vailian

Judging another competition for young musicians this weekend. It is heartbreaking to see all the effort and talent and not be able to give more prizes.
Got into a heated argument with another juror over one entry: a young boy soprano singer with the most extraordinary voice performed a piece by a modern German composer, fiendishly difficult, and he executed it flawlessly. Superb diction, perfect intonation, lovely sound. Aged 12.
But one of the fellow jurors (there were 6 of us) was a singer, and he insisted that the boy's teacher should not have given him such an adult piece (very much about Weltschmerz and Death) which required such outbreaks of passion. He called it a Circus Number, which is about as insulting as you can get in German.
The argument went on and on, and finally in the interests of peace and harmony in the jury room, we reduced the number of prizes (there were 3 big cash prizes, and we could have divided them up but in the end we didn't) and so he was left out (as were some other groups that I maintain were very deserving).
I am going to have a guilty conscience about this for months. I should have fought harder, because I could have convinced the others, I am sure.