Semi-Final BBC Young Musician

Nearly 500 entered.

Just five remain.

The search for the next BBC Young Musician

has now reached its penultimate stage.

Tonight, our five category winners perform again,

but this time, they are up against each other.

Given such a talented line-up,

and five contrasting instruments,

it's going to be quite a night with tough decisions ahead.

This is the semifinal of BBC Young Musician 2014.

Tonight, we'll hear from

five very gifted and very individual young musicians.

We've both been so impressed by the overall level in the competition

and all of our performers tonight are worthy category winners,

but tonight we are searching for something special.

Yeah, the pressure is now really on

and, for our five semifinalists,

the trophy is now within touching distance.

With a new jury to impress, who will rise to the challenge

and secure their place in the final?

It's all to play for.

This is a huge competition.

These are young musicians who've really dedicated their lives

to being the best musicians they possibly can be.

Winning a category already is a huge achievement.

The pressure has been ranked up another gear

by getting through to the next round.

To set themselves apart,

they've got to give the performance of their lives.

The challenge is going to be huge for all of them.

They've shone already

and I'm looking forward to seeing them shine even more.

This competition could be a real launch pad for future careers.

The people who've won it

have gone on to become the musical leaders of today.

ANNOUNCER: Nicola Benedetti!

It was the biggest musical experience of my life.

ANNOUNCER: Laura van der Heijden.

It's been the most amazing start

to what I hope will be a long career in music.

Tonight, our five semifinalists

repeat their category final programme in front of a new panel of judges.

With only three places available in tomorrow night's final,

the stakes are high.

From Lancashire, 15-year-old Elliott Gaston-Ross.

He gave an energetic and captivating performance

to win the percussion final.

He is a really fantastic performer.

So honest and so true and totally 100% believing in what he's doing.

I just went out there and was myself and enjoyed it.

I've been practising on average about four hours every day

and I was just really, really pleased that it paid off.

And when the winner was announced at the category finals,

I have to say, I think your face was the best of all the reactions,

of all the winners. You looked completely shocked.

'Elliott Gaston-Ross.'

I just didn't expect to hear my name being called

and, when it did, it came as a little bit of a shock.

So, how's it going to feel to perform in tonight's semifinal?

Oh, I'm absolutely ecstatic

and I'm really, really excited

to see if I can give a better performance

and lift it, lift the performance up a notch.

18-year-old trumpet player Matilda Lloyd

gave a technically assured performance to win the brass final.

She played with a lot of flair

and her sound, within the first few notes that she played,

really grabbed me.

Your programme was fabulous.

How did you arrive on your repertoire choice?

I just wanted a programme that I really enjoyed playing

and that I knew that I could convey that enjoyment to the audience.

I love having a live audience.

I really thrive off it.

I know love seeing them enjoying my playing.

I came off stage with a massive buzz. It was fantastic.

With a dazzling display on the piano,

17-year-old Martin James Bartlett took the keyboard title.

I was looking for somebody who really had something unique

and interesting to say,

and Martin had that in abundance.

He's a wonderfully talented young musician.

We were all completely blown away.

How did you feel?

I was very happy with how I played

because it felt very comfortable.

When I walked out there

and sat down and I started playing the Bach,

it feels like home.

The happiest I am

is when I'm there, playing.

Sometimes I just go somewhere else

and you feel it here, in your gut, rather than your mind.

I love it so much.

15-year-old recorder player Sophie Westbrooke

gave a mesmerising performance to win the woodwind final.

It was such a complete performance.

Every hand gesture, you know,

even when she just picked up an instrument,

it was sort of part of the music,

so it was just a wonderful performance altogether.

I kind of wanted to show as much a variety as possible.

I wanted to show off loads of different skills

and different styles of playing.

There are always things as a performer you're going to think,

"I could have played that slightly better,

"I could have put more into that."

But I'm proud of getting here.

And finally, 19-year-old William Dutton

clinched the strings title with a virtuosic display on the violin.

William is a risk-taker

and I quite like that in a violinist.

He came on and sort of

with an attitude that whatever happens happens,

and he really played his socks off.

From the moment you played the very first note,

we all felt as if we were in front of a well-seasoned professional.

