MUSIC | CLASSICAL C L A S S I C A L
The Hermes Experiment
CLASSICAL THE NIGHT WITH . . . Various venues, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Aberdeen, until Thu 12 Dec, thenightwith.com
Formed in 2016, The Night With . . . ’s formula of programming new and experimental classical music in informal spaces came about when artistic director Matthew Whiteside was studying for his masters in composition. With fellow students, he put on a concert in Glasgow’s Bloc+. ‘We thought, let’s put on some music we want to listen to in a way that we want to listen to it. I felt I’d like to renew the idea, and it all came together in The Night With . . . I decided to put classical music in pubs and bars and art galleries and give three 15–30 minute thirds rather than a standard two halves. If I go to a concert, I’d quite like to sit with a glass of wine and be able to listen to music and then have time to refresh the glass at least once throughout the evening!’ Starting with a couple of concerts in the basement of the
Hug and Pint, The Night With . . . has evolved massively, with 25 concerts this year in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as Belfast. Following a packed Fringe, as part of the Made in Scotland showcase, a host of thrilling concerts will take place throughout the rest of the year, most incorporating at least one world premiere.
Performers include Australia’s Ensemble Offspring as well as new music ensemble The Hermes Experiment, whose concert will showcase the winning entry of The Night With . . . ’s 2019 call for scores. The season also features an intriguing blend of old and new. Violist Garth Knox will give a concert playing contemporary work with electronics on the viola d’amore, an instrument more common to the baroque period. Ensemble 1604, who specialise in ‘new music with a period aesthetic’, perform music from the 16th, 17th and 20th century alongside . . . shadows that in darkness dwell . . . , a new work by Timothy Cooper. (Miranda Heggie)
CLASSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
HITLIST
GLASGOW EDINBURGH
RSNO: STRAUSS & MAHLER ONE
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 14 Oct, usherhall.co.uk Sensational orchestral sounds from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Strauss’s dramatic Don Juan, with Mahler’s thrilling Symphony No 1 in the second half. Scottish mezzo Karen Cargill is soloist in Berg’s luscious Seven Early Songs. Also Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sat 15 Oct, glasgowconcerthalls.com
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY RSNO: IN FOCUS: THE VIENNA
ORCHESTRA CONNECTION
Glasgow Green, bbc.co.uk, Sat 14 Sep Be part of the glorious celebration that marks the finale of summer’s BBC Proms in one of Scotland’s favourite musical events of the year. BBC Scotland’s Proms in the Park returns to Glasgow Green with classical music heard alongside Scottish reels plus an array of special guests, all presented in entertaining style by popular tenor and broadcaster Jamie MacDougall. Wed 2 Oct, Institut Français d'Ecosse, usherhall.co.uk Round-table illustrated discussion led by RSNO music director Thomas Søndergård which explores the fascinating context in which the Romantic movement of Beethoven and Goethe reached its pinnacle, and the impact it had on the course of music thereafter. Also Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sat 5 Oct, glasgowconcerthalls.com
BBC SSO 2019/20: OPENING SCO 2019/20: BACH AND
NIGHT – MAHLER SYMPHONY SIBELIUS WITH PEKKA
THE DUNEDIN CONSORT NO 5
KUUSISTO
St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, Fri 13 Sep, lammermuirfestival.co.uk For the first of their four Lammermuir Festival concerts going under the heading ‘The Art of the Concerto’, the Dunedin Consort place Bach’s classic Brandenburg Concertos Nos 1 and 3 at the heart of a programme switching between the great JS and Vivaldi. The performance opens Lammermuir’s 10th anniversary festival.
City Halls, Thu 26 Sep, glasgowconcerthalls.com The BBC SSO turn to Mahler for their season opener this year. In his Symphony No 5 – the Adagietto forever immortalised through its starring role in Visconti’s film Death in Venice – tragedy turns to triumph. Less familiar is the extraordinary soundworld of Chaya Czernowin, whose Once I blinked nothing was the same receives its UK premiere. Also Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 29 Sep, usher hall.co.uk Queen’s Hall, Thu 3 Oct, thequeenshall.net Pekka Kuusisto is a real draw for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a performance in which he both plays and directs. Turning to his native Finland for Sibelius’s Symphony No 5, he also gives the Scottish premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Bach Materi, inspired – unsurprisingly – by Bach, whose Brandenburg Concerto No 3 opens proceedings. Also City Halls, Glasgow, Fri 4 Oct, glasgowconcerthalls.com
88 THE LIST 1 Sep–31 Oct 2019
OUT OF TOWN
CAPPELLA NOVA: MAJESTY Cumnock Old Church, Cumnock, Fri 4 Oct, thecumnocktryst.com An intriguing programme of early Scottish music from the time of the Reformation and huge societal turmoil, and the impact on the music that was to emerge in the wake of such change.
RED NOTE ENSEMBLE Ormiston Parish Church, East Lothian, Wed 18 Sep, lammermuirfestival.co.uk Red Note returns, under the baton of Simon Proust, for an afternoon of new music by students of major European conservatoires combined with music by British stalwarts Oliver Knussen and Peter Maxwell Davies.