MUSIC | CLASSICAL MUSIC | CLASSICAL C L A S S I C A L
COLLABORATION SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE: PRELUDE – SKYDIVING FROM A DREAM Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 9 & Sat 10 Nov; Dundee Rep Theatre, Tue 13 Nov; Eden Court, Inverness, Thu 15 Nov
Increasingly recognised for its innovation in collaborating with other artforms, the Scottish Ensemble return to Swedish company Andersson Dance for their second project fusing classical musicians with dancers and blurring where the lines are drawn between the two. Taking the raw energy of Beethoven’s astonishing Grosse Fuge – great fugue – as its central point, the project presents the instrumentalists and dancers as equal partners on stage. The piece itself, lasting around quarter of an hour, initially divided opinion. Reviewed when first heard as being ‘incomprehensible, like Chinese’, it was originally scored for string quartet and works as a double fugue with rather a lot all happening at the same time. Following their first partnership, using the music of Bach, Jonathan Morton, the Ensemble’s artistic director, says: ‘It was an incredibly intense and rewarding experience for all of us, so it felt entirely natural to explore what another collaboration might look like. We wanted to build on the physicality of the musicians and push it further.’ Undoubtedly, Beethoven, plus the compositional company he keeps with Bach’s Art of Fugue and Lutoslawski’s Preludes and Fugues for 13 Solo Strings, will do as Morton envisages. Bringing together music and movement, the project explores how humankind needs to seek order from chaos and puts the musicians and dancers way out of any mainstream classical music comfort zone.
‘We experimented with the idea of the performers blurring their roles,’ says Örjan Andersson, who choreographs Prelude. ‘With this second piece, we want to challenge them to perform in a way they’ve never done before. I’m very much looking forward to breaking new artistic ground with these amazing artists.’ Apparently, Beethoven went off to the pub when his Grosse Fuge was first performed. Not a good idea then and definitely not a good idea now. (Carol Main)
CLASSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
HITLIST GLASGOW
NAVIGATE THE BLOOD Glasgow Distillery, Fri 2 & Sat 3 Nov, seetickets.com World premiere of new opera composed by Admiral Fallow and Gareth Williams is performed by NOISE opera company in distilleries across Scotland. Starting off the series is Glasgow, where Sian Evans’ story of a boy going missing in a small family distillery is heard for the first time. Also Summerhall, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Nov.
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA City Halls, Thu 22 Nov, glasgowconcerthalls.com/city- halls On the special day dedicated to St Cecilia, patron saint of music, the BBC SSO goes all French with Debussy’s shimmery La mer and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, along with Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.
EDINBURGH
director Matthew Richardson and designer Jon Morrell, Verdi’s popular masterpiece opens Scottish Opera’s 2018/19 season.
MR MCFALL’S CHAMBER: AT HOME IN A FOREIGN LAND:
MUSIC FROM POLAND Queen’s Hall, Thu 15 Nov, queenshall.net Continuing their theme of migration, exile and displacement, the ever innovative chamber group turns its attention to music by Polish composers, teaming up with guest artists from Poland as part of the line-up.
WAR HORSE: THE STORY IN CONCERT Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 18 Nov, usherhall.co.uk Marking the centenary year of the end of WW1, the RSNO play a specially arranged score alongside War Horse author, Michael Morpurgo, reading from his emotionally charged tale celebrating the power of friendship in the most traumatic of circumstances.
SCOTTISH OPERA: RIGOLETTO Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 9, Sun 11, Thu 15, Sat 17 Nov, capitaltheatres.com Revival of 2011 production by top team of
SUNDAY CLASSICS: ST PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA Usher Hall, Sun 27 Jan, usherhall.co.uk What a way
SEAN SHIBE Cairns Church, Milngavie, Glasgow, Fri 16 Nov, milngaviemusic.org Classical guitarist Sean Shibe is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist who is very much another rising star of the moment. Music for Milngavie includes historic lute pieces by Scottish composers, plus Bach and more modern compositions from Mompou to Brett Dean for guitar.
CENTENARY RECITAL: THE GREAT WAR St Andrew’s & St George’s West Church, Edinburgh, Thu 15 Nov, thequeenshall. net Outstanding duo of Scottish violinist Michael Foyle and pianist Maksim Štšura from Estonia mark Armistice week with a programme of WW1 ˇ sonatas by Debussy, Jánacek and Respighi, linking to the launch of their latest CD on the Delphian label.
118 THE LIST 1 Nov 2018–31 Jan 2019
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Sean Shibe to spend a January weekend afternoon – listening to the rich symphonic sound of the St Petersburg Phil in Rachmaninov and Mahler. Pianist Freddy Kempf is at the forefront of the romance for the second Piano Concerto and Yuri Temirkanov at the helm for Mahler’s glorious Symphony No 4.