Music CLASSICAL
■ Daniel’s Beard St Bride’s Church, Hyndland Road. Tickets at door. 7pm. Recently formed chamber ensemble perform in celebration of the 70th birthday of John Maxwell Geddes. FREE BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/RSAMD: Hear and Now The Old Fruitmarket, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. MusicLab plays works by student composers and the BBC SSO performs Toovey’s Ubu’s Journey and Oehring’s POEndulum, featuring David Moss. Ilan Volkov conducts. ■ Bearsden Choir St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, tickets@bearsdenchoir.co.uk. 7.30pm. £15 (£13; students/children £5). Choral masterpieces by Mozart and Haydn. ■ RSNO Season Finale: Ode to Joy Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£32. See Thu 5.
Edinburgh ■ Aria Alba Opera: Spring in an Italian Garden Bruntsfield Church, 70 Leamington Terrace, Bruntsfield, 07593 316284. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). Solos, choruses and songs from opera and musicals. ■ Glasgow Chamber Choir/St Joris Kamerkoor St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 229 1142. 7.30pm. £10 (£7). Scottish and Dutch choirs join up for choral music by Bach, Brahms, Harris, Rheinberger, MacMillan, Kodály and others. ■ Kevock Choir The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £12–£14 (£10–£12). Varied choral recital. ■ Erskine Stewart’s Melville Community Choir. Greyfriars Kirk, Candlemaker Row. Tickets: 347 5749. 7.30pm. £10 (£5 school pupils). Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.
Sunday 8 Glasgow ■ Glasgow Chamber Choir/St Joris Kamerkoor St Bride’s Episcopal Church, 69 Hyndland Road. 2.30pm. £10 (£7). See Sat 7. ■ Seven Planets and a Cosmic Rock Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 3pm. £10–£15 (£4–£8). No less than 700 singers from the National Youth Choir of Scotland celebrate the NYCoS’ 15th birthday. FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3pm. See Sun 1.
Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: George Heriot’s School St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Choir plus brass and flute ensembles perform. Tuesday 10
Glasgow ■ RSAMD String Department Concert Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 552 3489. 1.15pm. £4. Solo and ensemble strings.
Wednesday 11
Glasgow ✽✽ Scottish Opera: Rigoletto 871 7647. 7.15pm. £8.50–£63. Verdi’s tragic opera about innocence betrayed. Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844
Edinburgh ■ Jayson Gilham Royal Overseas League, 100 Princes Street, 225 1501. 6.30pm. £12 (members £8–£10). Classical piano music.
Thursday 12
City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. Glasgow ✽✽ BBC SSO: Flights of Inspiration 7.30pm. £10–£23. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 (‘Emperor’); plus Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 and Martin Suckling’s The Moon, The Moon!. Plus, hear the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata as a post- show treat.
Edinburgh FREE Miami University Choraliers and Chamber Singers St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Choral singing from two vocal ensembles from Ohio, USA. FREE Live Music Now: Elin Pritchard & Anne McGregor National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound, 624 6200. 6pm. Music for soprano and piano, inspired by the gallery’s permanent collection. FREE Edinburgh University Composers’ Orchestra Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 7.30pm. Nigel Osborne conducts new work by student composers. ■ Red Note Ensemble: Infinito Nero Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place. Tickets via Queen’s Hall: 668 2019. 7.30pm. £12 (£5). Berio’s Le Voci Sottovetro and the electroacoustic Diffèrences; Sparey’s Out of the Ashes; and Sciarrino’s eerie and intense Infinito Nero.
Friday 13 Glasgow ■ RSAMD Song Studio: Des Knaben Wunderhorn RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £9.50. Songs by Mahler and others, based on anonymous folk poems. ■ Red Note Ensemble: Infinito Nero RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £9.50 (£6.50). See Thu 12. ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mozart’s Requiem Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £11.50–£25 (concessions available). James Gaffigan replaces the late Sir Charles Mackerras. Also featuring Symphony No 41 (‘Jupiter’) and the Magic Flute overture. ■ Kronos in Glasgow Opening Concert: Kronos and the National Youth Choir of Scotland Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £15–£17.50. Terry Riley’s
98 THE LIST 28 Apr–26 May 2011
Infinito Nero
PREVIEW ITALIAN COMPOSITION RED NOTE ENSEMBLE – INFINITO NERO Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, Thu 12 May; RSAMD, Glasgow, Fri 13 May
While ecstasy may well mean different things to different people, in the context of Red Note Ensemble’s May tour it is all about Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino and his Infinito Nero. Based on the visions, or ecstasies, of early 17th century Florentine mystic, St Maria Maddalena de’Pazzi, it is subtitled ‘an ecstasy in one act.’
‘It’s an incredibly imaginative piece,’ says conductor Garry Walker (pictured). ‘The story is amazing, all about this woman from one of Florence’s wealthiest families, who even as a teenager had remarkable religious visions.’
The ecstasies kept on happening and words would fly out of her
mouth so fast it needed eight novice nuns to write them down. She became a nun herself at the age of 16 and a saint after her death. ‘The music inhabits a mystical world,’ says Walker, ‘somewhere between reality and the dream of sleep. The first few minutes of the music are just sleepy noises, using strings and wind.’
Red Note’s performance of Infinito Nero will be the first in Scotland, the only other in the UK being at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2003, five years after its premiere in Germany. ‘I’ve always been interested in Sciarrino’s music after meeting him many years ago in Montepulciano,’ says Walker, ‘He’s a fascinating character and the music is very demanding. On the surface, it looks like it would go together quickly, but to get it really precise is quite difficult.’
Alongside Infinito Nero, Red Note programme another piece by Sciarrino, Le Voci Sottovetro, ‘voices behind glass’. ‘They are basically his recorings of motets by Renaissance composer Gesualdo,’ says Walker. ‘He was a bit off-the-wall, a mad guy who murdered his wife and her lover after catching them in flagrante and then became a priest. The motets are breathtakingly beautiful.’ (Carol Main)
Another Secret eQuation; Michael Gordon’s Exalted; the Scottish premiere of Steve Reich’s poignant WTC 9/11 and Jon Rose’s extraordinary Music from 4 Fences. Part of Kronos in Glasgow. ■ Kronos in Glasgow: Alim Qasimov Ensemble Royal Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 10pm. £12. Celebrated Azerbaijani master-singer and his ensemble. Part of Kronos in Glasgow. Edinburgh ■ Edinburgh Napier Showcase Concert Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 556 3515. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). Student musicians perform. ■ Edinburgh University Music Society Symphony Orchestra Summer Concert Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 226 0000. 7.30pm. £8 (£5). With conductors Russell Cowieson, Nick Fletcher and Neil Metcalfe.
CHAPTER I
A N innocent girl, a selfish lover and a father who should’ve known better.
She was sweet, innocent, the girl-next- door. He liked the ladies, and he liked her. Daddy tried his best to protect her, but a father’s love isn’t always enough …