Do you get nervous?

I do get nervous, especially before,

quite a long time before, a performance, on and off.

So, my teacher's been talking me through

ways of getting over the nerves.

I really wanted to play my absolute best

and I managed to just about calm the pre-nerves

and was able to go on stage feeling very comfortable.

So, that's our line-up.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear them all perform again.

Before we get started, let's take a quick look ahead to the final,

which this year takes place at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.

The three competitors who make it through from tonight

will each perform a complete concerto of their choice

with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,

conducted by Kirill Karabits.

One will be awarded the coveted title -

BBC Young Musician 2014.

I think it's safe to say we're in for a very special final.

Join Clemency Burton-Hill, Milos and me

for full coverage right here on BBC Four tomorrow evening.

Trust me, you won't want to miss it.

Our five semifinalists

are making their final preparations backstage.

With such a variety of instruments, and five distinctive personalities,

it is going to be really hard to choose between them.

Thankfully, it's not up to me. Let's meet the jury.

They are...

What I'm looking for is a mastery of their instrument,

that they have imagination,

that they can make a piece come to life.

It's a clever winner who can choose the programme

that can show off their own instrument

and then can define that instrument amongst the others.

I just want to be transported by what I hear.

I don't want to think in numbers.

I just want to sit there

and enjoy exactly what the musicians will be bringing to us.

They just need to let go because, by letting go,

their performance will be even more engaging

and they'll have an even better chance of winning.

Good luck to all our semifinalists.

First on is the winner of the percussion title,

15-year-old Elliott Gaston-Ross.

Elliott Gaston-Ross lives with his mum and dad

in a small town near Preston.

My mum and dad first bought me a drum kit when I was seven years old.

The drum kit came about, really,

because he used to drive us a bit nuts.

He used to tap and bang and knock everything.

They were getting a bit fed up,

so they said, "Tap on that," basically.

So then I got a local drum teacher

and I just really enjoyed it.

On his percussion kit, squeezed into the lounge,

Elliott uses every precious moment

to practise in the run-up to the competition.

It was only six, seven months ago

that my teacher asked me, "Would you like to go in for it?"

And I never thought I was really good enough,

but I did it anyway and it really has done wonders for my playing.

I've improved massively because of the competition.

I have the music as a background to my dreams

because I hear it so often,

and yet Elliot seems to be completely oblivious.

He sleeps perfectly soundly,

gets up in the morning and is ready to do it all over again.

My dad does sometimes mention, you know,

"You have practised quite a lot today.

"You sure you don't want to do any more?"

Elliot's hoping that all those hours of practice will pay off,

and dreams of following in the footsteps of Adrian Spillett,

who won the overall title in 1998

and remains the only percussionist to have done so.

It has really been a thing that all percussionists,

since Adrian won, has dreamed of.

It's a top competition and it would be a dream come true, really.

APPLAUSE

And here is Elliott to open the semifinal

with a piece for the snare drum,

A Minute Of News, by Eugene Novotney.

I chose because it shows a few different techniques,

it has a clear groove to it

and I feel it's a really entertaining open to the programme.

APPLAUSE

Elliott getting the semifinal under way with real flair.

A physically demanding piece next.

The first movement of Trilogy, by Dave Maric.

Trilogy is probably the biggest piece in my programme.

It requires so many instruments

and I really like how it has a CD backing track with sample sounds.

It's a really energetic piece,

and I plan to make it an energetic performance.

APPLAUSE

An energetic performance there from Elliott.

Also in his programme, Prism,

by Japanese composer Keiko Abe.

And to end we're going to hear another Japanese piece,

Land, by Takatsugu Muramatsu.

It's one of the most famous marimba pieces ever written

and I chose it because it's a really peaceful piece.

The idea is quite simple, but it's just such a beautiful piece

and it really does lend itself really well to the marimba.

APPLAUSE

15-year-old Elliott Gaston-Ross there,

with a magnificent start to tonight's semifinal.

He said to me earlier

that he thought he could have done better in his category final.

I think he's got to be delighted with that.

It was mesmerising!

Elliott, opening the competition with fireworks.

