In Concert 22.04.24: Sir James MacMillan: new Choral work.
• HECTOR BERLIOZ Overture 'Rob Roy'
• HECTOR BERLIOZ Cantata 'La mort de Cléopâtre"$
• SIR JAMES MACMILLAN 'Composed in August' (1st British Broadcast Performance)*
• SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise ¿
Maxim Emelyanychev Conductor
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Karen Cargill Mezzo soprano $
Robert Jordan Bagpipes ¿
SCO Chorus* (Gregory Batsleer, Chorus director)
THE AULD ALLIANCE, COMPOSER-CONDUCTORS, or L'APPRENTI SORCIER & TWO MATURE KNIGHTS?
21st Concerts tend to be curated and are awarded a catchphrase. You can guess which of the above was chosen by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's marketing department.
I think of Rob Roy as an apprentice piece was it was composed , and rejected, by Berlioz as he was writing his Fantastic Symphony. However, its romantic cor anglais solo is a preparation for a theme that reapprars on the solo viola in Harold in Italy. The SCO despatched the piece with rumbustious vigour.
The Death of Cleopatra was dismissed contemptuously during my youth as a failure: forced formalism created during Berlioz's reluctant apprenticeship when he was labouring long towards academic respectability and the Prix de Roma. I think it was Janet Baker revealed the power of this 20 minute scenario to me. Karen Cargill is the mezzo Queen of Scotland and she made a classic recording of the Berlioz Scena a decade ago with the SCO under Robin Ticciati. The work details Cleopatra's dying fall after she was poisoned by an asp. Soloist and orchestra supported and intensified the fading of the Queen's vitality in an almost magical manner- a splendid performance.
Two British musical Knghts shared the second half of the programme. 'Composed in August' was a novelty in Edinburgh and MacMillan's Choral Song was receiving its second performance having been premiered in on the previous day.
'I grew up with the poetry of Robert Burns. An Ayrshire childhood is filled with the local poet’s work and memory. There is such a lyrical and musical dimension to his work and it was inevitable that I would turn to the task of making my own settings of his words. I’ve recited and sung his songs since I was a little boy and I had always been struck by the beauty of this particular poem, also known by its first line 'Now Westlin Winds'.
(Sir James MacMillan in interview with SCO)
Often with Big Mac I hear the jingle 'What you want is what you get': the work being less of a composition and more of a composite : eclectic fondly remembered soundbites bonded by MacMillan's piquant sauce. I'm left musing on the lines of "was that chattering phrase cloned from Tippett or Messaien?"
'Composed in August' took Sir James back to his youth in Ayrshire: not famous for blue remembered hills but characteticised by low thatched crofts. The work's lyrics were penned by 16 year old Robert Burns who loved a lassie as well as bountiful.nature. Even scholars like Robbie were sent into the fields to bring home the harvest. Robert first met his lassie whilst both were reaping. Cue: Composed in August!
MacMillan's twenty minute Song is lovely and full of the optimism of young love. It is sun lit and serms grateful to sing and play. Scottish folksongs are its girders and the work has a wholesome authenticity. Many composers have celebrated Scotlznd's Highlands and Islands so it"s great to hear how much effort Sir Jimmy is putting into sustaining music and culture in his part of the Scottish Lowlands (The only Ayrshire work that I know, an Ayrshire Serenade, was penned by Anthony Hedges who served his Teaching Practice at the School where I later became Deputy Head).
An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise, one of Maxwell Davies's great 'light music' pieces ended the concert in true Tam O'Shanter riotous fashion. It's 40 years old and already a classic across the musical world. However I've spilled too many words...
• HECTOR BERLIOZ Overture 'Rob Roy'
• HECTOR BERLIOZ Cantata 'La mort de Cléopâtre"$
• SIR JAMES MACMILLAN 'Composed in August' (1st British Broadcast Performance)*
• SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise ¿
Maxim Emelyanychev Conductor
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Karen Cargill Mezzo soprano $
Robert Jordan Bagpipes ¿
SCO Chorus* (Gregory Batsleer, Chorus director)
THE AULD ALLIANCE, COMPOSER-CONDUCTORS, or L'APPRENTI SORCIER & TWO MATURE KNIGHTS?
21st Concerts tend to be curated and are awarded a catchphrase. You can guess which of the above was chosen by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's marketing department.
I think of Rob Roy as an apprentice piece was it was composed , and rejected, by Berlioz as he was writing his Fantastic Symphony. However, its romantic cor anglais solo is a preparation for a theme that reapprars on the solo viola in Harold in Italy. The SCO despatched the piece with rumbustious vigour.
The Death of Cleopatra was dismissed contemptuously during my youth as a failure: forced formalism created during Berlioz's reluctant apprenticeship when he was labouring long towards academic respectability and the Prix de Roma. I think it was Janet Baker revealed the power of this 20 minute scenario to me. Karen Cargill is the mezzo Queen of Scotland and she made a classic recording of the Berlioz Scena a decade ago with the SCO under Robin Ticciati. The work details Cleopatra's dying fall after she was poisoned by an asp. Soloist and orchestra supported and intensified the fading of the Queen's vitality in an almost magical manner- a splendid performance.
Two British musical Knghts shared the second half of the programme. 'Composed in August' was a novelty in Edinburgh and MacMillan's Choral Song was receiving its second performance having been premiered in on the previous day.
'I grew up with the poetry of Robert Burns. An Ayrshire childhood is filled with the local poet’s work and memory. There is such a lyrical and musical dimension to his work and it was inevitable that I would turn to the task of making my own settings of his words. I’ve recited and sung his songs since I was a little boy and I had always been struck by the beauty of this particular poem, also known by its first line 'Now Westlin Winds'.
(Sir James MacMillan in interview with SCO)
Often with Big Mac I hear the jingle 'What you want is what you get': the work being less of a composition and more of a composite : eclectic fondly remembered soundbites bonded by MacMillan's piquant sauce. I'm left musing on the lines of "was that chattering phrase cloned from Tippett or Messaien?"
'Composed in August' took Sir James back to his youth in Ayrshire: not famous for blue remembered hills but characteticised by low thatched crofts. The work's lyrics were penned by 16 year old Robert Burns who loved a lassie as well as bountiful.nature. Even scholars like Robbie were sent into the fields to bring home the harvest. Robert first met his lassie whilst both were reaping. Cue: Composed in August!
MacMillan's twenty minute Song is lovely and full of the optimism of young love. It is sun lit and serms grateful to sing and play. Scottish folksongs are its girders and the work has a wholesome authenticity. Many composers have celebrated Scotlznd's Highlands and Islands so it"s great to hear how much effort Sir Jimmy is putting into sustaining music and culture in his part of the Scottish Lowlands (The only Ayrshire work that I know, an Ayrshire Serenade, was penned by Anthony Hedges who served his Teaching Practice at the School where I later became Deputy Head).
An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise, one of Maxwell Davies's great 'light music' pieces ended the concert in true Tam O'Shanter riotous fashion. It's 40 years old and already a classic across the musical world. However I've spilled too many words...