If anyones interested? There is guitarist taking part in the finals on BBC 2 at 17.20 tonight (20th May).
He will be playing; Joaquin Rodrigo: Fantasía para un gentilhombre.
Personally I prefer guitar to be played solo. I don't think playing with the orchestra does it any favours at all. But I would like to wish the boy the best of luck and I hope he plays well.

I don't think he has any choice but to play with the orchestra for this round!!

I saw him in the semifinals and he was absolutely amazing. It's so good to see the classical guitar being played well.....it seems like such a neglected instrument these days. I'm hoping he wins!

How did he do? I was out tonight and missed it (is it repeated?).

Well he didn't win it although he did play very well. He had a couple of very minor slips early on but he warmed to it and it really looked effortless for him. I think he should be really proud of his performance.
I was a little put out by the comments made by the female commentator who the BBC wheeled on between performances, which only reinforces the bias against the guitar from other orchestral instrumentalists. But there was a guitarist on the judging panel so I suppose on the whole it was a balanced decision as to who should win.
I was a little dumbfounded that they awarded the title to the clarinettist.. Not that his performance wasn't really good because it was. It was the choice of the piece that he played that did for me.
Although he chose a very technical piece, it was sadly lacking in any entertainment value. So much so even the commentators made reference to the fact that the structure of the piece was all over the place and difficult to follow.
It reminded me of a recital I once went to were a number of instrumentalist, who actually taught their individual instruments, were playing as a sort of shop window advert for there teaching skills. The piano tutor, who was only 21, and was somewhat of a prodidgy having completed his grade 8 by the age of 9, chose to play some of the most technically demanding piano pieces he could muster. The result was that every time he stopped playing, 10 or 15 people got up and walked out. He would have been far better picking less technical pieces and stuff the was more aesthetically pleasing to the ear. In that way he may have kept his audience.
For me, being a musician is about your entertainment value, and that piece had no entertainment value at all for me. Neither did it hold much for others judging the comments I have read elsewhere.
I know that the boy that won is a brilliant musician and I am not in any way, shape or form denying that fact.
But for me, the music is what it is about and I think he could have picked something a little more entertaining and more capable of holding the audience.

What did the commentator say re the guitar, OMG?

I did a joint concert with the guitarist a ouple of weeks ago - he was playing solo, & played much better than yesterday - I felt his concerto was lacking in emotion, & feeling.

The clarinet concerto is one of the hardest around, but I hated it (& I'm a clarinettist).

Me too: not because of the piece, I just didn't feel his tone had that air of beauty that one can often hear from the clarinet, in the places where it should have been lyrical. That plus the BBC's interviewees (both professional musicians) were asked to name who they thought would be the winner, they each mentioned three people, neither of them mentioned the clarinettist.

From reading responses so far around the forum it seems like people have fallen in love with Mark as a person, his background and his attitude, rather than for his playing. I expect, to a certain extent, the judges will have to mirror this.

I'm not knocking his playing: all competitiors played to a very high standard, I just didn't agree that he was the best of the evening.

She said much the same as pianoman84 says. I cannot agree that his piece lacked emotion and feeling..
I think the problem with the guitar when played with the orchestra is that the guitar can't raise itself above the feeling and emotion an orchestra can put in, even in the hands of seasoned and well known virtuoso players. Segovia is one of very few who could get the emotion in without being overpowered by an orchestra so it is no surprise that he collaborated on the production of the piece with Rodrigo.
In short, and to point out as I said in my first post; "I don't think playing with the orchestra does it any favours at all".

I don't know about that - I haven't seen any of the programmes till the final and neither had the friends I watched it with, and we all picked him out as among the best. I didn't even watch the comment bit before he started playing as I was using the bathroom!! So I was coming to the performances knowing very little about any of them and having not seen them perform, and less about Mark than about some of the others.

I was surprised when the people commenting both mentioned Cordelia, the pianist, whose performance I found rather disappointing.

I thought Mark made something interesting and a real, engaging performance out of a rather strange and difficult-to-interpret piece... I agree the lyrical sections could have been *more* lyrical, but on the whole I thought it was a far more interesting and convincing performance than the pianist, for example, who was mentioned as being their pick for a winner.

Re: the guitarist - I thought he was very good but the rather bitty piece let him down - it didn't strike me as a good choice. (same for the trumpeter, that he was let down by a bad choice of music - I think with something else he might have won)

i can't really judge since i didn't watch the whole competition.....i only watched the clarinet and a bit of the classical guitar......but i believed that everyone played very well.....

I agree with Sarah-flute in that the clarinettist could have showed some more lyricism , but was interesting and engaging. I must admit that I was surprised when the guitarist even won the semi-finals - I thought that some of the other stiring players were much better.
Throughout the rounds the judges said that they were looking for a musician not purely an instrumentalist, and I feel that Mark was this.

How?!

Did it freak anyone else out how he had reeeally long nails on his right hand and short nails on his left hand? Or is that the normal guitarist way?

You need decent nails on the right hand, yes. I manage with about 5mm, but if you can grow strong plectrum like nails on the right hand, then that's desirable.

Unlike pizzacato on, say, the cello, guitarists need their nails for plucking. Gives it a ringing sound, rather than a thunk.

Technically, she seemed good, but emotionally and expressively I found it a very unsatisfying performance - she seemed to be getting into her stride finally in the first movement, and then just seemed to switch off again. It was OK, I just wasn't THAT impressed for the final of a competition like that. The people talking about the finalists were saying that someone should win who was ready to be a soloist, and she really didn't seem to be, to me. After them saying that I was really surprised that they both picked her out! Each to his/her own


I think that's not unusual

Hmm, I didn't know the piece at all so it's difficult to comment on her interpretation but I thought her technique was just brilliant, I don't recall a single slip. Also from the interview with her before, I thought she easily had it in her to give a moving performance and I especially enjoyed the 3rd movement.


I think I'd get quite self-concious when shaking someone's hand.

I don't know it either, but her playing of it didn't make me want to rush out and buy a recording. I didn't see her interview before it...

She seemed very down-to-earth and pleasant. I also thought she was very bold to pick a concerto with such a relatively scarce orchestra accompaniment. She seemed to be playing solo for more than half the piece.

Yes, true - though in some ways I would have preferred her to play something that she was playing more within herself so that she could play it really expressively. I didn't see the interview - and couldn't say whether she seemed likely to give a moving performance - but her actual playing just left me cold, I'm afraid. Technically very good as far as I could tell but it lacked something, to me.

Wouldn't the world be such a boring place if we all agreed on everything?!

Definitely

He played wonderfully, and a very charming piece - my favourite of those played in the final.