Music Classical
Livingston ■ Music from Stage and Screen Howden Park Centre, Howden, 01506 777666. 7.30pm. £9 (£7). The Whitburn Brass Band brighten up your February with a rescheduled concert (it was snowed off in December) of hits from all your favourite musicals and films. Perth ■ Perth Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 7.30pm. £10 (£5). A treat for Queen fans. Conductor Allan Young leads the orchestra through Tolga Kashif’s Queen Symphony, a large-scale orchestral work based on some of Queen’s best-known hits.
St Andrews ■ Cello and Piano Recital St Leonards School, The Pends, 01334 472126. 8pm. £10 (£1–£9). See Fri 26.
Sunday 28
Glasgow FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3–3.45pm. See Sun 21. ✽✽ Romantic Bach: Pieter Wispelwey in Recital City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 3pm. £12. Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey has won critical praise the world over for his brilliant performances. Tonight he plays Bach, Bloch, Reger, Walton and Britten.
Edinburgh ■ St Giles’ at Six St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. Glenalmond College Choral Society is joined by organist Robert Gower in Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. Tom Ridley conducts. ■ Elgar: Dream of Gerontius Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £12–£24 (concessions available). Premiered in 1990 to a lukewarm reception, Elgar’s oratorio is now one of his best loved works. The tale of the journey of a man’s soul after death is performed by the Scottish Sinfonia, Edinburgh Bach Choir, Jubilo and soloists. Dundee ■ Cappella Nova: Angels and Archangels St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seagate, Castlehill, 01382 434940. 7.30pm. £12.50 (£10). See Sat 27.
Dunfermline ■ Dunfermline Arts Guild: Arta Articana Carnegie Hall, East Port, 01383 602302. 7.30pm. £8 (£1). Latvian pianist Articana plays works by Beethoven, Franck and Debussy.
Monday 1
Glasgow ■ BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Discovering Mozart City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 1pm. Free (max £2 tickets per application). Tom Service joins conductor Andrew Manze and the BBC SSO for an exploration of Mozart’s exhilarating Symphony No 36 (‘Linz’) which, incredibly, Mozart composed with just four days in which to do it. ■ RSAMD Woodwind Department: Clarinet RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £5 (£3). A lunchtime concert by the RSAMD’s clarinettists. Edinburgh ■ Edinburgh Studio Opera: The Cunning Little Vixen The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 Pleasance, 07551 932767. 7.30pm. £14 (£8; students £6). See Sat 27.
Tuesday 2
Glasgow ■ Lisa Milne RSAMD, 100 Renfrew 80 THE LIST 18 Feb–4 Mar 2010
50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT EDINBURGH QUARTET Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 19 Feb
As the highlight of their golden anniversary season, the Edinburgh Quartet celebrate in style with a special gala concert and new commission from composer Howard Blake, he of Snowman and ‘Walking in the Air’ fame. Blake also appeared as pianist in the Quartet’s very first season in Edinburgh. The new score is entitled ‘Spieltrieb’, a word coined by the 18th century German writer, Friedrich Schiller, which means ‘the urge to play.’ Appropriate then for the Edinburgh Quartet who give over 100 performances each year, both at home and abroad, and have been doing so with great success for 50 years.
Key to its success, explains the quartet’s violist, Michael Beeston, is repertoire. ‘The challenge is the size of the repertoire,’ he says, ‘and we try to cover everything, from the standard classical repertoire to contemporary pieces by composers from or living in Scotland, which is a rich vein for us to draw upon. People like Kenneth Leighton, Hans Gal, Kenneth Dempster, Robert Crawford and James MacMillan.’ Over the years, the Quartet has commissioned well over 100 new pieces of music, often with others commissioning for the group and sometimes composers choosing to write specifically for them.