I always enjoy going out on that stage and this wasn't an exception.

I did enjoy it.

Incredible technicality, unbelievable speed across...

I think he was using three limbs at once

in one of the moments, which was pretty impressive.

He dared to play quietly, he dared to draw us in.

And that's not heard of that often, so bravo to him there.

I felt very proud and pleased for him

and he looked as if he was enjoying it.

So, we're up and running.

Next on stage is 18-year-old trumpet player Matilda Lloyd,

who charmed the jury

with her winning performance in the brass category final.

Tonbridge, in Kent, where 18-year-old Matilda Lloyd

lives with her rather musical family.

It was her dad that introduced her to the trumpet at a young age.

Matilda picked it up and some people, I think,

have a sort of natural affinity

to being able to make a sound straightaway out of a trumpet.

He was completely amazed,

because it's actually quite hard to get a sound out of the trumpet.

And she said, "Oh, I like this! Can I have some lessons?"

And that was really the start of it.

Virginia is an accomplished pianist

and is Matilda's regular accompanist.

It's really helpful to have her there,

because we can work together

and I can familiarise myself with the piano parts.

For Matilda there are no gaps in the schedule...

with every Saturday taken up with lessons

at the Junior Guildhall School of Music.

Matilda's day starts with a trumpet lesson from Andy Mitchell.

She comes in at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning

and we normally have a pretty good hour's work-out.

And then she'll go on through the day

with the various groups that she's involved in,

she seems to be tireless.

But it was joining the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

three years ago that really helped develop Matilda's playing.

Working with top conductors, top trumpet tutors,

hearing other people all playing to an amazingly high standard,

that has really spurred her on.

Recently, we played Mahler's 5th Symphony at the Barbican in London,

erm...which was THE most incredible experience of my life.

APPLAUSE Some trumpet players

regard playing Mahler

as being the zenith of orchestral playing.

The lights went down and I picked up my trumpet

and then I played by myself for about 11 bars.

It was the most terrifying experience,

but exhilarating at the same time.

Not just the opening,

which demands tremendous nerve and control,

but all the way through.

I've never heard it played better, really.

Matilda's clearly someone who can handle pressure,

but how is she going to approach this semifinal?

SHE EXHALES LOUDLY

At the start of my performance in the category final

I think maybe I was a bit reserved,

sort of dipping my toes in the water before jumping in, so...

tonight I really want to just dive straight in at the very beginning.

APPLAUSE

It's a family affair for Matilda

as she takes to the stage accompanied by her mother Virginia

and her sister Verity as page-turner.

Honegger's Intrada -

it was written in 1947 by Honegger,

who was a Swiss composer.

And "intrada" means entrance,

so it starts off with this very bold, loud fanfare

which just sort of says, "Here I am!" to everyone.

Matilda, with a confident opening to her programme.

Next, she plays the rhapsodic Legende, by George Enescu.

He lived and worked in Paris

so a lot of his work is influenced by the impressionist movement

of the early 20th century,

and I think you can really hear that in Legende,

it's very impressionistic and bubbly.

APPLAUSE

And to end her programme with a flourish,

Matilda plays Toccata,

the 3rd Movement from Flor Peeters' Trumpet Sonata.

It's very Spanish-influenced.

You can really hear the flamenco dancing

and the castanets in it, and it's...

It's just a really fun end piece to the programme.

APPLAUSE

18-year-old trumpeter Matilda Lloyd

playing three really difficult trumpet pieces there

and making them look like the most easy thing in the world.

She said she wanted to make an impression with the Intrada,

and she really did.

Matilda, Matilda! That was awesome!

Thank you very much.

-How did it feel?

-Oh, it was amazing.

I really love playing the trumpet

and I just wanted to show them all that,

and I hope they enjoyed it.

Just captivating, she drew the audience in.

That really beautiful way that she carved out the melodies

and made really delicate transitions of dynamics

was really impressive.

The tone is really rock solid all the way through.

She's got lots of lovely colours.

Overall it's a very convincing performance.

It was spectacular. It's the greatest privilege and honour

to be able to sit there and see, you know, your whole family

performing in front of you, it's extraordinary!

