Review by Georgina Coburn
Scottish Ensemble
Strathpeffer Pavilion, 7 September 2008
Scottish Ensemble
STRATHPEFFER Pavilion provided the perfect setting for a Sunday afternoon concert by the Scottish Ensemble on the last date of their Highlands and Islands tour.
Led by Artistic Director Jonathan Morton, the vibrant and dynamic company presented a well structured programme of familiar and experimental works, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043, Two pieces for String Octet, Op 11 by Shostakovich, Double Violin Concerto by David Horne and String Symphony No 9 in C Minor by Mendelssohn.
One of the most interesting elements of the programme was how generations of composers have been influenced by the work of others, creating seminal works in the genre. The opening work by Bach provided a starting point for a musical journey, extremely varied in mood, pace and content, but delivered with equal exuberance and quality of playing. This is an ensemble that is clearly passionate about the music they perform and are able to impart this enthusiasm to their audience.
J.S. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D Minor is a glorious and emotive work well suited to performance in an intimate venue. Featured violinists Jonathan Morton and Sarah Sexton created a beautiful contrapuntal dialogue of sweet and mellow sound, underpinned by the rich timbre of cello and double bass. The second movement (Largo ma non tanto) displayed a tender interweave of musical lines that was particularly soulful and heartfelt. One would have to be made of stone not to feel it.
This movement is wonderfully balanced by the preceding Vivace and concluding Allegro sections in which the energy of the whole ensemble come to the fore. The rich texture of Bach’s music, his craftsmanship and ability to blend independent voices, creates a tapestry of sound that is as fresh and resonant as the day it was created.
A great admirer of Bach, the 20th composer Dmitri Shostakovich produced his own 24 preludes and fugues in every key for the piano in reference to the Baroque master. At the age of 19 he produced his Two Pieces For String Octet, Op 11 (1925), originally written for eight players but here rearranged by Jonathan Morton for the 12 musicians of the Scottish Ensemble.
This piece is wonderfully expressive, even cinematic, with the middle section of the Prelude reminiscent of a silent film soundtrack. It is strikingly modern in its frenzied use of the violin but equally Romantic in the sombre descent of the cello. The Scherzo section, driven by a mechanical assault of rhythms and the plucked unease of strings, creates tension which is counterbalanced by deep melodic phrases from the cello. Having never heard this particular work before, it was an exciting discovery.
The second half of the programme began with David Horne’s Double Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Scottish Ensemble in 2003. Comprised of four movements – Declamations, Mosaic, Unbroken, Grooves – the virtuosic interweave of two violins (played by Jonathan Morton and Cheryl Crockett) links this work to Bach’s D Minor Concerto.
It is a piece in which all the members of the ensemble play an individual part, creating a huge variety of sound; rhythmic, percussive and richly lyrical. The third movement, ‘Unbroken’, was especially affecting and evocative, with a quiet surge of sound that emerges and subsides, articulated by lone violin and pizzicato lower strings. I enjoyed being taken out of my comfort zone with this work and was glad that a piece by a 21st century composer had been included as part of the programme.
The final work, Felix Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No 9 in C minor brought the audience back to familiar territory influenced by both Bach and Mozart. Mendelssohn’s lively counterpoint brought the concert to an uplifting conclusion. Whilst the audience were extremely appreciative with their applause, the Ensemble and their excellent programme deserve a more diverse audience. With a hall not filled completely to capacity, greater attempts should be made by local venues to involve young people in the performance of Classical music in the Highlands.
Whenever I attend such a concert the audience (myself included) are conspicuously grey! With a range of music being reinterpreted, played with passion, verve and conviction, it seems a shame that its influence cannot be more widely felt. If this programme teaches us anything it is that music inspires both composer and listener across the ages, its form and traditions a foundation for the forging of brave new sounds.
© Georgina Coburn, 2008
