Reviews

'As always, it was sheer pleasure to observe Robin Hill's remarkable fluent technique: everything looks easy when he plays it.' Colin Cooper- Classical Guitar Magazine ----- 'Wonderful for their (Hill & Wiltschinsky) precision, touch and clarity of sound... refined virtuosity, the achievement of a long interpretive process.' Il Giornale D'Italia (Rome) ----- 'I loved your CD and thought your technique and performance were fabulous...' Rick Wakeman

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Still Missing and 'Maestro' BBC 2

I have a confession to make.
I am addicted to the BBC2 series 'Maestro'.
Luckily for me, the third episode was shown last night, as it helped take my mind off the missing suitcase.
Yes, the case is still missing, and Robin's concert with soprano Izzy Cooper is tomorrow....

The BBC's aim, along with the series, 'Classical Star',(which I have previously posted about here, here, here, here and here) is an attempt to introduce fresh viewers to the area of classical music.
This must be a good thing.

The selection of contestants appears to be well thought out, as they include 'celebrities' from such varied backgrounds they will hopefully bring their own 'fan base' along.
The initial eight were, 'Goldie', 'Jane Asher', 'Bradley Walsh', 'Peter Snow', 'Sue Perkins', 'Alex James', 'David Soul' and 'Katie Derham'.

The idea is that the 8 novice conductors are gradually whittled down to one final winner, who will then go on to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of 30 000 people at the Proms in the Park.

I'm not going to divulge the 'evictions' so far, as some of you may wish to see for yourselves.
The judges, Sir Roger Norrington, Zoe Martlew, Simone Young and Dominic Seldis have been offering advice, (often amusing), alongside voting contestants off the show.
All this is overseen beautifully by Clive Anderson.

The BBC Concert Orchestra, a very fine orchestra, (and one that Robin has performed with on a number of occasions), possibly have the most difficult task of actually following these novice conductors as they learn to multitask like never before...

I hope that the programme has been successful in its aim.
I did find an active forum debating each episode, which I suppose is a good sign.
However I would like to hear the views of the various 'classical music blogs', so far I have found little, except a brief mention by conductor Kenneth Woods, that he has been watching.

As the BBC are offering a much needed opportunity for classical music to be seen on television then maybe we should start discussions in the blogging world...

I've outlined it, you debate it.

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