Guess who we're sending to the Young Musician of the Year Contest! - by jay pettitt
demagogue on 21/5/2006 at 16:48
We want to see it!!
Good show, Fingernail! I'm dying to be able to see the performance ... but everyone here was rooting for you the whole way. It's great you got to do this.
BTW, is there anyway to convert just the sound into MP3 format, smaller sized and then we can just listen to it? 618 megs is a lot. I wonder if I could just send a SASE with a blank CD and you can just burn it on and send it back.
Medlar on 21/5/2006 at 18:08
okay, have recorded fingernails performance with Hauppauge Win TV saved as a MPEG file, when trying to convert it to a more usable size with virtualDub I get the error message MPEG import filter: invalid pack at position 3:marker bit not set; possibly MPEG-2 stream. Any ideas?
Sussed it, I needed to upgrade VirtualDub to MPEG",,,,doh!
Fingernail on 21/5/2006 at 18:58
Quote Posted by Shevers
and one of the woman on the TV decided that you played without passion or somesuch
Sad to say, but having watched the programme over, that woman quite clearly knows nothing of any of it, and frequently just quoted directly from the programme notes to make points as if they were her own (not just for me, but for all of them). She said that there was meant to be a "battle" in my piece, which is just complete bollocks and shows absolutely no understanding - the piece is an "axe-dance" which yes, means it was based on a theme for a dance to be danced with axes, which in turn may be based on some ancient combat ritual, but to claim that the movement is itself programmatic of a battle or a fight is absurd. It's not violent, rather stately.
In fact, the whole concerto is just that: genteel and aristocratic, and if they wanted me to inject any of the force or frippery that went into my solo semi final performance then it would have been totally unsuitable to the style of the concerto. It's "para un gentilhombre" - for a gentleman, and I gave the most gentlemanly performance I felt appropriate.
Poor choice of concerto? Perhaps, in hindsight, but the guitar is really not a concerto instrument. The whole competition is designed around the notion that a concerto represents the most complete means of expression on each of the instruments, and for a guitar that simply is not the case, as is evidenced by the fact that guitarists must be amplified even to be heard above the orchestra. By far the best repertoire is purely solo - there's a reason everyone's only heard one guitar concerto.
As far as I can tell, the only reason that pundit was there is because she's with Howard Goodall. When you hear the title "writer and broadcaster" and you've never heard of them in your life, you know you're in trouble. Jason Lai is much more knowledgeable and respectable.
I would be interested to see if a guitarist ever wins the competition, hopefully more will enter now they've seen that it is possible to get to the final.
Anyway, I'm very proud of my performance having watched it over, particularly the first, second and final movements. But really, I think I was better in the semi finals (shown earlier in the week on BBC4), because a solo player is what I am and it's what the instrument is particularly good at. Getting to the final was nice and playing with such a great orchestra was lovely, but I think I'd have done myself much greater justice with some solo repertoire.
Which I'll have just the chance to do at the Wigmore hall this autumn, where each of the finalists gets a lunchtime recital generously donated by Doreen Tabor, the sponsor of the competition. That's in some ways the best prize; loads of guitarists play there and it's a big thing to make your Wigmore hall debut.
There's also a Gulf States tour which will be interesting to say the least. The other finalists are all pretty friendly and nice people, although there was a hairy moment when the final winner told Cordelia (pianist) that he thought her piece (the Saint-Saens concerto) was crap and had no music in it (a few days before the performance). Hardly sensitive, even if there was a grain of truth in it (too many notes?).
Great experience all round, and the amount I've improved generally musically and technically thanks to having the drive of something to work towards is just incredible. Even to the point that Carlos Bonnell commented on my beautiful tone, which is something I really worked on (you can hear in the semi finals that it's all a bit naily and scratchy).
Para?noid on 22/5/2006 at 02:54
And furthermore, Shevers, she was referring to a section which she beleived required more "fire". She didn't claim that the overall peice lacked passion.
Stitch on 22/5/2006 at 04:06
I need to hear this shit.
Rock on, Fingo.
scumble on 22/5/2006 at 11:57
Indeed Fingernail, I had no idea you were performing at that level. Have you played any pieces by Augustine Barrios? I've been seeing if I can play Julia Florida, which is probably not a good idea if you've had no training...
Are they broadcasting the Wigmore Hall performances then?
Shevers on 22/5/2006 at 17:33
Quote Posted by Para?noid
And furthermore, Shevers, she was referring to a section which she beleived required more "fire". She didn't claim that the overall peice lacked passion.
Mmkay, I'll admit I wasn't concentrating too much on the punditry, but it's interesting to hear Fingernail say that she wasn't as expert as she was making out, because I did get that kind of feeling off of her - like the musical equivalent of Andy Grey :erm:
nickie on 22/5/2006 at 17:48
And if I wasn't on sodding dial-up again and staying with my Mum who lets me have about 10 minutes internet time - her busy social life demands constant telephone access - I wouldn't have missed this thread. I'm just gobsmacked (!) though because just even being there is brilliant. I hope you hang on to the file Medlar cos I'll want it when I'm back on broadband.
And many congratulations for your future appearance at the Wigmore, Fingernail. 'Tis a well-deserved honour methinks.
