Musical youth

Two of the world's finest youth orchestras are in Edinburgh this week: the European Union Youth Orchestra tomorrow night and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester on Friday. Both are made up of staggeringly accomplished musicians – musicians who would have been assured top jobs in professional orchestras only a few decades ago. Standards at Europe's conservatoires rise and rise. The field is like Olympian athletics, where race times that would have clinched gold in previous generations nowadays hardly qualify for the finals.

Besides being formidable performing ensembles, these are fascinating institutions. The EU orchestra began life as the European Community Youth Orchestra in 1976, its political founders keen to instil feelings of pan-Europeanism using the symbol of the orchestra. The Mahlers were founded 10 years later by Claudio Abbado, originally with the aim of providing young Austrian members an opportunity to play with contemporaries from Eastern Bloc countries. These days the EU is the slightly younger band – its age range is 14 to 24, compared with the Mahler's 16 to 26 – but both orchestras accept applications from anyone with an EU passport. Competition for a place in either is fierce.

A major appeal for players is the calibre of conductors who work with the orchestras. This year the EU tours with Gianandrea Noseda, conductor laureate of the BBC Philharmonic and music director of Turin's Teatro Regio. The Mahlers tour with Daniele Gatti, conductor laureate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, chief conductor at Zurich Opera and music director of the Orchestre National de France.

Tellingly, both use the same word to sum up their reasons for working with the youth orchestras: duty. "I was very lucky when I was a teenager to meet role models and have very good teachers," explains Noseda. "Now I'm 48 – not old enough to be a real maestro, but ready to start passing on what I've learned. I don't want to feel guilty in 20 years. We are all in a chain; we all must do our part."

Gatti is notably less verbose over the phone than his bubbly compatriot but his responses are similar at heart. "We should not forget that we all began as young musicians," he says. "It is our duty to pass on our experiences."

Just as telling is that neither conductor alters his approach when working with these orchestras. "I don't change at all," says Gatti. "My attitude is absolutely professional and I conduct with the same techniques. I know that most of the players could be in professional orchestras tomorrow."

Noseda points out that while he aims to achieve professional standards from the EU orchestra, "the difference is that professional musicians are very practised at how to get there. Young people are full of energy and enthusiasm, but perhaps aren't so clear about how to get to the end result. So the journey might be a little more exploratory".

Even with membership constantly changing, both orchestras retain a distinct character. Perhaps this is most obvious with the Mahler Jugendorchester, which – as the name suggests – has really focused in on its core repertoire. "The sound of an orchestra is formed over the decades," says Gatti. "When new players arrive they're keen to become a part of that tradition. What I look for when I conduct them is the right sound for whatever composer we're playing."

Noseda highlights the "receptiveness and flexibility" of his young players. "The sound that comes from the orchestra therefore depends on the conductor who is standing in front of them. The fact that my brilliant colleague Daniele Gatti is conducting the Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester the night after we play in Edinburgh will give a very interesting comparison for listeners."

Incidentally, Noseda sees this as something of a diplomatic coup. "It's great that at a time when much of Europe is suspicious of us southerners, here we have two Italian conductors leading Europe's greatest young orchestras. It's proof that good people come from anywhere, no matter the politics of the place."

In Edinburgh the Gatti and the Mahler Jugendorchester stick to home territory, performing Mahler's nocturnal Seventh Symphony alongside the Prelude and Good Friday Music from Wagner's Parsifal. Noseda and the EU have opted for something a little different: Garrick Ohlsson joins them for the Piano Concerto by Ferruccio Busoni: "A gigantic work," says Noseda, "full of the kind of energy and force that these young players can really deliver."

Also on tomorrow's programme is a new piece by Richard Causton. Twenty Seven Heavens (the name is from William Blake's Jerusalem) is the final 20x12 Cultural Olympiad commission, and parallels aspects of Blake's mythological world with various districts of Causton's native East London. There also happen to be 27 member states of the European Union.

"I'm careful not to talk about a piece before a premiere," says Noseda, "because really the premiere is like a birth. I can say that Causton's piece is very well written and full of colours. Anyway, in my experience young people approach all repertoire – be it Bach, Mozart, something obscure or a brand new work – with the same curiosity and energy."

Noseda and the European Union Youth Orchestra are at the Usher Hall tomorrow. Gatti and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester are at the Usher Hall on Friday.