Rehearsing Invisible Lines, part of tomorrow's Prom 21. Photograph: Andy Butterton/PA
Classical music is sometimes criticised for being insipid and conservative, even though risk-taking has always been a vital ingredient of the performance process – as witnessed by the tumultuous premieres of, say, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, writes Charlie Rusbridger.
A similar act of risk-taking occurs tomorrow evening at the Royal Albert Hall: 44 teenagers from across the UK improvising upon assorted fragments of music composed during one frantic week. The piece is called Invisible Lines - because the lines of manuscript will exist only in the musicians' heads – and is set to be an eclectic fusion of classical, blues and rock.
The teenagers, selected from among four British ensembles (the Berkshire Young Musicians Trust Ensemble, the Cheltenham Music Festival Youth Ensemble, Southampton Youth Orchestra and the Sage Gateshead Weekend School), have been guided by a group called Between the Notes, musicians who use improvisation and physical interaction to cultivate such radical works as this.
Unusually, perhaps, their aim is to provide enjoyment not only for the audience, gained from the unconventional nature of the performance, but also for each and every individual performer - a sentiment not often felt by your average fifth-desk second violinist. The programme also includes Britten's evergreen Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Respighi's Pines of Rome, and violinist Viktoria Mullova will be giving the world premiere of Fraser Trainer's For the Living.
You can catch what's sure to be an unusual and exciting Prom 21 at the Royal Albert Hall at 7pm, via live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (it's repeated on August 5 at 2pm) and on BBC Four (at 7.30pm).
