MUSIC LIST
0 Music is listed as diary: by day, then by city, then by event. Please send details not later than to days belore publication date.
CLASSICAL
Glasgow
0 Midday Concert Stevenson Hall, RSAMD, St George’s Place, 332 4101. 1pm. Free at door. The Alberni String Quartet are joined by Lawrence Glover (piano) for Cesar Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor.
0 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra concert Henry Wood Hall. Claremont Street. 330 2578. 1.15pm. £2.50 (conc £1.50 and 50p). Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is the only really well known work on the programme of the BBC 880 this Friday lunchtime, but it‘s a super opportunity to hear Martinu‘s Second Piano Concerto with Rudolf Firkusny and Variations on a theme of Orlando Gibbons by Rory Boyle. J iri Starek conducts.
0 Piano Recital Concert Hall, Glasgow University. 7.30pm. Free at door. Radoslav Kvapil, one of the great exponents of Czech piano music includes music by Dvorak (Humoresque Op 101), Smetana, Fibich, Janacek and Martinu in this recital which is part of Glasgow University’s new concert season.
Edinburgh
0 Organ Recital Reid Concert Hall, Teviot Row, Bristo Square. 1.10pm. Free at door. Norman Finlay gives an all J. S. Bach recital, including the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542.
o Occasional Opera Group -The Olympians George Square Theatre , George Square, 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7pm. £3 (£2.50). Extra date Sat 2. In celebration of European Music Year the Edinburgh based Occasional Opera Group are reviving Sir Arthur Bliss’s The Olympians. With libretto by J. B. Priestley, it‘s an entertaining and amusing opera with the major roles being taken by some of Edinburgh’s well known amateur singers. The dancing, choreographed by Tracy Hawkes, should be something to look out for.
0 Scottish National Orchestra Concert Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £2.80—£8.30. Extra date Sat 2 in Glasgow. Soprano Heather Harper joins the SNO and guest conductor Matthias Bemert for Berg’s Seven Early Songs. Also on
MUSIC
the programme is Schubert‘s Overture to Rosamunde and the Symphony No 4 by Mahler.
SATURDAY 2
Glasgow
0 Pre-Perionnance Tali: Theatre Royal, Hope Street. 331 1234. 1pm. Free to ticket holders. Extra dates Tue 5 (6pm), Thurs 7 (6pm). Members of the production and music staff of Scottish Opera‘s new production of Weber’s Oberon, with libretto by Anthony Burgess, give a basic insight into the opera, the production and what it’s all about.
0 Scottish Opera — Oberon Theatre Royal, Hope Street, 331 1234. 2.15pm. Extra dates Tue 5 (7.15pm) and Thurs 7 (7. 15pm) £2.50—£18.50. Scottish Opera continue their controversial new production of Oberon. Weber’s glorious 19th century music is set to an entirely new libretto by author and composer Anthony Burgess.
0 Organ Recital Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove. 3pm. Free at door. Why not take a wander round this fascinating Art Gallery then
relax in the company of Gordon Frier and his selection of organ music in his usual Sat afternoon spot.
0 SNO Concert City Hall, Candleriggs, 552 5961. 7.30pm. £2.80— £8.40. See Friday 1, Edinburgh for full description.
Edinburgh
0 Baritone/Piano Recital Reid Concert Hall. Teviot Row, Bristo Square, 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.30pm. £3 (£1.50). Robert Dean (baritone) and Malcolm Martineau (piano) give a recital of Dichterliebe by Schumann. Poulenc‘s Chanson Gaillardes and a selection ofsongs by Schubert along with folksong arrangements by Britten and Grainger.
O SCO Concert Queen‘s Hall, Clerk Street, 228 1 155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £3 — £8. The distinguished harpsichordist and expert on Baroque music. Trevor Pinnock, is the guest director in a concert of music from the 18th century by Handel, Leclair and Haydn. finishing up with Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, just a few days early. Ernst Kovacic is the soloist in a couple of violin concertos - one by Leclair and one by Handel.
