Orkney, 16-21 June 2006

Martyn Brabbins.

THREE DAYS DOWN and the 2006 St Magnus Festival continues till Wednesday – and this year, beyond. The Festival’s new initiative, Magfest, is due to take place at the end of the month, with The Proclaimers (30 June) and Embrace (1 July).

Both those events will be staged in the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall, a venue that over the past weekend has seen three superb orchestral concerts delivered by the BBC Philharmonic to packed houses.

Under conductors Paul Daniel, James MacMillan (this year’s festured composer) and Martyn Brabbins, with soloists James Ehnes (violin), Richard Davis (flute) and the singers Rebecca Evans, Polly May, Christopher Turner and Edward Caswell (replacing Ashley Holland), the orchestra has thrilled and delighted festival-goers throughout with its cohesion, immediacy and power.

A range of scores from Mozart to MacMillan and Maxwell Davies culminated last night in Mozart’s ‘Requiem in D minor’, with the Festival Chorus delivering a landmark performance – one that highlighted not only their collective skill but the quality of the coaching they have received over the past five months from Glenys Hughes, and in the last few weeks from Martyn Brabbins.

If their performance testified to the fond relationship between the chorus and its chorus-masters, it was also a particularly moving expression of their deep regard for the memory of Dick Hughes, to whom the concert was dedicated. Dick, the late husband of Glenys, founded the Festival Chorus in 1980, and was its Chorus Master until his death in 1996. His character is still clearly present in the chorus’s continuing vitality and self-confidence.

These have been the major orchestral events so far – the finale promises a huge climax in ‘Ring of Strings’, where around 120 string players will take the stage.

Many other performances have taken place elsewhere than the Picky, on a smaller scale but no less satisfying. These have included a series of events in commemoration of George Mackay Brown, in particular a major community production along the street in Stromness, directed by Penny Aberdein, written by Pam Beasant and featuring new music by Kenneth Dempster.

There have been joyous and captivating performances by Malawi’s Limbe Choir, and readings by Malawian poet Jack Mapanje; the fantastic Nash Ensemble; young string players from RSAMD – full of energy and promise; Cappella Nova under Alan Taverner; and others too, local players and visiting professionals, youthful, experienced, all thrilled to be here.

More will follow, but I’ll just mention one other highlight – the Sunday afternoon recital in Stromness Town Hall. James Ehnes again, with Eduard Laurel on piano, the venue packed – Mozart, Bartok, Prokoviev, Grieg, Sarasate, and Kreisler for the much-demanded encore.

Performance at that level – and it was overwhelming – is ample proof of the value of the effort made by everyone involved in this astonishing festival, throughout the year, and over these very intense six days (and then some!).

© Alistair Peebles, 2006