Black Isle Leisure Centre, Fortrose, 25 August 2007

Leader Donald Goskirk and Rachel Snow.

GORDON TOCHER is familiar figure on the music scene in Inverness, both as a pianist – he performed as soloist in the Highland Chamber Orchestra’s concerts in May – and as conductor and arranger. He is a member of the Merlewood Ensemble, and is probably best known as the chorus master of the Inverness Choral Society.

His musical activities extend to composing, and he seemed an appropriate choice when the Highland Chamber Orchestra were looking around for a local composer to commission as part of the Highland 2007 programme.

The commission stipulated that there be some element of relevance to the Highlands & Islands, and Gordon settled on the geography of the region as his source of inspiration. He chose seascape rather than landscape as the focus of his attention, and came up with a piece that fully justified the orchestra’s confidence in him.

‘Tidescape’ employed both a subtly applied drone note (in A) and a shifting ground bass, both elements found in traditional Highland music, within a sophisticated orchestral tapestry. The ebb and flow implied in the title was fully imbedded in the structure of the music in intelligent musical fashion, supported by skillful manipulation of the instrumental resources and musical colour and texture at his disposal. A distinct success, and one that would be well worth hearing again.

Haydn’s “Cello Concerto in C” was more of a mixed bag. Local soloist Sarah Spence is mid-way through a degree course at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, an institution with a famous cello department.

She is clearly talented, but her nerves seemed to be jangling a little on this occasion (understandable enough), leading to some questionable intonation and accenting at times. Her projection was also a little underpowered, especially in the final movement, in what is a difficult acoustic for orchestral music. If she still has some developing to do, her shapely phrasing and overall grip of the music nonetheless suggested that she is well capable of progressing.

The orchestra’s continuing survey of the symphonies and concertos of Beethoven has been a mainstay of their programming, and they added a vibrant account of his rhythmically-charged “Symphony No. 7” to their list of achievements.

Susan Dingle is a very good principal conductor, and the players responded to her direction with a strong, characterful performance of this vivid music. The odd slightly uneven entry and less than totally homogenous ensemble pitch scarcely detracted from a winning performance that provided a sparkling finale to the concert, which was repeated in Thurso the following day.

© George Mackay, 2007

Links

• Highland Chamber Orchestra