Empire Theatre, Eden Court, 11 April 2010

Thierry Fischer

OTHER THAN the period when Eden Court was dark for its rebuild, this has been the thinnest season of orchestral concerts that anyone can remember. And after a couple of lacklustre and forgettable concerts by the two larger Scottish orchestras, it was left to the smaller forces of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, on its one and only visit to Inverness during this season, to restore the situation and reassure the Highland audience that they are not in an outpost on the fringes of the nation.

Then onto the stage with a youthful bound came the young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, still in her twenties, photogenic, bearing a Stradivarius, and a former winner of a major competition, the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels, which is probably the world’s foremost violin prize. It is impossible not to draw comparisons with Scotland’s own Nicola Benedetti, but what Inverness got on Sunday was restrained, authoritative, assured playing that was totally lacking in showmanship.

Baiba had thought out the Mozart A major Violin Concerto beautifully. The opening Allegro was so held back that the audience were straining to pick up every note, but she gradually developed her performance like a long crescendo so that by the time she reached the first cadenza she had everyone’s absolute attention and they knew they were hearing something special.

There were moments when she seemed almost to be part of the orchestra, but then she rose above it while Fischer held them down. Her cadenza in the Adagio was absolute sweetness, and in the final movement, which jumps between a minuet and an allegro, she was teasing everyone with all those false endings, then turned to the principal viola, Jane Atkins, for a brief musical exchange before bringing the work to its sudden, and unexpected, ending as the music just fades away.

This was a performance that had only one thing missing, the presentation of a bouquet of flowers to Baiba Skride at the end. I don’t know what ‘Haste Ye Back’ is in Latvian, but let’s hope it is not too long before she returns to Inverness.

Instead of a symphony in the second half, we were treated to the Brahms’ Serenade No 1 in D major. Composed in 1858, some fifteen years before he began serious work on his first symphony, and while he still felt in the shadow of Beethoven, this was Brahms starting to develop his ideas for larger forces.

The SCO delivered this lovely six movement work with a freshness and passion which belied the fact that at least half of the players knew the work very well from the time when they played, and recorded, both Serenades with Sir Charles Mackerras (well worth digging out a copy if you don’t already have one), although that was nearly twelve years ago.

There were plenty of hints in this early piece to give a foretaste of some of Brahms’ great works later in his life, and indeed there could even be the seeds of some ideas that Mahler, not even born in 1858, was able to nurture. When first played, this Serenade attracted some criticism as it fell between the classical and the romantic camps, but a century and a half later there can be no doubt as to its endearing and enduring quality, especially when its beautiful melodies are delivered as engrossingly as by Thierry Fischer and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

There was a time, some years ago, when the Scottish Chamber Orchestra looked on Inverness as its second home. Those days may be past, but their tradition of putting in an extra effort for The Highlands lives on. A memorable evening that put the SCO’s big brothers to shame.

© James Munro, 2010

Links

• SCO

• Eden Court Theatre