Orkney, 17 – 23 June 2011

THE theme for this year’s festival under the directorship of Alasdair Nicolson for the first time was: “the isle is full of noises”, taken from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which opened the show with a community production on a grand scale.

We were thrown straight into the drama of the storm-tossed island with the shipping forecast and a clever backdrop film of ever-changing coastal weather as gales lashed the shore or waves lapped peacefully, adding to the mood and illusion.

A cast of 100, including spirit urchins played by local primary schoolchildren were effective. Robin Preston as Prospero was the star and lynchpin of the show with a strong presence.

Live music written by Nicolson featured three oboes to entrance us while circus acrobatics and juggling from spirit Ariel added to the spectacle.

There were moments when the gale force special effects dominated and distracted from the narrative and human voices were drowned out, making the story difficult to follow. But Nicolson’s enthusiasm in continuing the festival’s tradition of staging community productions is to be applauded.

Conductor Thierry Fischer (photo by Chris Stock)

At the St Magnus Festival we get plenty of unique performances and world premieres which aren’t doing the festival rounds this summer. Among the firsts was a writers’ course with tutoring from poets Jen Hadfield and Pam Beasant. A sell-out event was a chance to hear the participants read their own poems in the Stromness Hotel and try out performance skills.

The group had clearly gained from the intense workshops. Margaret Irish from Antigua was particularly outstanding with her warm account following a meeting on the ferry to Orkney with a woman from Caithness. Poet Don Paterson played a couple of jazz guitar pieces at the reading. He also read his work in Stromness and Kirkwall, in two moving and intimate events.

The Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall was the venue for two major concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Thierry Fischer, on the Saturday and Sunday evenings.

A cantata for tenor and chamber orchestra, Into the Labyrinth, was a pivotal work for Peter Maxwell Davies, who only picked up the conductor’s baton for the first time when others failed to master the complexities of the song cycle with its twisting rhythms. Consequently he conducted for a recording and continued on the podium until his 75^th birthday.

This intense work draws its words from The Well by his friend George Mackay Brown, exploring the influence of modern times on an ancient island way of life, a common theme for the Greenvoe author. The relentless moving sea through rushing strings pins the work as the four natural elements are praised.

Conflict and discord grows, images flicker before our eyes as the earth is neglected and we are taken with it.  Tenor Robin Tritschler warns of how wealth and science cuts our roots with the past. As is often the case with Mackay Brown, we finally have hope as water trickles over stones.

A beaming Maxwell Davies shook hands with conductor Thierry Fischer who had obviously got the timing right, both for the composer and for the audience.

Continuing the Scottish islands theme was Mendelssohn’s Overture: The Hebrides, op. 26 and Symphony No. 3 (Scottish), both inspired by the composer’s visit to Scotland. Mendelssohn’s idyllic view following his visit to Staffa contrasted sweetly with Maxwell Davies’ dark and moving piece. A well balanced triumph.

The following evening the SCO opened with Edward Harper’s exhilarating and rhythmic free-form  Fantasia V based on a bogus Edinburgh postcode, before an evening of Mozart for a full house.

Remarkable young pianist Alessandro Taverno mesmerised through his articulate mastery of the keyboard, delivered with verve and genuine delight in the playing of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. This multi award-winning Venetian, aged just 28, is one to watch. He exchanged parts seamlessly with the orchestra throughout. Stage craft and a hint of flamboyance was there, though showy would be too strong a term.

Pianist Alessandro Taverno

There was a full house among the St Magnus Chorus too, with a powerhouse of 160 local voices for Mozart’s Requiem. After a minor moment of mis-timing in the Introitus, they were off like a freight train for the Kyrie eleison.

This was a slightly alarming up tempo experience, but the infectiousness worked before conductor Thierry Fischer reined the chorus in for more magisterial darkness. The exquisite soprano Katharine Fuge, mezzo Pamela Helen Stephen, tenor Robin Tritschler and baritone Richard Morrison were all outstanding.

Fischer erred on the light and Romantic side rather than the ceremonial Baroque, but enthusiastically whipped the chorus into a superb force for the vocal climaxes to great emotional effect when needed.

Chorus director Glenys Hughes is to be congratulated for shaping an outstanding and moving performance of the Requiem, the chorus was magnificent, while Fischer, the dynamo at the heart of the SCO, kept a perfect beat.

Berlin Cabaret

The Festival Club keeps later hours and this year put a great variety of musicians on the stage. Fiddle champion Ruaridh Campbell and guitarist Chas Mackenzie played dazzling reels and tender slow airs, first on the Northlink ferry from Aberdeen and later on the festival club stage.

Wrigley and the Reel on Saturday continued the traditional Scottish theme with Amber Wilson and Friends bringing a more mellow late night sound on the Sunday. The club is a unique chance to mingle in the bar with classical musicians and soloists, world-class composers and conductors, cabaret and circus performers, writers, visitors and locals. Exhausting but fun.

The Magfest is the official fringe arm with puppet shows, dark and quirky theatre and cabaret. Berlin Cabaret promised to take us back to the debauched and decadent era of the Germany in the 1930s. Perhaps this description set up the audience’s hopes for a more burlesque show. After a ‘tame’ first half, the ‘girls’ in frilly knickers upped their game with songs and comedy. The clockwork doll scene as the MC struggled to bring his singing automaton woman under control was brilliant.

There was much more to see and hear for those with stamina for more events, from the London Sinfonietta, which was well received, to the festival on tour round Orkney with Pure Brass and Pipers Three. Next year we are promised even more innovation, premieres and unusual venues, from the auction mart to the shores of Scapa Flow. Can’t wait.

© Catherine Turnbull, 2011

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