So, we have heard the winners of percussion and brass categories.

Still to come - woodwind and strings.

But up next is the 17-year-old Martin James Bartlett,

the winner of the keyboard final.

APPLAUSE

Martin's no stranger to BBC Young Musician.

Two years ago he reached the category final stage.

It was really exciting to be able to do it

and I think I've learned quite a lot from last time.

The whole experience was really positive.

I think it gave him a real sense of what he could do

and, I think, made him feel that, you know,

that this long-held ambition of being a concert pianist

was something that could be achieved.

Two years on and he's made it to the semifinal.

A student at the Purcell School of Music,

Martin has lessons with Emily Jeffrey,

who is helping him to realise his ambition.

I've studied with Emily for 10 years.

Lessons with her are the most important part of my week.

She just makes me believe more in myself than I would do without her.

OK, I think you're taking far too much time there, yeah?

'He's really one of the most'

talented students I've ever taught,

and I've had some very talented students.

In fact, Emily has quite a track record in this competition.

She taught 2010 winner Lara Omeroglu.

Now Martin is bringing his own unique personality

to BBC Young Musician.

Martin is a bit of a joker,

a bit mischievous, er...

he does love to have a laugh

and quite a personality, I think, really.

Pretend you're a teacher.

SHE LAUGHS

-OK.

-He's got a great sense of humour

and he tends to lighten a room up when he walks in, you know.

He has great fun and people around him enjoy it as well.

I think his personality shines through his music.

And that will have great effect on his future.

I try and practise five or six hours a day.

It's hard if there's a piano in the room not to start playing it.

And it's all, really, I think about,

even though when I'm in lessons and things like that, it's just...

I've got pieces going round in my head

and I want to start playing again.

It's a passion that's all-consuming,

even at weekends.

On Saturdays, I go to the Royal College.

My morning starts with some piano duo work, which I love,

and then I have piano trio.

And it's great fun to go to the Royal College

and to mix both Purcell and the Royal College -

they bounce off each other so well.

So, two years on from his first appearance in BBC Young Musician,

has Martin got what it takes

to secure one of the coveted places in the final?

I would love to get through,

more than anything to go and play my concerto with the orchestra.

It means, really, everything to me.

Do you have any special approach

-to how you will get out there and shine?

-I think... You know,

you've just got to have fun.

'It doesn't matter whether, you know, whether there are wrong notes.

'You've just got to be true to yourself

'and the composer. If you're true to yourself and the composer

'then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.'

APPLAUSE

Martin looking relaxed as he walks on stage.

He certainly has a distinctive voice as a performer.

His first piece - Capriccio, a partita by JS Bach.

I love this so much

because of the counterpoint and the imitation.

There's something edgy about Bach

and then the notes with the long line.

And so, for me, it's a balance of so many different things

to get this perfect quality.

APPLAUSE

A truly impressive start by Martin.

Next, the emotional Sonnet 104 by Liszt.

It's so beautiful.

It's about being in love and the feelings of, actually,

hate and love when you're really in love.

Whereas, looking back at it and saying, "Oh, that was nice."

It's different to this, that's why I love playing it so much,

because I feel like I'm on a journey when I play it.

APPLAUSE

17-year-old Martin taking us through a whole range of emotions there.

Also in his programme - Etincelles by Moszkowski.

To end, we're going to hear a more modern piece -

the 4th Movement of Barber's Sonata for Piano.

It's quite contrasting to lots of other Barber's works.

I mean, there's so much fire in it

but there's also so much beauty in the middle.

When I play these massive chords it's like the end of the world

and everything is falling down, it's just so gripping.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Well, I think the audience reaction says it all.

Occasionally a musician can transcend

even the instrument they're playing

and simply bring the music to life

in all its technicoloured glory.

I loved it, it's always so much fun to play

and get the reaction like that from the audience.

Because it makes me want to do it even more and...

I don't know what to say, I just love doing that so much.

Martin was outstanding, he's come up trumps today

with a fantastic, very...

enthralling performance across all the pieces.

Absolutely brilliant. The Barber, the fugue at the end there,

was just incredible, unbelievable speed and technicality

and the ferocious virtuosity

that came out of him.

