This month has seen the debut performances of the newly-formed National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (which we're now calling NYO-US, for short). A first bow at the Performing Arts Center of Purchase College, and then Carnegie Hall in New York, was followed by an important date at the BBC Proms in London.
So, what has been the critical response to this new outfit, modelled on the U.K.'s NYO and consisting of some 120 musicians between 16 and 19?
They have powerful allies, not least Carnegie Hall's big boss Sir Clive Gillinson--it is Carnegie's Weill Music Institute that sponsors the orchestra. And it couldn't have gone much better.
Here's what the critics are saying in a few, representative samples:
"The musicians dispatched the harmonically crunchy music with glittering sound and crackling energy. The strong playing had both warm, rich sound and articulate energy...[later] the young musicians brought subdued intensity to the 20-minute, mood-sifting first movement [of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10]...the orchestra tore into the crazed finale." -- Anthony Tommasini, New York Times
"One felt real understanding in the bleached-out sound of the first movement's waltz [in the Shostakovich] coming from some region 'too deep for tears'...Gergiev was clearly proud of his fledglings, and he was proud to be." -- Ivan Hewitt, Daily Telegraph
A note of discord was sounded by Alexandra Coghlan of TheArtsDesk.com:
"There are some issues that just can't be overlooked...the Americans never found their focus (in Shostakovich)."
