the orchestra itself, as in the second piano concerto, and you have a uniquely majestic sound. Tom Poster and Derek Williams demonstrated enviable rapport in a sensitive and passionate performance, from the opening piano chords to the tender second theme of the first movement and the powerful recapitulation of the first theme. The second movement brought well-nuanced clarinet playing and a dramatic pause in the cadenza. Altogether, a memorable performance by a superb soloist and an enthusiastic orchestra. Dvorak's New World Symphony brought the concert to a close.
Colin Wolfe
29th April - Southwell Minster
Nottingham Youth Orchestra has produced its fair share of professional players. Now it has also produced an established conductor in James Lowe.
The NYO committee must surely want to ask him back after this guest appearance.
How many Italianisms are there in Capricco Italien? Nobody knows. Undisputed though, is the piece's status as a caprice, and Tchaikovsky's mercurial rhythms were neatly observed.
The Poeme for violin and orchestra is not a staple of the concert repertoire, so all credit to the NYO for staging Ernest Chausson's evocative piece. It had a small soloist with a big heart - and a big tone - in Canadian-trained Eugene Nakamura.
Nature sweeps through Sibelius's orchestral writing. In the First Symphony, Lowe allowed the music time to breathe.
The spaciousness was united with dramatic tension with every orchestral section in top form.
2005 Concerts
4th September 2005 - Royal Concert Hall
This Nottingham Orchestra comeback concert was wonderful in so many ways and was so much more than just the music, inspiring though that was.
Gathered together were former members of the orchestra together with their families and friends, many meeting up for the first time in years.
Conductor Derek Williams was in his element, coaxing some lovely ensemble playing from his forces
Highlights included Britten's Young Person's Guide, Malcolm Arnold's Peterloo Overture and two movements from The Planets.
The evening's soloist was Chloe Hanslip. She may only be 17 but she is still one of the world's super-virtuose violinists, playing both Waxman's Carmen Fanyasy and Ravel's Tzigane to breath taking effect.
How do you end a concert with so much brilliance on display? Well, why not play The Dam Busters March and 688 Squadron really fast and loud? And you bet it worked. Not only did the audience stand and cheer but the players got a tad emotional too. What an evening...Here's to the next 20 years.
William Ruff (Nottingham Evening Post)
String Quartet Coaching Day 24th April 2005
Derek and Trevor (our first violin tutor) are great fans of quartet playing. Apart from the fact that the greatest music ever written was for string quartet (Beethoven’s late quartets, of course), they are a wonderful way of learning to play with a small group of other people. If you’re a string player in a large orchestra, it often seems that you’re not very important — after all if there are 31 other violins, what difference can you possibly make? Unlike wind and brass players, who are always soloists, even in a symphony orchestra, string players get very nervous if they have to play by themselves without the support of their section. In a quartet, however, there is no hiding place; all four players are equally important.
The experience of taking part in and even performing chamber music can really boost players’ self-confidence — at least that what we’re hoping will happen after our quartet coaching day last month. To do the coaching we were lucky to have South African viola player Louise Lansdown, a tutor from the Royal Northern College of Music, who had previously worked with the orchestra at our RNCM workshop day in October. She brought with her five other young South African players, who together make up the Mzanze Ensemble. Ten groups from NYO spent a day practising works by Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Beethoven, Borodin and Dvorak, helped by the Mzanze Ensemble with support from our own staff Derek, Trevor, Paul and Sian. At the end of the afternoon we were joined by parents for a short informal concert by six of the groups who were brave enough to perform (and performing quartets is one of the most scary things a string player can do!). As a surprise finale, he Mzanze played a movement from the Brahms Sextet in B flat. Then they put away their music and stands to thrill us all with two pieces of African or “Kwela” music arranged by their leader Samson Diamond. It was a great end to an exciting day. And well done to all the NYO quartets who performed so well.
16th April 2005 - Southwell Minster
The NYO's taste for adventure shows no signs of fading. Every year, its members are not only invited to show off their talent and commitment by playing the familiar classics of the repertoire but to stride off down unfamiliar routes as well.
This time it was the turn of English composer Percy Whitlock to be dusted off and given an airing. His Organ Symphony (written 1936-7) is a rarity which calls for virtuosity from soloist and orchestra alike. Organist John Keys coaxed an alluring range of tonal colour from the Minister's instrument - matched by full-blooded playing from his youthful colleagues and their conductor Derek Williams. But was the piece worth reviving? My own opinion: Whitlock was essentially a miniaturist whose 'symphony' might have sounded more coherent if it had been half the length.
We were on much firmer ground with Malcolm Arnold's richly colourful English Dances (lots of strong contrasts: rhythmic bounce and yearning nostalgia in quick succession) and with Elgar's Enigma Variations, Elgar demands tight discipline and draws on a huge palette of sounds as the music captures widely disparate characters. The NYO had all the flexibility one could ask for - as well as reserving extra energy for the ebullient finale.
Coate's Knightsbridge March came as a very jolly (and welcome) encore.
William Ruff (Nottingham Evening Post)
27th February 2005 - Royal Concert Hall
What a pity Grieg never attempted a Peer Gynt opera. Last night's uncut and uncensored performance of the incidental music he wrote for Peer Gynt left one avid for more.
Especially as sung by the NYO's principal guest vocalists: Stephen Williams as Peer Gynt, Samantha Hay as Solveig and Anthea Kempston as exotic dancer Anitra. Prefaced by an unaccompanied choral hymn, Solveig's cradle song was an intensely moving finale.
The two Peer Gynt suites for orchestra are fine in their way. But they miss some of the heartache and all of the stormy and raunchy elements in this Nordic epic. Narrator Simon Callow filled us in on the main events of Henrik Ibsen's drama. His enthusiasm was a major asset. Elizabeth Bruce, Elizabeth Hetherington and Dawn Foxall sang alluringly as herd girls. The graceful Becky Dunning performed most of the dances. From aloft in the choir stalls, members of Nottingham High School, Nottingham Girls' High School and the Bluecoat School added a whiff of pure mountain air. Well chosen projections and surtitles complemented the action. Under the guidance of conductor Derek Williams, the orchestra were undoubted co-stars, as was solo violinist Michelle Taylor in the role of folk fiddler.
Works by Sibelius took up the first part of the concert. There's a point in Finlandia where you feel the music ought to break into song. Well, thanks to the combined choirs it did, and quite poetically, too.
In Sibelius's Violin Concerto, indisposed soloist Chloe Hanslip was replaced by another teenager, the Russian-born Alina Ibragimova. Her Slav temperament seemed wholly suited to the score's light and shade. The orchestra's horn section stood out for its soft playing.
The Royal Concert Hall, you felt, was built for just such adventures as this
NYO 20th anniversary concert.
Peter Palmer
2004 Concerts
2003 Concerts