A Child Genius...

[Alan Howe]

...who writes fully romantic-style music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St4czzKcROE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DJBxqlmtKY
...and plays it herself. Hats off to young Alma Deutscher!

[mbhaub]

Wow! Incredible. Could have been written in 1916, but who cares? It's beautiful. The orchestration is so clear and appropriate. And she also plays piano quite well - a Mozart concerto! Thanks Alan for bringing this to our attention.

[Mark Thomas]

This is quite staggering. I saw a TV item about this young lady on TV some months ago, but it gave now clue to her real abilities. The two concerto movements are charming and refreshing - a real achievement.  Of course the style is derivative, but what do people expect of one so young? Her playing is also so natural and technically assured. I just don't understand all the cynical and snarky criticism of Alma which one can so easily find online.

[Alan Howe]

Quite so, Mark. Let all the critics try to do what she can do...

[mbhaub]

Her style may be derivative, but so what? I'd rather listen to her derivative violin concerto than 99% of the horrid violin concertos written in the last 60 years or so. A melody - imagine that!

[eschiss1]

Now about those composers it's ok to be snarky and cynical and backhanded here, of course!

[Alan Howe]

There are actually many fine VCs written in the past 60 years or so. John Veale's is one example. However, there are also many which are excruciating to listen to. IMHO, of course.

[matesic]

Her style in fact harks back way beyond the epochal year 1916, when (according to imslp whose database is admittedly incomplete) the total number of music publications was the lowest since 1866, the only new string "concerto" was Schelomo and one of just two newly composed symphonies was the Inextinguishable...

[Gareth Vaughan]

I saw the programme in which she was interviewed and played a tiny snippet of her VC. I was impressed then. Now that I have heard two movts of that work I am very, very impressed. Of course the style is derivative and she hasn't found her voice yet, but it would be very unusual if it were not, or if she did at such a young age exhibit a style of her own. She is clearly remarkably gifted, not only as a composer but as a performer too. I hope she goes on to great things. Her talents are prodigious indeed. Incidentally, I thought the music sounded very Viennese - might almost have been penned by Johann Strauss. It has that insouciance. Is the orchestration her own, I wonder. Although it is assured there is the odd moment when I felt it showed lack of experience. Again only to be expected and wholly excusable - many distinguished composers, as we know, had problems with orchestration which they took years to master. Congratulations to Alma, her music and her performance. Now, is there a recording in the offing?

[Christopher]

I heard her being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme the other morning and she was so self-assured, such a delight to hear speaking. But I thought "how long until she gets some teacher who tells her that melody and harmony are so passe" etc and she is made to write discordant modern c**p, against her nature and inclination? I hope she stays on her own track.

Btw to me her music recalled Mendelssohn, but that's just my opinion.

[matesic]

If Alma is still composing in 10 year's time I'm sure her idiom will be quite different - a reflection of her own time and experience rather than a bygone age. Only then will be be able to judge whether she is a genius or simply a child prodigy.

[eschiss1]

To judge from what's currently most modish, teachers seem to go for postmodern bs, not the stuff you complain about, which is already about, erm, 60 years out of date (as a trend, that is; that Schoenberg, Sessions, Xenakis, Varèse among others... wrote good music is independent both of trends and your gripiness...)

[Alan Howe]

Not completely true, Eric. The old modernist avant-garde's still twitching with life. Birtwistle's VC (2009-10) is typical modernist fare. Crash, bang, wallop, as my mother would say. Don't listen to it if you're depressed or anxious in any way. And try anything recent by Elliott Carter who only died 3½ years ago - but not if your teeth are easily set on edge.

But I know what you mean. 'Postmodern' means 'anything goes' these days. Which could mean a nice tune followed by a hail of noise. Which is (partly) why UC exists.

Mind you, Walton's one of my favourite composers...

[matesic]

To get back to little Alma (!), her case is markedly different from that of other composers who have chosen to take the retro route.  We as listeners might respect a decision taken by a mature person with broad musical experience to revisit the music of a past epoch and (intentionally or not) to reinvigorate it with that experience. At the age of 9, however, Alma must still have a great deal to learn about the infinity of ways in which music has been and may be conceived, and her own personality has many years in which to grow. Although her teachers may have some influence, she will eventually discover her own voice and none of us should expect her to conform to our own ossified notions of what is good music and what is bad.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree wholeheartedly with matesic's last two posts. We must wait to see how she develops.

Btw to me her music recalled Mendelssohn,

I too was reminded of Mendelssohn.