NAYO Series - Cumbria Youth Orchestra
Conductor Timothy Redmond
Music Michael Torke: Javelin; Holst: Oriental Suite "Beni Mori"; Vaughan-Williams; Concerto in F minor for Bass Tuba; Ives: Symphony No.2
Venue Central Hall (Venue 100)
Address West Tollcross
Reviewer Charlie Napier
A very ambitious programme for a group of young people that only meets six weekends a year plus a four day residential course! Tonight's performance reflected well the enthusiasm of the players and the encouragement they must receive from their teachers, coaches, parents and supporters for this self-financed orchestra. A coach breakdown on their way to Glasgow yesterday could not have helped, but even that did not stop them doing justice to a difficult programme.
Javelin, a work written for the opening of the Atlanta Olympic Games, opened this concert with a bang but, unfortunately, showed up a deficiency in the line-up. The brass overpowered the strings. This, however, was a direct result of the perennial problems of youth orchestras, especially in rural areas such as Cumbria: there were not enough string players (they were ten short). This was unfortunate, because the strings were good when you could hear them.
Timothy Redmond was obviously a favourite with the players, and he led them with a clear beat, enthusiasm, and enjoyment, and his introductions outlined the background and content of each work. The Holst, written after a holiday in Algeria, illustrated that country's influences, the passacaglia-like last movement being handled extremely well. The rarely-heard tuba concerto was a delight and Richard Evans gave an accurate, smooth and graceful performance, but with power where it was required.
How the players enjoyed the Ives! This work, difficult for such young players, was a challenge which they met head on. Luckily for the audience, the trumpets were not used much, which allowed the strings to be heard to good effect. It is always a problem trying to identify all the tunes that Ives quotes in this work: Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Stephen Foster, hymns, and especially Camptown Races but the glorious arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner was a fitting climax, so good, that it was repeated. The final chord has to be heard to be believed. Congratulations to all.
Charlie Napier, 13 August 2002
CYO and CYTO joint concert at Whitehaven School on Monday 3rd April 2006.
Review by Rebecca John:
This proved to be a most entertaining concert not only for the quality of performance but also for the ambience created by the café style set-up.
The Youth Training Orchestra conducted by Noel Bertam played well despite their small numbers. Johann Pachelbels’s Canon in D and the Suite by Arcangelo Corelli were performed with conviction whilst the Clarkson Centennial Overture by Robert Wasburn and Take Five by Paul Desmond shone for the style and vigour with which they were played. A good performance by all.
The interval entertainment provided by vocalist Hannah Marsh who was accompanied by Stephen Carlston on the piano was most enjoyable and in keeping with overall mood of the evening.
The Youth Orchestra conducted once again by Timothy Redmond opened with excerpts from the two suites from Georges Bizet’s Carmen. The orchestra playing was brilliant as were the verbal programme notes from Tim who introduced the various excerpts. The standard of the orchestra has certainly improved over the last few years under the leadership of Simon Gilks. Simon once again demonstrated his professionalism and his ability to lead the orchestra to such a high standard.
The second half of the Youth Orchestra’s performance consisted of a selection of music from the era of the salon orchestra and “stage and screen”. These were again introduced and explained in an entertaining and informative manner by Tim. The orchestra’s performance of these pieces was very professional with the balance between the various sections of the orchestra and the tutti playing both being of a very high standard.
Credit must go to the conductor, the leader and all the players who had obviously put in a lot of time and effort into reaching such a standard. Tim’s great relationship with the players and his immense ability to engage them was evident in the quality of their performance.
The encore of the “Bugs Bunny Suite” was played with energy and verve. Overall an exhilarating evening with assured performances from both orchestras and brilliant conducting from Noel and Tim: a fantastic atmosphere to which the audience responded warmly and which should definitely be repeated again.
Piece Written in the Glasgow Herald about the CYO on their first visit to the Edinburgh Festival.
Triumph of young at play
Cumbria Youth Orchestra
What? Music Where? Central Hall
Rating? ***
The Cumbria Youth Orchestra made its debut in the Festival of British Youth Orchestras with an imaginative and demanding programme. It opened with a slightly underplayed version of Michael Torke's popular Javelin, and filled the first half with two seldom heard works, Holst's exotic Oriental Suite and Vaughan-Williams's Tuba Concerto, with 17-year-old Richard Evans as the accomplished soloist. These were solid performances with occasional insecurities in the wind and brass, but the orchestra saved its best for the crowning work, Charles Ives's Symphony No 2. The energised, rhythmically alert, and risk-taking performance of a fiendishly challenging piece was a triumph, guided unerringly from the podium by Timothy Redmond, illustrating once again the merits of a professional conductor at this level.
Kenny Mathieson
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