There is often body percussion. There was the year with the on stage phonecall that turned out to be part of a piece (Varèse’s Tuning Up). This time, it was kazoos: lots of them, ripping across the hum and rustle of the Royal Albert Hall before most of us had realised what was happening. But then, you should expect the unexpected from the National Youth Orchestra, especially at its annual Proms appearance.
NYOGB is regularly one of the biggest outfits on the bill, and has to be crammed on to the stage. For this year’s new normal, it was a third of its usual size and sprawled across a much larger space. Which would be tough for any orchestra, especially in the upturned acoustic cauldron of the Royal Albert Hall. All the more remarkable, then, that the ensemble marshalled by conductor Jonathon Heyward was ultra-taut throughout, gutsy solo lines delivered from the stage’s outer reaches tightly locked into the orchestral mainstream.
Those kazoos, providing a unison halo around a solo muted trumpet, heralded Chant, an NYO commission by jazz trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd. There was also stamping, violinists strumming their instruments guitar-style, spikes of rhythmic complexity and brief lulls of slow-mo, soft-focus strings, before it all evanesced in harmonics. Opening the second half, Jessie Montgomery’s Banner provided an equivalent opportunity for Technicolor funk and forward drive, compressing and refracting the Star-Spangled Banner through layers of more recent musical idioms. It was ferociously committed and incisive; no wonder Heyward leaned back against the podium, grinning and exhausted, at its end.
Not too exhausted, though, to lead – from memory – a fast and fearless performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, in which loud chords exploded, repeating like fireworks in the hall’s dome, and the quietest passages barely registered. It was exuberant, exhilarating stuff. Yet most revelatory in this concert (excellent by any measure, never mind the “youth” bit) was Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with the ever dynamic Nicola Benedetti. From the generous lyricism of her solo opening to the finale’s collective off-kilter dance, Benedetti stood within, not in front of, the orchestra, her laid-back virtuosity in intimate dialogue with her fellow musicians – an unforgettable showcase of high-energy collaboration.
This Prom is available to watch on BBC iPlayer for 2 months. The Proms run until 11 September.
