FESTIVAL PREVIEW _
FESTIVAL music
CLASSICAL
Monday 22 and Wednesday 24 Aug at 10.30pm. Thursday 25 at 3pm. £6 (mat £5). Credit card sales 225 5756. New Festival venue hosts the Ensemble tor Early Music and a
make any profit. (Carol Main).
I Shostakovich Ouartet Oueen'sllall.16.18.20. 22. 24 and 26 August.
I lam. £25047. Credit
card sales 225 5756. reconstruction oi the 12th
; Century play of Daniel. Try
to arrive at least hallan
HITTING I THE HIGH NOTES
I Nixon in China (EIF) hour earlytor a look round Playhouse Theatre. Greytriars'tascinating I x . ‘ . ‘ . , . ' g Greenside Place graveyard. burialground at t C drOI Mdm 0“ thL F9” Oikrfi 0t. . 1.3and58eptember. manylamous Scots and 1 Stockholm and classical music this . i 7.309"!- £3.50—£16. Credit scone otthesicnino ofthe ’ e!” I y i card sales 225 5756 Covenantin1636. , y < - ; Vladimir chlnlkov ; The subject otmuch media IEstherLamandier Grandopera bythatgreat Italian master Puccini. ' CUIHL‘mPUriIf}Uns‘. : otheryouthorehesttas. t "Wevflousmn 6'3"“ (Flancmns‘nmelvnew i set in China. sung“) chdim pm“, in mm and VilhclmStenhammar and especiallyinutasgow,.mu i Opera's new work is based Concert Hall. Bristo Square. 1 with an orchestra less than half the size it should '2 “’pr“"" 8mm” ‘ “‘9 Edinbmgh “‘L'” 13“" i on Preswem mm" s sammay 27 and new“ 30 i
he. sounds altogether rather unlikely Yet that is exactly what Folkopcra of Stockholm will be bringing to this year‘s Festival and the sort of combination that has won them huge popular appeal over the last two years. (ieneral manager and baritone with the cornparty. Stal’fan Ryden. describes what they do as ‘not opera for official occasions as it has become through the years. but opera that makes real contact with its audience. Not only through the beautiful music. but through understanding the drama too and getting caught up with who falls in love with w ho. what's happening next. who will die.‘
After opening in February. 'l‘urandot has already won much critical acclaim at home and in Kiel and eventually. says Ryden. ‘lt will be on stage this year for 150 performances and seen by about 50.000 visitors in Stockholm.‘ Ryden himself thinks ‘l'urandot is probably one of their best productions yet. ‘Everything is so well integrated. The music. the direction. the dance and costumes all work together to really become something whole.‘ Ofspecial interest should be the dancing by Chiang Ching. a choreographer now working in Hong Kong and New York but who was brought up in Peking and. says Ryden. ‘has given our Turandot lots of Chinese
traditional dances’.
Although none of the work has been altered apart from the orchestration. the story is given a new interpretation through Turandot. the woman. being seen in the context of'l'urandot as a child. It is only when she finds true love at the end of the opera that Turandot is released from her prison of frustration and fear of men (symbolised by a historically correct cage like hat) and ‘the little girl seen at the beginning of the opera‘. says Ryden. ‘bccomes free again.‘ (Carol
Main).
I Turandot— Folkopera oi Stockholm [EIF]. Leith Theatre. Ferry Road. 13. 14. 15. 17. 18. I9Augat 7.30pm: loAug at-lpm; lSAugat 2.30pm. £2.50—£8. Credit card sales 225 5756.
— I
WEEKEND 0F 20th CENTURY MUSIC
A bit of a cop-out really. Three orchestral concerts with only one work dating from after 1930 and even a concerto from that well known 20th Century composer. Haydn. Still. the chance to hear Schoenberg‘s monodrama Erwartung (Suspense) of I909in the same programme as Stravinsky"s Rite of Spring. written just a few years later. is not one to be passed up. Orchestra in residence for Saturday 20.
Sunday 21 and Monday 22 "
is the Swedish Radio
Symphony Orchestra with 1
their young charismatic conductor Esa Pekka-Salonen (see photo). Other Stravinsky overthe weekend is Symphony of Psalms on SundayZl when the orchestra is joined by Edinburgh Festival Chorus. Perhaps more interesting in that particular programme is the L'K premiere of Kraft by Swedish composer Magnus Lindberg. The third concert features another Swedish composer. long since a
Hendricks singing Strauss and Berg's Seven l- ar‘ly Songs. As we and that includes the Edinburgh Festival — get ever closer to the 21st Century maybe next year's festival cart somehow include music more rcpreserttativc oi ourown time. ((‘arol Main)
IAWeekend ol20th Century Music [till I. L'sher Hall. Lothian Road. Sat 20. Sun 21 . Mon ZlatSpm. £~lwr£1250 Credit card sales :35 5‘50.