Touring – they were one of the first chamber ensembles to tour
extensively in the Middle East – and educational work are also vital strands of the Edinburgh Quartet’s busy life. ‘Our relationships with a number of universities are very good,’ says Beeston, who has played with the ensemble since 1971 and is the longest-standing current member. ‘We have residencies at the Ian Tomlin Academy of Music at Napier University and at Glasgow University, as well as close associations with Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Newcastle Universities. It is marvellous to work with the students and academics in these places as they really understand what we’re doing.’ Happy 50th EQ! (Carol Main) ■ www.edinburghquartet.com
Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £9 (£6). Internationally acclaimed soprano and former RSAMD student Lisa Milne is joined by pianist Iain Burnside. FREE Organ Recital Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, The Square, off University Avenue, 1.10pm. Final year students give a lunchtime performance. ■ From Russia with Love Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 548 2558. 1.15pm. £4. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev feature in this concert by violinist Andrea Gajic and pianist Anna Rastopchina, as does an arrangement of Piazzolla’s Grand Tango by Sofia Gubaidulina. FREE Scottish Opera: La bohème Unwrapped Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. 6pm. An hour- long introduction to the workings behind the scenes, the principal characters and plot. ■ McGibbon to Mackenzie: Scots and the European ‘Classical’ tradition City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12. Violinist Feargus Hetherington reveals how throughout the 18th century the work of European
composers was filtering across the channel into the music of their Scottish counterparts, through performance and discussion. Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Cellist Alexandra MacKenzie and pianist Ingrid Sawers perform Janácek’s Pohádka and works by Turnage and Schumann. ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Cl@Six St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 229 1142. 6pm. £12 (£10). An hour-long concert of baroque masterpieces by Bach and Handel. Includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 3 and a selection of Handel’s Concerti Grossi. ■ Edinburgh Studio Opera: The Cunning Little Vixen The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 Pleasance, 07551 932767. 7.30pm. £14 (£8; students £6). See Sat 27.
Peebles ■ St Mary’s Music School Ensemble Eastgate Theatre & Arts
Centre, Eastgate, 01721 725777. 7.30pm. £10 (under 16s free). Virtuoso young performers from Scotland’s specialist music school perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 5 and Puccini’s I Crisantemi.
Wednesday 3
Glasgow ■ Nicola Benedetti RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £9 (£6). BBC Radio 3’s Scotland Week continues with everyone’s favourite violinist, Nicola Benedetti. ■ Scottish Opera: La bohème Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. 7.15pm. £8.50–£63. See Sat 27.
Edinburgh FREE Gaita Glass Arcade, Scottish Agricultural College, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, 535 4000. 1.05pm. Songs and instrumental music from the 12th–14th centuries, performed on period instruments. ■ Edinburgh Studio Opera: The Cunning Little Vixen The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 Pleasance, 07551 932767. 7.30pm. £14 (£8; students £6). See Sat 27. Perth ■ Beethoven: A Life in Eight Chapters – Sonatas of Youth Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 7.30pm. £10–£20 (£8–£13). In many ways the piano sonata is synonymous with Beethoven. Llyr Williams will perform all 32 over 2010, with tonight’s second instalment including sonatas 5, 6, 7, and the famous 8th (‘Pathetique’). Buy 3 for 2 or 8 for 6 on tickets.
Thursday 4
Glasgow ■ Hebrides Ensemble RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £9 (£6). The third Radio 3 recital features the Hebrides Ensemble which was recently nominated in the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. FREE Douglas Academy School of Music Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. The young musicians demonstrate their skills. ■ BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Schumann at 200 City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 2pm. £7; £6 in advance. The fantastic Angela Hewitt performs Schumann’s much- loved Piano Concerto, which features alongside two works by Brahms: the Tragic Overture and the Symphony No 1, fifteen years in the making. ■ Katherine Jenkins and Escala SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 6.30pm. £25–£55. Britain’s best-selling classical artist of all time sings showtunes, Welsh songs and classical arias. Edinburgh ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Child Prodigy – Mature Genius The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £8.50–£26 (concessions available). He had his first keyboard lesson aged four, began composing aged five and was a touring musician aged six – it’s no wonder that Mozart is synonymous with the words ‘child prodigy’. His first symphony opens this concert which finishes with one of Beethoven’s mature symphonies, the sunny eighth, with Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D in between. Richard Egarr is conductor/keyboardist.
Dundee ■ Dunedin Consort: Virtuoso Baroque Dundee University: Chaplaincy Centre, Cross Row, 01382 388148. 7.30pm. £8 (£1–£5). The Baroque ensemble performs songs and keyboard works by Henry and Daniel Purcell, Locke, Eccles, Handel and Bach.