High above this, a trumpeter plays from an Albert Hall box; later, we hear piccolo birdsong and disembodied clarinet, from soloists similarly scattered around the hall.
An opera in two acts, its influences range from Indian ragas to Balinese music, Sibelius and even Motown, with terrific singing both from soloists and the amazing Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, like a fresh, latin Carmina Burana.
Their concert together the next night was more settled, and in the major works -- "Petrushka," "Ode" and "The Song of the Nightingale" -- came wonderful things from soloists and small ensembles.
It is also a homage to jazz in its big-band sonorities, its syncopated rhythms, the delectable harmonies it reaches at the end of its wood-thrush movement, and the finale, where the inevitable cadence is put off for break after break from soloists and groups.
The wide variety of musical performances, whether or not they are artificially amplified (6, 7, 9, 10), all provide entertainment irrespective of whether the performance is from soloists (6), choral (2) or orchestral groups (5, 8), or ensemble (3).
The decision to form two groups, Belle Amie and One Direction, from soloists at the end of the bootcamp stage was branded unfair by some of the other groups, as neither had entered the competition as groups.
As a whole the work failed to make a lasting impression despite lithe, committed playing from the soloist, Anita Leuzinger.