FESTIVAL OF BRITISH YOUTH ORCHESTRAS
Now in its ninth year. the annual Festival of British Youth Orchestras at the newly cleaned tip Central Hall. Tollcross seems even bigger than ever before With achoiceof 33 different concerts. the variety of music on offer is quite rcrtrarkable. Opening this festival within the Fringe is the Regionaal Jeugdorkest of The Netherlands (see photo) who perform Pictures at an Exhibition. the Britten Violin Concerto No l and Time Machine by Dutch composer Otto Ketting in aid of Edinburgh Rotary Club's SilverJubilce Charity Fund. Also from abroad is the stunning Chamber Orchestra of the Sibelius Academy in Finland. British youth orchestras come from far and wide. this year seeing both old and new timers. including the first appearance of Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra and the first visit by a group from Ireland. the Western Youth Orchestra. Development for this Festival hasn't just meant expansion in Edinburgh as it now has an offshoot in Glasgow. Taking part in both events is the KSAMDJunior Department Orchestra whose conductor. James Durrant. says “For us it'sa tremendous occasion and gives a new incentive to produce very good work. It’s very important for us to set our standard against
a great chance to fly the flag outside (ilasgow f The first (ilasgow l‘t;sll\ al of British Youth Orchestras. funded by British Aerospace opens at the City Hall with the National Youth Ot‘cltcstia ofScotland on Monday I.“ and continues at the new RSAMD in Renfrcw Street until 29 AugUst. (Carol Main)
I Edinburgh Festival at British Youth Orchestras [Fr]. Central Hall. Tollcross. Sat 13 Aug-Sat 3 Sept at 12.30pm (most days) and 7.30pm (every day excl Suns) Lunchtimes Ll. Evenings £3(OAPs£I 50). Children students unemployed disabled free.
SHOSTAKOVICH QUARTET
The main attraction in the official Festival's chamber music sectior: is undoubtedly the Shostakovieh QUth tet with the complete Shostakovich cycle. Last year's corresponding Beethoven cycle with the Melos Quartet of Stuttgart was rather variable. but iftltc Shostakovich sown performance at the Festival last year. their British debut. is anything to go by. similar unpredictability is unlikely. The fifteen quartets are played more or less in chronological order over six morning
concerts. with the earlier
Elegy and Polka of 1931 making up the penultimate programme. Just how much more ofthe Shostakovich Quartet
we‘llbe hearinginBritain
hangs in the balance at the
moment.Top London agentslbbs and Tillettwill
be in Edinburgh to hear
their performances with a
view to taking them on
board. But. it scents that ‘ the Edinburgh Festival
have paid a lot ofnioney to bring them from Moscow and may have priced the Quartet out of the market. making them simply too expensive a proposition for art agent to
historic visit to Peking in
' 1972. Kissingerappears in
the persona oi a lecherous Chinese landlord who iorces his slave girls into
i submission by whipping. £9
extra brings champagne and supperon the last night. billed as a special Gala Pertormance.
I Glenlivet Fireworks Concert (EIF) Ross Theatre. Princes Street Gardens. Thursday 25 Aug. 10.45pm. Free. No tickets left lorthis annual spectacular. but plenty of Edinburgh hill taps
given a clear night. Carl
Davis' specially
commissioned Fireworks
Music. premiered lastyear. gets anotherairing. but it's no competition tor Handel's Music tor the Royal Fireworks 01 1749. llyou don‘t want to riskthe weather. the Handel can be heard indoors earlierthe same evening perlormed by the Palatine Chamber Orchestra at Central Hall. Tollcross (Festival ot British Youth Orchestras— (Fr).
I Vladimir Ovchinikov (EIF)
(see photo) Oueen's Hall.
Clerk Street. Wednesday 31. 11am. £2.50—£7. Credit card sales 225 5756. The brilliant tirst prize winner at lastyear's Leeds
; lntemational Piano
Competition plays Liszt and Rachmaninov.
I Music. Men and Manners (Fr), National Gallery of Scotland. The Mound. Thursday 18 and Fridath Aug. 7.45pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Take a cushionlor
, music ol16th Century ltaly
. pertormed in the midst ot
? the beauties oi Italian art.
f including the Pietro Longhl
exhibition. and commentary = trom Charles Burney's
travel diary ol1770.
I The Wallace Collection (EIF). Oueen's Hall. Clerk Street. Saturday 3.11am. £4—£10. Credit card sales 225 5756. The magnitlcence of 16th Century Venetian ceremonial music by Gabrieli and Frescobaldt pertormed bytrumpeter John Wallace and trlends. I Daniel and the Lions (EIF). Greytriars Kirk. Saturday 20. Monday 22, Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24. Thursday 25 Aug at 6pm.
Aug. 7.30pm £3 (£2). Tickets 225 5366. The 1966 winner at Gramophone's Record Award in the early music and Renaissance section sings Aramean. Medieval. Andalusian and Sephardic songs.
I Greek (EIF). Leith Theatre. Ferry Road. Thursday 25. Friday 26 and Saturday 27 Aug. 7.30pm. £5/£7 (£2.50 on day). Credit card sales 225 5756. Steven Berkott's drama. Greek, set to music by the young British composer Mark Anthony Turnage. one at the leatured composers ot Glasgow’s Musica Nova last VBBL
THIS WEEK
I Carmina Burana (EIF), Oueen's Ball. Clerk Street. Monday 15 Aug. 11am. £4-£10. Credit card sales 225 5756. New London Consort perform the original 13th Century version — bawdy songs and all — oi the work Ortt based his Carmina Burana on and which opens the Festival at the Usher Hall on Sunday 14. I Opera Restor'd (Fr). Church oi St Andrew and St George. George Street. Monday 15-Saturday 20 Aug. Various times. £4.50 (£4) Tickets 225 3647. The Fringe's third mini early music testival trom this enterprising outtit. Main event is new production at William Boyce's baroque opera, Peleus and Thetls. Contrast comes in J F Lampe's Pyramus and Thlsbe. a send up at Italian opera olthetime. I The Little Rats (EIF). George Square Theatre. Monday 15—Saturday 27 Aug (axc 20 and 26) at 7.15pm. Tuesday 16. Saturday 20 and Saturday 27 Aug at 4pm. £6 (£3) Credit card sales 225 5756. National Youth Music Theatre In the story. set In the 1840s. oithe children with no shoes but ballet shoes who attend dance classes at the Paris Opera.
The List 12 — 18 August 198837