SUNDAY 3
Glasgow
0 Friends oi the SNO Concert SNO Centre, Claremont Street. 7.30pm. Friends £2/Guests £3, tickets
available at door. The Scottish Wind Quintet and the Claremont String Quartet are the guests of Friends of
SCRATCHING OBERON’S SURFACE
The pantomime season may not truly be with us as yet, but perhaps Scottish Opera’s new production oi Weber’s Oberon with libretto by Anthony Burgess can be looked on as a sort oi warm up to it. All the lamiliar signs are there— goodies, baddies, iantasy, a man dressing up as a woman, even a real liie dwari. But, of course, Oberon is not a pantomime, but it is to be enjoyed and that’s what Scottish Opera have come up with in this production — an enjoyable entertainment. And, more importantly, they have also come up with a means of letting us hear Weber’s glorious music, which has more or less lain dormant tor most oi its lite due to the unmanageable weakness of the original text. But, lsthat, and an evening at superiicial pleasure enough? In his new version, Burgess does admittedly use all Weber's musical material in the same sequence along with a story running parallel to the original, but at times it just does not allow Weber's music to rise lrom the ashes in lull and although the text and the music seem to grow out at each other simultaneously sometimes, there are too many other occasions when the music is subservient to the drama. The tale tells how Puck (well acted by
Maria Jagusz) under instructions irom
Oberon (a iilm director ably played by Robin Leggate) searches the universe tor a taithtul pair oi loversJanice Caims' perlorrnance tullilled all expectations, but it was disappointing that the orchestra’s account of the overture was a clumsy, untidy one
The set, an oriental type cinema oi the 1930s, is a versatile and imaginative one incorporating easily a prison, a desert island, political headquarters and a cinema. One chorus oi the spirits concerning ‘merrily playing and merrily dancing’ brought a visual accompaniment oi synchronised, kaleidoscopic dancing, the lilies oi which Scottish Opera could never have attempted to achieve otherwise. (Carol Main)
the SNO this Sunday evening. They’ll be playing Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, J anacek’s Mladi (Youth) and Liadov's Eight Russian Folk Songs for wind quintet, just to mention a few of the items on the programme. And there’s a chance to tell the artists what you think of their performance after the concert when a cheese and wine party on stage gives you a chance to meet them.
Edinburgh
0 St Giles at Six St Giles' Cathedral, High Street. 6pm. Free at door. The Senior Choir and Chamber Orchestra of Madras College, St Andrews visit St Giles’ with conductor Alan McGeogh to perform Buxtehude‘s Jesu, meine Freude and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart.
0 John Currie Singers Concert Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.30pm. Extra dates Mon 4 in Glasgow. £2.50/£3.50 (£2). ‘The John Currie Singers occupy a position of central importance in Scotland’s cultural life’ says the Glasgow Herald. Make up your own mind by going along to hear their performance ofBach’s great B minor Mass.
MONDAY 4
Glasgow
0 Hungarian Arts in Glasgow— Piano Recital City Hall, Candleriggs, 552 5961 (Ticket Centre). 7.30pm. £3—£4.50 (£2). Gusztav Fenyo, a regular artist in the Festival of Hungarian Arts in Glasgow, performs an exciting and exhilarating programme including Kodaly's Dances of Marosszek, Bartok’s Rumanian Dances and he finishes up with the Hungarian Rhapsody N014 by Liszt.
0 John Currie Singers Concert Henry Wood Hall, Claremont Street, 552 5961 (Ticket Centre). 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). See Sunday 3 (Edinburgh) for full description.
TUESDAY 5
Glasgow
0 Student Concert Assembly Hall, Strathclyde University, 552 4400 ext 54444. 1.15pm. Free at door. A varied programme of chamber music given by members ofthe University of Strathclyde.
o Pre-perlorrnance Tall: Theatre Royal, Hope Street, 331 1234. 6pm. Extra date Thurs 7. Free to ticket holders. See Sat 2 for full description.
0 Scottish Opera- OberonTheatre Royal, Hope Street, 331 1234. 7.15pm. Extra date Thurs 7. £2.50- £18.50. See Saturday 2 for full description.
Edinburgh
0 Scottish Ensemble Concert Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £5 (£3). Celebrate Guy Fawkes Night with a ‘Sinfonia Firework’, an explosion of sinfonias
The List 1—14 November 19