Very emotional...indeed.

But he pulls out all the stops all the time.

Next to take the stage here is 15-year-old Sophie Westbrooke,

who gave us a completely enchanting performance on the recorder

in the woodwind final.

Recorder player Sophie Westbrooke goes to school in Sevenoaks in Kent

where, alongside her studies, she's kept very busy with music.

I'm in two orchestras, three choirs and three chamber groups.

Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra, the Sennocke Consort,

which is the senior choir. Choral Society, which is all the choirs...

Girls' Choir...

and, yeah...

SHE CHUCKLES

I started playing the recorder in class,

had lessons when I was about six.

I don't think I ever really intended it to be my main instrument

when I was that young, it just kind of...

happened!

Sophie's mum, Nicola, who studied piano when she was younger

spotted her daughter's musical promise at a very young age.

She sang before she could really talk,

she used to come out with the noises

that matched the nursery rhymes in the car,

and I used to sing her to sleep every night and she, erm,

sang in harmony, which I thought was quite strange for a three-year-old.

To develop her musical talents further,

at weekends Sophie travels to London

to study at the Royal Academy of Music.

I started going to Academy in year four.

I just found it so exciting to be in a place where

everybody felt the same way about music as me.

Sophie's taught by Barbara Law.

Barbara's a really good teacher,

she always pushes us to do something...

outside of our comfort zone.

A few things, I think this needs to be much more theatrical, generally.

I think, maybe some alternative fingerings for there,

for the D and the F,

because that would be nice to have a really wistful sound.

Once more...

The repertoire available for the recorder is limited

but, for Barbara, this can be an advantage.

You have to be more creative

and you have to go out and find things,

you have to transcribe things,

yeah... so I think it can be an exciting instrument

from that point of view.

And Barbara should know -

her other star pupil is Charlotte Barbour-Condini,

who made history in 2012

by becoming the first recorder player

to reach the final of BBC Young Musician.

Seeing Charlotte two years ago made me think...

"Well, maybe it is possible for someone playing the recorder...

"to get through."

Sophie's programme features a range of different recorders

and is designed to run as one continuous performance.

Tell me, what is the challenge of going from one instrument to the next

-all the time?

-That is one of the big challenges -

because my fingers have to go in different positions,

I have to use different breath pressures,

and in my programme I really don't have too much time

to adapt to the recorders,

I have to kind of pick them up quickly.

But I think it's a nice variety to bring.

APPLAUSE

Bringing the sounds of the Far East to Cardiff,

Sophie opens her programme with Meditation - a modern piece

by Japanese composer Ryohei Hirose.

It's kind of based on the shakuhachi sounds that they make, erm...

It's really good fun to play, it uses lots of extended techniques,

different types of tonguing... Yeah, it's really good fun.

To the early baroque period now,

with Sonata Prima by Italian composer Dario Costello.

It's a really good showpiece

cos it's got really, really fast passages

and really slow, lyrical passages

and shows lots of different skills and styles.

We continue our journey with Sophie's final piece - Choro.

Accompanied by David Gordon on harpsichord

and Carl Herring on guitar.

It was originally a CPE Bach keyboard melody

that Dave has arranged to sound like a Brazilian choro.

Normally I would end a competition

with something showy, something dramatic,

but I kind of wanted to leave it on a kind of...

thoughtful note instead.

APPLAUSE

Well, what an original and inspired choice of programme there

from Sophie Westbrooke.

She's a true storyteller

and, more than that, it seems like she weaves a spell over me

and the whole audience here.

It's truly magnificent.

Whenever you pick up to play this instrument

it kind of like becomes this most soft beautiful voice

and you just sing for us.

I love playing, I love performing, it's so much fun.

And, hopefully, people will now

have a more realistic view of what the recorder is.

It was almost like travelling in time

but it begins with a really contemporary work

and that's, I think, what a really wonderful musician can do.

Wow! It was incredibly mesmerising.

She explored an incredible array of different colours

and different sounds

and I was just completely blown away by that.

I think there's something very special here.

We are very proud of Sophie, that was, erm...

That was phenomenal, I think.

Plenty for the jury to ponder,

having heard four outstanding competitors so far.

