Isle of Mull, 29 June – 5 July 2008

Levon Chilingirian

THIS YEAR’S Festival, celebrating 20 years since Leonard Friedman started taking young professional musicians to that heavenly island, stretched the concepts and the aims of the week long event. The format followed the traditions, in that all the events took place in the spectacular castles and churches of Mull, as well as community halls in Tobermory and Craignure, and not forgetting the idyllic Abbey of Iona and the final night in St John’s Cathedral in Oban.

As usual, the musicians were split into three groups, with mentors guiding them as they learned the works that director Levon Chilingirian had selected for this year’s programme. Last year’s mentors returned, violinists Chilingirian, Gabrielle Lester and Marcia Crayford, violist Samvel Barsegian, cellist Alasdair Tait and pianist Richard Jeffcoat. They were joined by Graham Mitchell who is Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music, member of the Philharmonia Orchestra and Principal Bass of the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

So what was new and different? In the past the selection of music has concentrated on the romantic and the classical. But this year, Mozart and Mendelssohn got no more than a passing appearance, Haydn was totally missing, and in their place festival goers were thrilled by some of the great chamber works of the late 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in a first performance of ‘Apparitions’ by Stephen Montague, a joint commission between the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival, Dartington Summer School and the Idyllwild Summer Arts Program of California.

It was so much more than a piece of music. Montague brought a team to Mull to present this multi-media event late at night in the spectacular setting of Duart Castle. Future performances in Devon and California will be able to benefit from the lighting effects in Montague’s concept as they will take place at night. Mull at midsummer does not offer the desired level of darkness, but that is nature for you. Nevertheless the select audience buzzed with excitement and gave the performance an enthusiastic welcome.

Once again, Levon Chilingirian had selected his young professionals from all the airts, with four returning for a second year. All the major British conservatoires sent participants, including four from Glasgow and six from Manchester, and all had come to this country to study. Only three were British, against four from South Africa, one from Canada and the rest from Europe. To quote Levon Chilingirian, “Music is a great leveller. People of all ages and cultural backgrounds enjoy its international language. Equally, musicians of greatly varying age and experience can achieve wonderful alchemy by joining in performances of chamber music.”

After a week exploring the beautiful island of Mull, on Saturday evening it was the turn of the mainland to enjoy the fruits of everyone’s endeavours in the very individual and atmospheric Episcopal Cathedral of St John. Each of the three groups selected a few highlights from their programme, starting with Chilingirian’s group performing two movements of Mozart’s D major Quintet, followed by the andante and adagio from Bartok’s String Quartet No 5.

Their playing was exquisite, as good as can be heard anywhere, and special mention must be made of the cellist Rowena Calvert from Rogart in Sutherland, who is destined to be a musical star of the future. Gaby Lester’s group chose two movements from Dvorak’s exuberant String Quintet Op 77, the one with the double bass, which left the audience smiling, and then an emotionally charged performance of Richard Strauss’s ‘Metamorphoses’, a work so intense and beautiful that the whole interval was needed to prepare for the next offerings.

They came from Marcia Crayford’s group playing excerpts from Shostakovich’s Quartettsatz D 703 and part of Dvorak’s other String Quintet, Op 97, written at the same time as his famous American Quartet, and similarly packed with native American motifs.

Tradition states that the final work of the final concert of the Festival involves all the musicians, mentors and young professionals. But not this year, as so much time had been taken up preparing for the Stephen Montague commission, and so it was that the audience enjoyed a very individual arrangement of “What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor”, or should it have been “Drunken Cellist”, played by the quartet who had given its premiere the previous evening, and featuring Festival Director Levon Chilingirian and the Highlands’ own Rowena Calvert.

And so the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival passes twenty in fine health. The mentors are already looking forward to next year and the opportunities to help a fresh team of young professionals develop at the outset of their careers. Artistically the Festival has shown that a thrilling week can be put together without relying on the classics, and this new direction bodes well for the future.

Robert Fleming, the Chairman of the Trustees, stands down at the culmination of his term having successfully guided this event for the past few years. His place is being taken by Marilyn Jeffcoat who inherits a Festival that can look into the future full of confidence.

© James Munro, 2008

Links

• Mendelssohn on Mull