SCO, 12/01/2018
Rebel : Les élémens
Martinu : Rhapsody-Concerto (Jane Atkins, viola)
Dvorák : Biblical Songs (Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano)
Haydn : Symphony No. 96 "Miracle"
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Robin Ticciati
It felt like an auspicious start to the New Year to welcome Robin Ticciati back to the podium, after many weeks' absence due to injury. That said, the opening to tonight's concert was not all that could have been desired. Ticciati is a conductor who likes to get down to business promptly; it's quite usual for him to give the signal to start barely a heartbeat after the applause has ended. In this particular instance, a few seconds longer, to build up the anticipation a little, would have been welcome, because that startling, crunching discord that opens Rebel's "new symphony" Les élémens was too rushed, and simply didn't carry its usual punch. There were problems of balance in the opening movement too, the flute's scales drowned in the lower half by the fierce, tremolando strings, and the theorbo was somewhat wasted, in that I couldn't distinguish it at all from where I was sitting. Fire's Chaconne lacked precision, but the warbling nightingales in the eponymous movement, and the expanded sound effects from the orchestra elsewhere were most entertaining.
The viola is a difficult instrument to write for in concerto format. Its warm, mellow sound does not quite have the weight of the cello, or the carrying power of the violin, and is easily submerged in an orchestral texture. Martinu's skilled, thoughtful scoring in this concerto permitted Jane Atkins's instrument to sing out, by turns wistful and playful, beautifully supported by the translucent textures of the orchestra. Martinu may have been expressing a degree of homesickness when he wrote this piece, but what came through above all was the profound serenity you often find in Martinu's orchestral pieces, that sense of a life lived to the full.
After the interval, it was another rich, dark-timbred instrument in the spotlight, the honeyed and expansive mezzo of Karen Cargill, in quite a rarity, the complete Biblical Songs by Dvorák. I've heard one or two of these, here and there, usually in the original voice-and-piano format, but never the whole cycle and in an orchestral arrangement. The songs are settings of Psalm texts, in a wide range of moods, from troubled to exalted and, in a sense, the style is slightly less lyrical than one might expect of Dvorák. This is because the vocal line tends to be somewhat declamatory, but it accurately reflects the poetic style of the Psalms themselves, and there are some lovely details in the accompaniment. There is perhaps less immediate appeal with this music than some of the rest of Dvorák's output, but there's a heartfelt quality, admirably expressed by Cargill and the orchestra, that makes them singularly touching, and worth exploring further.
Finally, after the solemnity of the Biblical Songs, a sunny reading of Haydn's Symphony No. 96, known (apparently in error!) as the "Miracle", concluded the programme. Clear articulation, sprightly tempi and abundant charm all made for a smiling and graceful close to an unusual and varied concert.
[Next : 18th January]
Martinu : Rhapsody-Concerto (Jane Atkins, viola)
Dvorák : Biblical Songs (Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano)
Haydn : Symphony No. 96 "Miracle"
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Robin Ticciati
It felt like an auspicious start to the New Year to welcome Robin Ticciati back to the podium, after many weeks' absence due to injury. That said, the opening to tonight's concert was not all that could have been desired. Ticciati is a conductor who likes to get down to business promptly; it's quite usual for him to give the signal to start barely a heartbeat after the applause has ended. In this particular instance, a few seconds longer, to build up the anticipation a little, would have been welcome, because that startling, crunching discord that opens Rebel's "new symphony" Les élémens was too rushed, and simply didn't carry its usual punch. There were problems of balance in the opening movement too, the flute's scales drowned in the lower half by the fierce, tremolando strings, and the theorbo was somewhat wasted, in that I couldn't distinguish it at all from where I was sitting. Fire's Chaconne lacked precision, but the warbling nightingales in the eponymous movement, and the expanded sound effects from the orchestra elsewhere were most entertaining.
The viola is a difficult instrument to write for in concerto format. Its warm, mellow sound does not quite have the weight of the cello, or the carrying power of the violin, and is easily submerged in an orchestral texture. Martinu's skilled, thoughtful scoring in this concerto permitted Jane Atkins's instrument to sing out, by turns wistful and playful, beautifully supported by the translucent textures of the orchestra. Martinu may have been expressing a degree of homesickness when he wrote this piece, but what came through above all was the profound serenity you often find in Martinu's orchestral pieces, that sense of a life lived to the full.
After the interval, it was another rich, dark-timbred instrument in the spotlight, the honeyed and expansive mezzo of Karen Cargill, in quite a rarity, the complete Biblical Songs by Dvorák. I've heard one or two of these, here and there, usually in the original voice-and-piano format, but never the whole cycle and in an orchestral arrangement. The songs are settings of Psalm texts, in a wide range of moods, from troubled to exalted and, in a sense, the style is slightly less lyrical than one might expect of Dvorák. This is because the vocal line tends to be somewhat declamatory, but it accurately reflects the poetic style of the Psalms themselves, and there are some lovely details in the accompaniment. There is perhaps less immediate appeal with this music than some of the rest of Dvorák's output, but there's a heartfelt quality, admirably expressed by Cargill and the orchestra, that makes them singularly touching, and worth exploring further.
Finally, after the solemnity of the Biblical Songs, a sunny reading of Haydn's Symphony No. 96, known (apparently in error!) as the "Miracle", concluded the programme. Clear articulation, sprightly tempi and abundant charm all made for a smiling and graceful close to an unusual and varied concert.
[Next : 18th January]