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Classical | MUSIC
CLASSICAL FESTIVAL TECTONICS City Halls, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Sat 7 & Sun 8 May
From Mahler to Messiaen and Beethoven to Bartok, composers have long been inspired by the sounds of the natural world. Threading this theme through the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Tectonics festival of new music, curator Ilan Volkov presents more recent examples of how our environment can be heard in the work of contemporary composers.
New Zealander Annea Lockwood (pictured), who grew up beside nature thanks to her father’s love of mountaineering, brings her installation Sound Map of the Housatonic River to Glasgow. A 150-mile stretch of water which flows through south-western Connecticut into Long Island Sound, the Housatonic provided Lockwood with the river and riparian sounds she recorded from various points along its course to create the work. ‘I started at its sources, of which there are three,’ she
says. ‘One is a beautiful pond with birds and a rail road, so there are the sounds of a train as well as wildlife. I recorded steadily downriver, including underwater, where you never know what you’ll hear.’ Over a year, Lockwood recorded from 30 sites, 18 of which feature in the actual sound map. ‘There are some very intimate sounds, as at times the water is very quiet with little ripples. But it is also powerful due to the dams and weirs along the way. It can be very beautiful too, with sounds of frogs and toads.’ Lockwood, who has worked similarly with the Hudson and the Danube, is fascinated by how people are drawn to water. ‘We come from water, from the amniotic fluid of the womb. We find the sounds of water nourishing and, at the same time, stimulating and soothing.’ Lockwood’s other featured work, Jitterbug is a collaborative piece in which pianist John Tilbury and ensemble interpret Rocky Mountain rock patterns as musical scores. (Carol Main)
CLASSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
HITLIST GLASGOW
SCOTTISH OPERA: RUSALKA Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Thu 7 & Sat 9 Apr, scottishopera. org.uk The first opera to be conducted by Scottish Opera’s Stuart Stratford promises to be an all-round delight. Also Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 14–Sat 16 Apr, edtheatres.com
SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE WITH
BBC SSO: RACHMANINOV'S SYMPHONIC DANCES
City Halls, Thu 21 Apr, glasgowconcerthalls.com Hakan Hardenberger, who is probably the world’s finest trumpeter ever, performs Brett Dean’s Trumpet Concerto, subtitled Dramatis Personae. which was specially written for him. Hear the trumpet take on its different characters in a virtuosic and fun piece first performed in 2014.
NICOLA BENEDETTI SCOTTISH CHAMBER
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 1 May, thequeenshall. net Scotland’s favourite violinist has just this one appearance on home ground with the Scottish Ensemble before they all take off to perform in Aix en Provence and Istanbul.
BBC SSO: RUNNICLES CONDUCTS MAHLER 1
City Halls, Glasgow, Thu 19 May, glasgowconcerthalls. com A fitting finale for Runnicles to mark the end of his term as the orchestra’s Chief Conductor.
ORCHESTRA: MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY NO 1 City Halls, Fri 22 Apr, glasgowconcerthalls. com Commissioned for the 40th anniversary of the SCO in 2014, Martin Suckling’s Six Speechless Songs, whose title comes from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 8, are heard in the author’s 400th anniversary year alongside Britten’s Lachrymae, inspired by composer John Dowland, an exact contemporary of the bard. Also The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 23 Apr, thequeenshall.net
SHAKESPEARE IN CONCERT City Halls, Sun 24 Apr, glasgowconcerthalls.com Another
tribute in music marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the mighty Shakespeare looks to three of the greatest orchestral scores inspired by his plays. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev put Romeo and Juliet centre of the Royal Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra’s stage, while it is the drama of The Tempest which is behind Sibelius’ suite of the same name.
ENSEMBLE MODERN DOES ENSEMBLE MODERN
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Thu 5 May, rcs.ac.uk Helping the RCS to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Plug, its annual festival of contemporary music, the celebrated Ensemble Modern draws together top international instrumentalists for a concert of music by emerging composers, including Aran Browning, Robert Allan, Henry McPherson and Nicholas Olsen.
SCOTTISH OPERA: THE MIKADO Theatre Royal, Thu 5–Sat 14 May, scottishopera.org.uk Increasingly making an appearance in Scottish Opera’s repertoire these days, Gilbert and Sullivan provide light entertainment with The Mikado, their anti-establishment comedy with lots of popular, silly, but very clever,
songs. Also Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Wed 1–Sun 5 Jun, edtheatres.com
EDINBURGH
RSNO: DENEVE RETURNS – THE
AULD ALLIANCE Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 8 Apr, usherhall.co.uk The Gallic charm of Stéphane Denève coupled with repertoire to celebrate the links between France and Scotland is a winning combination that will please RSNO fans. Includes the Scottish premiere of James MacMillan’s miniature tone poem, The Death of Oscar, which draws upon the legend of the bardic poet Ossian and the death of his son. Also Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sat 9 Apr, glasgowconcerthalls.com
MOSCOW STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Usher Hall, Sun 22 May, usherhall. co.uk Sunday Classics brings some of the world’s best orchestras to the Usher Hall, the Moscow State also bringing with them one of the very best pianists, John Lill, who plays the romantic classic that is Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2. What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
7 Apr–2 Jun 2016 THE LIST 91