Last to perform in this BBC Young Musician semifinal

is violinist William Dutton,

who showed tremendous flair

in his winning performance in the strings final.

19-year-old William is in his final year

at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School.

His violin playing was in its early stages

but he demonstrated such musicality and passion for music

that we thought this was the right place for him to be.

His teacher at the Menuhin

is Russian violinist Loutsia Ibragimova.

And remember about changing colours

when you are changing fingers and strings.

-Hm.

-We're doing it for some... making different colour, yeah?

From September William has set his sights

on continuing his studies further afield.

I'm in Italy today, in Bergamo,

to have some violin lessons with Professor Pavel Vernikov.

Because I intend, next year,

to audition for a place in his class in Sion in Switzerland.

The lessons take place at the Accademia Musicale Santa Cecilia.

Not every note...

HE HUMS

One note here, not five.

One...

Better...

HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

I like this boy, he is very simpatico.

He understand very quick, very quick...

He change a lot of... this last time... For me...

it's a great pleasure.

That was very intense, we worked on lots of things together.

Things about intonation, things about phrasing.

He teaches me how to listen more, not to sort of say to yourself -

"OK, I think that sounds quite good, it's fine, let's just move on."

You know, really think, "What sound am I producing now?

"Why am I making the sound?"

Now in the semifinal

Will is presented with a different problem.

His good friend Menachem -

who accompanied him during the strings final

became ill just days before the semifinal.

The school has two accompanists

and one of them, Nigel Hutchinson,

bravely said that he'd do it.

Erm, we rehearsed for two days.

We rehearsed this morning for a couple of hours

and yesterday for a couple of hours

and it's another challenge

to try and make music in a completely different way and...

I hope that tonight we'll be able to give a performance

that Menachem would be proud of.

APPLAUSE

So, here is William Dutton,

the last of our competitors in this BBC Young Musician semifinal.

He opens his programme with a piece full of Jewish motifs,

Nigun by Ernest Bloch.

For me, the Bloch Nigun

is a really special piece.

I first learnt it about four or five years ago

with my old teacher, Simon Fischer.

Fischer was a student of Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School,

who studied, himself, with Bloch,

and there's things that Bloch didn't write down in the score

that have been passed down to Yfrah Neaman to Simon to me.

APPLAUSE

Will's proud parents and brother in the audience

enjoying his performance.

To end his programme and this semifinal,

an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d'Or

by Efrem Zimbalist.

It makes me feel like I'm having a good time.

You can be as romantic as you like.

You can really, really play around with it

and use so many different colours.

You can try different things every time you play it,

and you can still be convincing

even though you're doing it a completely different way,

because there are so many possibilities.

APPLAUSE

A really expressive performance from 18-year-old William Dutton,

bringing this semifinal to a close.

He has that thing that all great violinists have,

which is a real ability to play with elegance and grace

but also strength and power. Brilliant.

I felt you were taking risks.

Yes, taking a few risks. Taking a few risks.

I tried to really let go and just play.

I really enjoyed William's playing. I thought it was incredible.

An unbelievable kind of chromatic wizardry.

His fingers are like an octopus, whizzing up and down the fretboard.

But I might have liked a little bit more variety

in the pieces that he performed.

Really, really strong performance.

Very relaxed stage presence,

but this incredible sound that filled every corner of the hall.

I think he played really, really well, so hopefully,

you know, he can get through.

Well, another hugely enjoyable, if nerve-racking, evening

here at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Five outstanding young musicians

giving their all in this semifinal.

For me, they took their playing to another level this evening -

really owning their space on the stage,

looking completely at home.

Sadly, for two of them,

their Young Musician dream ends here,

but for three of them, the final awaits.

Making that all-important decision...

I'm incredibly impressed with all five performances.

I agree. I think the level was incredibly high.

So, Elliot - did you enjoy his performance as much as I did?

I thought he was top-class, actually.

There was a really infectious enthusiasm in his music-making.

For me, it was almost as though

he was making music in the moment.

It was all from the heart.

Such showmanship all the way through

and then, with the marimba,

such a massive instrument but then such an intimate sound.

