Music CLASSICAL
Edinburgh Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Stravinsky’s Chamber Ballets III The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk St, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £9–£27. Violinist Renaud Capuçon joins the SCO for Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No 2 in a concert which also includes Haydn’s ‘Surprise’ Symphony No 94 and Stravinsky’s Orpheus. FREE Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers: Victoria in Context Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 5563515. 7.45pm. See Wed 9.
Friday 11
Glasgow Boyling Point - Rory Boyle at 60 RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10.50 (£7.50). Renowned Scottish composer Rory Boyle is celebrated in a recital of his music for solo piano alongside that of composers who inspired him, namely Schubert and Ravel. James Willshire is the pianist. FREE Arditti Quartet Glasgow University Chapel, University Avenue, 330 4092. 7.30pm. The Arditti Quartet plays works written for it by John Cage: Four, Quartet in 4 parts and Music for 4. Boyling Point: Rory Boyle at 60 RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £6.50 (£4.50). Red Note and RSAMD’s MusicLab join forces to celebrate the birthday of Rory Boyle with a programme including works by Boyle, Lennox Berkeley and Frank Spedding, plus Stravinsky’s Octet. Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Stravinsky’s Chamber Ballets III City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £11.50–£25. See Thu 10. Edinburgh FREE Sarah Nicholls Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University Bristo Sq, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Nicholls (piano) performs Michael Edwards’ I believe the highest human achievement can be accomplished with a raging heart, Adrift by Richard Barrett and Atau Tanaka’s Suspensions.
Saturday 12 Edinburgh Edinburgh Competition Festival Performance The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7pm. £8 (£4; students & children free). Outstanding performances from the Festival of Music and Speech, followed by performances by soloists from the Festival’s Concerto Class accompanied by the Friends of the Festival Orchestra. Edinburgh University Music Society Sinfonia and Chorus St Mary’s Cathedral, 23 Palmerston Place, 225 6293. 7.30pm. £8 (£5). Nicholas Fletcher conducts Bruckner’s Te Deum, Walton’s Coronation Te Deum and Delius’ Brigg Fair. The Flight of Song Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 556 3515. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). The Calton Consort kicks off its 2011 season with John Bevan Baker’s Songs of Courtship, Debussy’s Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans, Howard Skempton’s The Flight of Song and Karol Szymanowski’s Six Kurpie Songs. Jason Orringe conducts. Scottish Chamber Choir: German Romantics St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 8pm. £10 (students £5; under 18s free). All choral, all German: Brahms’ Warum ist das Licht gegeben, Bruckner’s Three Motets and Ave Maria and Rheinberger’s Abendlied and Mass in E flat for Double Choir.
Sunday 13
Glasgow FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3–3.45pm. See Sun 6. Pavel Haas Quartet with Danjulo Ishizaka City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 3pm. £12. The quartet performs 106 THE LIST 3–31 March 2011
Prokofiev’s First Quartet and is joined by Ishizaka for Schubert’s Cello Quintet. ■ Dunedin Consort Bute Hall, Glasgow University, University Avenue, 0131 516 3718. 7.30pm. £9 (£6). A weekend of workshops for keen singers culminates in a performance led by the Dunedin Consort of Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s glorious Dixit Dominus. Glasgow Chamber Orchestra Spring Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 8pm. £12 (£9; children £4). The GCO, with friends from the Leipzig Academic Orchestra, play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto featuring Gongbo Jiang; Sibelius’ wonderfully wintry Symphony No 5; and Caledonian Muse by E McGuire. Edinburgh Edinburgh University Wind Band Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 556 3515. 7.30pm. £2 (voluntary donation). A recital evening in which players perform in a variety of configurations.
Monday 14
Glasgow Mondays at One RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £6.50 (£4.50). The Academy’s brass department show what they are made of in a concert for ensembles and soloists.
