Basque Country Herriko Gazte Orkestra. Winter Meeting
Director: Iker Sánchez.
Narrator: Kepa Errasti.
Programme: Works by Britt and Beethoven.
Place: Victoria Eugenia Theatre, Donostia.
Day: 2 January.

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After 27 years, we can certainly say that the Young Orchestra of Euskal Herria is a consolidated group as one of the great quarries of interesting musicians. In fact, the guest director on this Christmas tour, Iker Sánchez, was also a member of the orchestra.

Every year we are surprised by the summer and Christmas concerts, and this year we also liked a different and very interesting proposal. With two works of different concepts and environments, they achieved a recital full of warmth and charm.

First of all, they interpreted a curious piece: Youth Orchestra Guide op. 34, by Benjamin Britten. And I say it's a curious piece, because, as its name suggests, it wants to explain to younger listeners how an orchestra works. From a simple melody by the Baroque composer Henry Purcell, the play starts with a tutti to continue showing the different instrument families of the orchestra. Very didactic.

But in addition, this work had another stimulus: Kepa Errasti, the host of each orchestral family, equated them, with a lot of humor, to the role that every member of a normal family plays at Christmas dinners: a heavy brother-in-law, a cousin who knows everything, etc. I'm not very sure if the result was the one you wanted to achieve, but the intention to include these comments was probably good.

The orchestra was firm and quite secure. It was a good and fresh interpretation.

After this work, the strong afternoon dish came: 7 de Beethoven Symphony en la mayor, op.92. Beethoven's great symphonies are said to be those of odd numbers. In this case, no doubt, this seventh symphony is one of the greatest works of this composer. Its four movements are a real pleasure and an insuperable rhythmic exercise. This work revealed the orchestra’s lack of maturity. The young orchestras gave each movement its character, but perhaps the second move, Alegretto, was somewhat flat, or the third, Presto, a little disfigured. However, Iker Sánchez was able to give him a halo full of charm and the interpretation was ordained and delicate.

As a tip, instead of the crazy Christmas of other years, we were offered the waltz of the flowers of the ballet El Cascanueces of Tchaikovsky. Here you can see the connection between the musicians and their way of enjoying the performance. There is no doubt that many of the members of this orchestra will have much to talk about in the near future.