With Matilda, it's no mean feat

to have such technical security on the trumpet at that kind of age.

Her strongest piece was the Enescu,

because that's when we heard

more of the singing quality of the sound

and some of that really fine tonguing and articulation.

I was captivated. I think she did a beautiful job.

MICHAEL: Technically flamboyant in many places

and lots of light and dark and contrast, loud or soft,

I thought she brought that out.

But it's a little bit difficult, sometimes, isn't it,

to be able to communicate, and I'd have liked to have seen

a little bit more of that from her.

Some of the pieces had long passages of piano in them.

Again, if you're just a soloist...

-That's when she can communicate.

-Indeed.

There's something very satisfying about Martin.

-There's amazing clarity in that opening Bach piece.

-Very.

-Fantastic voice-leading and...

-The articulation was superb.

Often, you hear it, the left hand's a little bit muddy.

The left hand had so much character and shaping. Really strong there.

What a clever way to bring a programme together.

You begin with the Bach and you end with another contrapuntal piece

centuries later.

I love the idea of time travel in programming,

and I think he managed to do that.

But the Liszt, especially,

was full of massive phrases and huge leaps.

-Real depth and maturity in the playing, generally.

-Very much.

Sophie's performance is so delightfully surprising, isn't it?

I found it absolutely mesmerising.

I noticed not just the sound, actually, the entire performance,

she allowed us to come inside

that kind of elfin-like world that she's created.

All sorts of different mysticism...

One moment it's a Japanese shakuhachi,

the next it's a kind of Irish pipe. It's an amazing variety.

Very, very clever performance.

I think what was particularly interesting with her

is that she was one of the few

who really interacted with her accompanists,

almost as though it was chamber music. She was in control.

-But she let them perform...

-Exactly.

-It's very sophisticated.

-Yeah.

William's programme showed off a lot of his qualities.

Technically, he's clearly absolutely on the button.

There could have been a little more variety in what he was performing.

-Would have been amazing to hear him play some Bach.

-Some Bach.

-Beethoven.

-Or Beethoven, yes.

-The different qualities.

Just the colours that he was getting out from those two pieces -

imagine all the colours that he can get out from other repertoire as well.

Well, we've got to choose three out of those five

-to go through to the final and play their concertos.

-Hmm.

So, the wait is almost over.

The audience have their favourites,

but who have the jury chosen to go through to the final

of BBC Young Musician 2014?

To make the announcements - Meurig Bowen.

We've been treated to an extraordinary display

of musicianship and virtuosity tonight

and, of course, it's been incredibly hard for us

to whittle these five exceptional young people

down to the three who will get to play concertos in the final.

It's my pleasure to announce

that the three performers who will progress to the final

of BBC Young Musician 2014 are...

Martin James Bartlett,

Sophie Westbrooke

and Elliot Gaston-Ross.

APPLAUSE

And there we have our three finalists -

Elliot, Martin and Sophie -

who gave their all in tonight's performance,

delighting the audience and jury alike.

Huge congratulations also to Will and Matilda,

who leave this competition as outstanding category winners.

All three, for me, touched my heart

and they made me want to listen.

The things that I was looking for

were communication, personality and maturity,

and I feel that the three finalists that we have

exhibited that in bucket-loads.

You are in the final. Yay!

When I applied for this competition,

the final was just so far up here.

It's unthinkable. It's just happened now, and it's... Oh!

It doesn't feel real. It feels like this doesn't happen in real life.

I can't believe it and I can't wait to play in the concerto final.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's been such a journey.

I'm so happy for him. He's worked so hard.

I've never been to Usher Hall. I've never been to Edinburgh before.

-Yes, you have. >

-I HAVE been to Edinburgh before!

THEY LAUGH

I have to learn a concerto.

I don't know what I'm going to do. Ah!

APPLAUSE

We might have to rent you a house...

-..that you can practise in.

-Wow...

I'm so pleased.

Oh, it's fantastic.

Huge congratulations to all of our semifinalists,

and massive well done to Sophie, Martin and Elliot,

who make it to our final at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.

Join us here on BBC Four tomorrow evening

for the full coverage,

as our three finalists compete for the title

of BBC Young Musician 2014.