Review: City of Leeds Youth Orchestra ****

Having been at the UK premiere of Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony it would then have been unthinkable that such a difficult score would one day be played by a city youth orchestra. But now 50 and more years on we heard today’s remarkable young people taking on the challenge and offering a more than creditable account of this often zany score. There were glitches along the way – conductor, Douglas Scarfe, sensibly easing back from the hair-raising tempos the work calls for, though that in no way detracted from the vivacity and well-played solo passages.

The Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto is equally difficult, the orchestra’s section principal, Katie McLeish, playing the myriad of notes with all the agility of a seasoned professional, while producing a most attractive tonal quality. Should she wish it, a bright musical future awaits her.

In less demanding music the warmth and elegance of the strings came together with the harp and principal flute in a tender and very attractive reading of Fauré’s Sicilienne. The miscalculation of the concert came with the choice of Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite, the sparse and fragmented nature of The Open Prairie, which opens the score, coming when nerves on the big stage were still present. They rallied, and by the time we came to the Gun Battle the percussion department brought the impact that settled everyone down.

Leeds should be very proud.

For details of the orchestra’s future concerts visit www.clyo.org.uk