Tuesday 15 Glasgow University of Strathclyde BA Applied Music String Ensemble Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 548 2682. 1.15pm. £4. A programme of string orchestral music, directed by Iain Massey.
Edinburgh FREE Tovey Memorial Prize Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Recital of performance by music students including the winner of the much coveted Tovey Prize 2011. Thursday 17
Glasgow FREE Kevin Bowyer: John Cage Glasgow University Chapel, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. Works for organ by John Cage, including Variations II and excerpts from Harmony of Maine. BBC SSO Afternoon Performance City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 2pm. £7. Mei-Ann Chen conducts Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony and Veronika Eberle joins for Prokoviev’s First Violin Concerto. The Barony Prom Barony Hall, Rottenrow East, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £9 (£7; children £5). Strathclyde University Concert Band and Big Band feature Slavonic Dances by Dvo_ák, a Lloyd Webber selection and a fistful of big band jazz.
✽✽ Mr McFall’s Chamber: Mad March Week 1 St Bride’s
Episcopal Church, 69 Hyndland Road, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). Eight Irish Madrigals by the ever-popular Gavin Bryars, plus new settings of four poems by Edward Thomas composed by Joel Rust, Martin Suckling, Dylan Curran and Eric Allen. Featuring guest soloists Susan Hamilton and Nicholas Mulroy. Edinburgh Edinburgh University String Orchestra Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 556 3515. 7.30pm. £6 (£4). Iain
McLarty conducts Britten’s Simple Symphony, Arensky’s Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Nielsen’s Little Suite and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1.
Friday 18 Glasgow Royal Scottish Academy Brass: Vive les Cuivres RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10.50 (£7.50). A celebration of the Auld Alliance with music by Dukas, Saint- Saëns and Bozza. Opera Scenes RSAMD, 100 Renfrew St, 332 5057. 2pm. £6.50 (£4.50). Mark Hathaway directs a varied programme of extracts from operas in simple staging.
Edinburgh Edinburgh University Wind Band Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). Conducted by Morven Bell. Edinburgh University Music Society Symphony Orchestra Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 226 0000. 7.30pm. £8 (£5). Shostakovich’s Symphony No 10 and Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin Suite, conducted by Russell Cowieson.
✽✽ Mr McFall’s Chamber: Mad March Week 1 St John’s Church,
Princes Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). See Thu 17. Saturday 19
Glasgow Albert Herring RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.15pm. £19.50 (£15.50). Britten’s comic opera is directed by Frederic Wake-Walker and conducted by Timothy Dean/Jessica Cottis.
WARTIME UPDATE ORLANDO Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 3 and Sat 4 Mar; seen at Theatre Royal, Glasgow ●●●●● In setting Handel’s Orlando in a 1940s London hospital, young director Harry Fehr has been completely ingenious. Taken from Orlando Furioso, the Italian Renaissance epic which inspired three Handel operas, the tale is of Orlando, the great soldier of Charlemagne’s army, who has returned from war, falls in love with Angelica, only to be rejected as she’s in love with someone else. This sets off a state of madness in Orlando, who, in Scottish Opera’s version, is a handsome pilot whose disturbing flashbacks to the war he has just been fighting can’t be a million miles away from the mental health problems of today’s service personnel returning from present day world war zones.
The cast is small, the five solo singers cleverly augmented by actors taking on various hospital white-coat type roles. Originally scheduled for three and a half hours, Fehr has cut the score back to three hours, which makes for well balanced staging on a neat reversible set that holds the attention without a moment’s drop in concentration. As Orlando, counter-tenor Tim Mead is outstanding.
He has not only just the right voice for the role, but draws the audience directly to the core of his suffering and vulnerability, and ultimately into sharing the joy of his recovery. Hugely demanding vocally, Angelica is impressively
sung by Sally Silver whose agile technique takes Handel’s leaping up and down the register in its stride. Likewise Claire Booth, whose tender Dorinda also brought a little tongue-in-cheek humour to her role as nurse. (Carol Main).