The National Youth Orchestra clearly lucked out when it bagged charismatic conductor Jaime Martín. The London Philharmonic’s former principal flute is a real musician’s musician, a quality immediately apparent in the way he coaxed characterful solos from attentive players over the course of Ravel’s Boléro.
The theme for this year’s tour is Illuminate, most appositely represented by Nielsen’s Symphony No 4, The Inextinguishable. The lighting metaphor went further, however, from nifty, pinpoint highlighting as players stood in turn in the Ravel to an atmospheric light show that lent visual weight to the emotional depths plumbed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s powerful Catamorphosis.
Pouring through the auditorium and on to the platform from all directions, the orchestra was out in force for Boléro, fielding 10 horns, eight flutes, three tubas and a stonking five harps. The impact of 150 players was thrilling and, thanks to Martín’s steady hand, the balance was impeccable.
Thorvaldsdottir’s work, an inventive commentary on the fragility of the planet, progresses through seven sections across a 20-minute span. For the young players, the chance to explore previously unimagined aspects of their instruments was clearly irresistible. Drums were brushed and scraped; a pianist leaned into the body of her instrument to agitate the internal mechanism; while extruded string chords melted like toasted cheese. The music travelled slowly, lower orchestral voices graunching like tectonic plates, and yet there were moments of ethereal beauty, including a weeping figure on cellos that touched the soul. Fewer players might have revealed more of the music’s inner detail, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless.
No cavils about the Nielsen, which received an insightful, edge-of-the-seat reading from players, many of whom must have been new to the work. Martín laid his cards on the table with a fiercely dramatic opening that grabbed the music by the scruff of its neck. The big tunes featured some magical legato playing with exceptionally warm string tone, especially from the fine viola section. Graceful winds lit up the burbling allegretto, while superbly handled duelling timpani were matched by brass that was both bold and secure in the suitably overwhelming finale.
• The National Youth Orchestra’s Illuminate is at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on 6 January
