meldehautbois
Being a member of the NYO, it was the most incredible experience I've ever had. The best part of the concert was the Bass Clarinet solo at the end of the 2nd movement in the Shostakovich !

Tony Richards
Another good concert no doubt due to Mark Elder.I loved the shortverbal introduction. Ifully agree withothers who havecondemned betweenmovement clapping!!

Allan Mason
I watched the Shostakovitch on the TV and only wished I could have been there. Impeccable performance. The timing, pace and dynamics just perfect (so often not right) and the emotion these young musicians gave was spine tingling. And the TV camerawork and direction was good, unobtrusive and just worked. So often that is not right, cameras on wires whizzing through the air, ultra close-ups, quick cuts and zooms. But this production just let the music tell the story in the best BBC TV tradition.

Steve, Huddersfield
I have just got back from a five day break in London, during which I attended the NYOGB, the Royal Phil and the BBC Phil concerts. I have no hesitation in saying the NYOGB concert was by far the most enjoyable, and I believe showed the most committed and enthusiastic playing, of the three. The Kernis was new to me; great fun, definitely let's hear more please. The Prokofiev was fine, but the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony was magnificent. I have just replayed the TV transmission which I recorded on my Humax, and it caught the electrifying playing and atmosphere in the RAH wonderfully. I am tremendously proud we have so many talented young musicians in this country. Special appreciation to the lead side drummer! Not easy to keep a repeated phrase going for that long.Oh I saw Billy Elliott-The Musical also; that was brilliant too- and also showed what amazing young artistic talent we have.Terrific!

S. Ellis
The opener was great. Very much like Bernstein in which whistles are sued and the players also use their voices.

S. M. Bork
We are truly in debt to these young musicians for their life enhancing concert. Wonderful and worth all the hours of dedicated practice. I wish I could thank them all personally. Great choice of music showed off their skills. I regret that I live too far away to be there but thank you radio 3 and "listen again" service.

Geoff Cox
Sitting in a box in the second tier, opposite the conductor, I found the sound from the piano, in the Prokofiev concerto did not carry well. The pianist? The first and last movements of the Leningrad were wonderful.Most annoying - the habit of applauding between movements. Who are these people?! Please stop it.

Elaine
Have been going to the Proms for more years then I can to remember but this Prom was possible one of the best I have ever been to.

Nicolas (France)
I didn't book in advance so I went for a proming ticket. It is the best fiver I have ever spent. I don't know much about classical music. I really enjoyed Kernis. I found it very "visual". Prokofiev's concerto was OK, a bit bland maybe. Shostakovitch's symphony was simply awesome. So much emotion, such perfection. I had goosebumps most of the times despite the heat in the gallery. I could hardly believe the talent of such young musicians. One of these moments that will be remembered for a long while.

A. Javadzadeh Tehran , Iran
It was really an extraordinery performance in Proms season.

Orpheus
The NYO is truly a national treasure. It is impossible not to marvel at such virtuosity, musicianship and professionalism from such young players, and their complete dedication to everything they play. Whatever these youngsters might have thought of their vocal obbligato part in Aaron Jay Kernis's New Era Dance, they 'performed' it with the outmost seriousness, as they did the rest of the work. Perhaps Mark Elder (ex-NYO himself) could have encouraged them to let their hair down rather more in such a fun piece, which is surely not meant to be taken too seriously. Another firecracker of a work, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.1, came next. The 2005 Van Cliburn Competition winner Alexander Kobrin was the rather too earnest soloist, lacking the kind of dare-devilry and the throwing of caution to the winds that Prokofiev surely wanted (and which other Russians like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrei Gavrilov and Nikolai Lugansky brought to their respective performances and recordings). After the portentous start, Kobrin's first solo was too cautious and tame, sounding like a fingerwork study rather than the firework display that the composer must have intended. Wit was in short supply too, but poetry and tenderness were clearly more to this pianist's taste, as the Andante assai section showed. In the cadenza, his playing, although impressive, again lacked the last ounce of unfettered abandon. Kobrin's technical assurance, poise and musicianship are beyond doubt, but for such a young pianist the absence of risk-taking in his playing is puzzling. The accompaniment of Elder and the NYO was scrupulously tailored to Kobrin's careful pianism.

Shostakovich's 'Leningrad' Symphony however gave the orchestra the opportunity to shine in every department. And the young musicians played their hearts out, from the imposing opening through to the inexorable march (in which the orchestra's controlled crescendo to the bombastic climax was truly awe-inspiring) and finally, the careful build-up to the terrifying conclusion, where the full might of the orchestra nearly raised the roof. Whatever the ambiguity of the composer's intentions in writing this symphony, Mark Elder left us in no doubt of his own interpretation, and was in complete command of his vast forces throughout.

Rita Buttimore
I saw the Proms last night, Saturday, and was truly enthralled. the pianist Alexander Kobrin was just unbelievable and the N.Y.O. fantastic. A truly magnificent night. Thank you.

E. Crompton
A thrilling, enjoyable concert. The musicians were so focused and, though the music was not familiar to us we enjoyed every moment.

Eberli
Where it the rest of the concert? Only the Leningrad Symphony is included in this online edition...

Editor's Note
Normal service will be restored by Monday pm. Many apologies for this omission.

Dincoll
This was an absolutely blistering concert with Mark Elder bringing some electrifying playing from the marvellously talented young players. I missed the Kernis and enjoyed elements of the Prokofiev, but it was the Shostakovitch that really wowed the audience. The orchestra successfully coaxed subtlety, sorrow, agony, defiance and hope from the score. This was a high-octane interpretation of some of the twentieth century's most spectacular and moving music.The soloists were nerveless and faultless. The enthusiasm was tangible.If you missed the concert and are a Shostakovitch fan you will be kicking yourself. A really memorable event, even when experienced vicariously through the second-hand medium of television. I wish I had been in the Royal Albert Hall.Well done to Mark Elder and this group of incredible musicians. I am now looking forward to hearing the NYO in next year's Proms!