Gifted young schoolchildren from all over the region have the opportunity, by joining the Junior RNCM programme, to enjoy Saturday school training at the RNCM by college tutors; thus giving these young musicians an excellent head start whilst still at school.
Occasionally, the Saturday school opens its doors to the public and puts on a series of small concerts featuring each of the diffrent sections / groups within the school, to "show off" and entertain with their new skills and learning. This Saturday was the first since the pandemic lockdowns, and as such it was a little quieter and more subdued than I have experienced previously, but the concerts and the children's musicianship was a sharp and as brilliant as ever.
The day started at 10:15am with a concert by the Percussion Ensemble. These 6 young boys played different instruments - both tuned and untuned - during their concert of 3 lovely pieces. 'Catching Shadows' was very enjoyable with some rather tricky rhythms, and they finished in seasonal mood with a percussion version of 'Sleigh Ride".
Next came the Vocal Ensemble. A choir of 41 young singers who tackled some extremely difficult choral works, seemingly undaunted. Two contemporary religious pieces by Martin Hindmarsh started the concert, complete with all the enharmonic and dissonant structures that modern music holds dear to its heart. They followed this however with some of the most beautiful choral music ever written (in this reviewer's humble opinion); 5 movements from Faure's Requiem. My ears stopped hurting and the washes of lyrical and harmonic splendour enlivened me again. The conductor was able to elicit the best from the choir during the Faure and his control of the dymanics of the pieces was superb.
The youngest members of the Junior RNCM came next: The Foundation Section. These pupils are of junior school age, and, in this concert - 9 of them in all - they each played a solo (with some being accompanied on the piano by one of the tutors). All played remarkably well, one might even go as far as to use the adverb prodigiously. I must give a quick mention to one young girl who played a Chopin Waltz from memory; as she fluffed half way through, but like a true professional, she simply stopped, picked it up from where she remembered and carried on! Absolutely the right thing to do, and she earns extra Brownie points for this!
The last concert before the lunch break was a complete change of tempo and mood, as it was the Brass Band. They played four pieces this afternoon, and this concert was, for me at least, the most enjoyable. Starting with Jonathan Bates's 'Chichester Prelude', they changed down a gear for the second piece, a transcription of the lovely 'Moon River', with a young Amelia Smart taking the solo flugelhorn here. Just lovely. This was followed by a seasonally jolly version of 'Frosty The Snowman', finishing their concert with the upbeat showpiece, 'Bustout Brigade'.
After lunch the concerts started again with The Junior Chamber Orchestra. Playing two pieces by Sibelius (Spring Song and Finlandia), with Elgar's Imperial March sandwiched between, this was a delightful concert, and the orchestra played them with a skill and understanding way beyond their years. Conducted by Chris Orton, he was able to bring out the best in every section and if you closed your eyes, you would have had no idea the musicians were all young teenagers.
Much the same can be said of the next group to grace the stage, The Junior Sinfonia. Here the sinfonia was conducted by Eduardo Portal, and they played movements from Bizet's two L'Arlesienne suites. I simply have to mention the wonderful togetherness and timing skills of the French Horn players here, as well as the piccolo player, who managed to play the highest notes fortissimo without screeching (that is, in itself, a huge talent).
And finally, we come to the end of the day's concerts with the Junior Big Band. Here we listened to 6 Big Band standards, all by the great Duke Ellington. Our conductor this afternoon, Geth Griffith, made a point of introducing the music to us, and giving us some very interesting background and detail about the pieces, as well as informing us that the band had been working on the life and work of Ellington in order to try and replicate, as near as possible, the way these pieces would have been played by him and his band when first performed. All of this was highly illuminating, and the Big Band deserve much credit for all of this. A very enjoyable and upbeat end to an exhausting (in a good way) day, listening to the extremely talented young students of the Junior RNCM... they are the future! Bravissimi tutti.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 3.12.22
on - 3.12.22
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