TEN

The title of this disc refers not only to the ten tracks on the CD, but also to the tenth anniversary of the setting up of the National Youth Orchestra for Indian Music (SAMYO), which brings young musicians from around Britain together, from both North and South Indian traditions, to play in a large ensemble. This is a bit of departure from the traditional ensemble with its focus on solo performance, and much of the repertoire is specially written for the orchestra, bringing together many South Asian and Western influences. This is an interesting experiment and the standard of musicianship is very high, even if some of the compositions do not always work. Every now and then there is a problem because the orchestra has shoehorned instruments into the same ensemble that do not necessarily share intonations; the result being that there are some uneasy moments for the listener.

Granted, South Asia does have larger ensemble traditions that bring a wide variety of instruments together – the pre-eminent example being the orchestras of Bollywood. If this gives the young musicians here a wider profile and leads on to deeper explorations of their respective traditions then it is to be applauded.