On the basis of this first event, Eurovision Choir stands taller in qualitative terms compared to its older and now lower-rent sibling Young Musician – a once highly-regarded international platform for young musicians.
BBC Proms 2017 / 10: Beethoven Symphony No. 3 / Aurora Orchestra
Beethoven 3 last night sounded remarkable. Rich and sonorous. Sinewy. Robust. Their playing gave the music life, giving the work a newness I’d not heard before.
It amazes me how much of a difference musicians playing from memory can have on a performance. Aurora Orchestra’s USP reinvigorates the genre and the concert-going experience breathing new life into the repertory the same way the period performance movement did in the early nineties.
All too often we settle for the orthodox. When I hear something unashamedly different from the norm, it makes me clap my hands together excitedly. So too here.
Another standout moment from this year’s season. But then it was Aurora Orchestra. What did you expect a fanboy to say?
BBC Proms 2017 / 7: Berlioz Symphony fantastique / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Joshua Weilerstein
Weilerstein got into his stride by the third movement. But there were some missed opportunities – pausing to ‘place’ a chord in the woodwind soon before the end might have created a sense of anticipation. And the coda in the final movement was also a bit strange.