BBC time-delays Young Musician finals
mainThe three Finalists for BBC Young Musician 2016 have been selected. They are saxophonist Jess Gillam, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and French Horn player Ben Goldscheider (pictured).
It’s unusual to have a final without piano or violin.
The final will take place on Sunday 15 May at the Barbican. It will not be shown live but will be recorded for broadcast later the same day at 7pm on BBC Four, and on BBC Radio 3 at 7:30pm, thereby draining the event of its public immediacy. The executives who makes these decision are more concerned with internal BBC considerations than with maximising the impact of the young musicians.
The Finalists will perform:
Jess Gillam: Michael Nyman’s Where the Bee Dances
Ben Goldscheider: Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto no. 2
Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1
Even the Last Night of the Proms, which has more general public interest both at home and worldwide than their BBC Musician of the Year, gets delayed – albeit about half an hour on BBC TV. So it isn’t live, it’s recorded. But it’s live on the radio. It’s often to cater for the golf … well it has been for the last three years or so.
You mean the opening concert of the BBC Proms.
It’s arguable that a time delay of two hours maximises the impact of the broadcast of the BBC Young Musician Grand Final because the judges’ decision will immediately follow the music.
As someone who has watched the alarming decline in the funding of music education in schools, it is extremely reassuring to see this level of talent emerging in the younger generation. Both Kanneh-Mason and Goldscheider have star qualities in the making.
And Jess Gillam too!
Gut feeling that the cellist will get it. Guess why. ….!
Such hope and celebration in BBC Young Musician of the Year. Such despair in comments like this.
Because he’s very good?
Quite right.
So what’s the answer, Derek? Or maybe you prefer to stop at snide innuendo?
Because he’s very good. And playing Shostakovich 1 gives him an advantage. (Although I am sure the expert jury will be able to judge the horn and saxophone better than a humble concert goer can.)
It was a forgone conclusion.