The National Youth Orchestra has become a treasure since its formation in 1948. Yet there was no indulgent showboating under the baton of Marin Alsop, and the NYO's amazingly mature performances revealed no sense that these particular players convened for the first time only on December 28, at a residential music course so idyllic-sounding it makes Hogwarts seem mundane.
Despite hardly a spare inch on a packed Bridgewater Hall platform, the house was surprisingly thin. However, the evidence coming from the youthful performers contradicted any pessimistic arguments that classical music is in trouble. Alsop and her players began with a dynamic performance of Strauss's Don Juan that was refreshingly honest and direct. Even if the subtlest emotions were not captured, the NYO threw off Strauss's tone poem with astonishing accomplishment, and produced a Don Juan that was bolder, more passionate and more risk-taking than the norm.
An exuberant performance of symphonic fragments from Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloé burst with brilliance and life, although the pastoral elements of the score lacked quality in contrast.
The finest was saved until last: Alsop conducted Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6 ("Pathétique") from memory. Here the NYO truly sounded like a world-class orchestra.
Alsop's dance-like direction manifested a deep commitment to every phrase, and the NYO's playing of the first Adagio was full of yearning and truthfulness. The perfectly captured waltz-like character of the second movement was followed by a vindicatory march that made Tchaikovsky's heroic climax seem surprisingly modern. The unremitting finale juxtaposed agony and rapture to perfection, and completed some of the most exemplary Tchaikovsky playing I have heard.
· Further performance tonight at Victoria Hall, Hanley. Box office: 01782 213800.
