RSNO Sibelius Seven Usher Hall Edinburgh 1st November 2024 Review
RSNO Sibelius Seven at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight was part of a larger festival celebrating Nordic Music - “Nordic Music Days”. This music festival was founded in 1888 and is one of the world’s longest running music festivals. This is only the third time in its history that the festival has been hosted outside of a Nordic country and the first time that it has been hosted in Scotland. We all too often forget that Shetland (not originally part of what we now call Scotland), is actually closer to Bergen in Norway than it is to Edinburgh.
The opening music for tonight, however, came from a lot closer to home with the RSNO’s on-stage performance with the Big Noise music charity. The best way to introduce this charity to anyone reading this review who has never heard of their work is to quote from their own website “Big Noise is delivered by the charity Sistema Scotland, which targets and works in underprivileged areas of Scotland. Through Big Noise we support children and young people to improve their learning and wellbeing, whilst also tackling long-term inequalities, bringing communities together and paving the way for positive futures”.
In Edinburgh tonight it was Big Noise from Wester Hailes on stage. At Glasgow it is Big Noise, Govanhill. The importance of not only introducing children to music but also to give them the opportunity to work alongside the RSNO and share a stage with them cannot be overestimated.
The full musical programme tonight was as below, and the highlight of this evening’s music for many people in the audience would probably have been Sibelius Symphony No7
Errollyn Wallen Northern Lights
Rune Glerup About Light and Lightness
Bent Sørensen Evening Land
Sibelius Symphony No7
Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir Tacet: Extrinsic
Aileen Sweeney Glisk
There is always something special about Sibelius, as the composer lived through the times of his country declaring its independence from the Russian Empire in 1917, a bloody civil war, and its recognition as an independent state in 1918/1919 (different countries recognising this at different times). Sibelius and his music have become over the years woven into the national cultural fabric of Finland in a way that few other composers have achieved in their respective nations.
Sibelius Symphony No7 still hides from us many mysteries as to its composition, and part of this may be in its breaking of many of the established rules of what a symphony can be. Probably the biggest rule breaker here was his dream of writing a symphony where everything is expressed in one movement only and although not even calling his work a symphony to start with, he certainly achieved that goal over the 21/22 or so minutes of performance time of Symphony No7. This does of course make for a relatively short work compared to many other symphonies.
For its sheer range of power and emotions, this is a spectacular musical journey that the RSNO and conductor Thomas Søndergård took all of us on tonight. Is this, however, Sibelius finally free of the normal rules of writing such a work, or a reflection that during its long creative process some of his old inner demons and love of whisky, “to steady his hand” (composer’s own words) had returned? Whatever his personal reasons, this was to be the last major completed work from Sibelius.
There seems to be something magical, almost mystical, about the landscape of Nordic countries and their spectacular Northern Lights in the sky that give its composers a unique aspect to their work and Errollyn Wallen Northern Lights is as descriptive a title of its source of inspiration as any.
In stark contrast to this work, Rune Glerup About Light and Lightness with Isabelle Foust, violinist, fits few of the traditional sounds that you would expect from Nordic music. Instead, this often more abstract work acts as a fine showcase for the technical and performance talents of Isabelle Foust whilst also allowing the composer to explore his own very individual soundscape.
Starting off with the faint whisper of a single violin, Bent Sørensen Evening Land is musical exploration of the composer’s memories of his childhood in a small town on Zealand in Denmark and its very special evening lights. These memories intermingle with others as over 50 years later he is looking out over New York from a high balcony.
With a performance time of four minutes, Aileen Sweeney Glisk is perfectly appropriate for its title, a glint of sunlight, a flicker of hope breaking through the clouds of a Shetland sky.
As often with the RSNO, this was a musical programme tonight that gives us, the audience, the familiar and unfamiliar whilst also highlighting the versatility of the individual musicians of the RSNO to adapt quickly to an ever changing musical performance landscape.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The opening music for tonight, however, came from a lot closer to home with the RSNO’s on-stage performance with the Big Noise music charity. The best way to introduce this charity to anyone reading this review who has never heard of their work is to quote from their own website “Big Noise is delivered by the charity Sistema Scotland, which targets and works in underprivileged areas of Scotland. Through Big Noise we support children and young people to improve their learning and wellbeing, whilst also tackling long-term inequalities, bringing communities together and paving the way for positive futures”.
In Edinburgh tonight it was Big Noise from Wester Hailes on stage. At Glasgow it is Big Noise, Govanhill. The importance of not only introducing children to music but also to give them the opportunity to work alongside the RSNO and share a stage with them cannot be overestimated.
The full musical programme tonight was as below, and the highlight of this evening’s music for many people in the audience would probably have been Sibelius Symphony No7
Errollyn Wallen Northern Lights
Rune Glerup About Light and Lightness
Bent Sørensen Evening Land
Sibelius Symphony No7
Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir Tacet: Extrinsic
Aileen Sweeney Glisk
There is always something special about Sibelius, as the composer lived through the times of his country declaring its independence from the Russian Empire in 1917, a bloody civil war, and its recognition as an independent state in 1918/1919 (different countries recognising this at different times). Sibelius and his music have become over the years woven into the national cultural fabric of Finland in a way that few other composers have achieved in their respective nations.
Sibelius Symphony No7 still hides from us many mysteries as to its composition, and part of this may be in its breaking of many of the established rules of what a symphony can be. Probably the biggest rule breaker here was his dream of writing a symphony where everything is expressed in one movement only and although not even calling his work a symphony to start with, he certainly achieved that goal over the 21/22 or so minutes of performance time of Symphony No7. This does of course make for a relatively short work compared to many other symphonies.
For its sheer range of power and emotions, this is a spectacular musical journey that the RSNO and conductor Thomas Søndergård took all of us on tonight. Is this, however, Sibelius finally free of the normal rules of writing such a work, or a reflection that during its long creative process some of his old inner demons and love of whisky, “to steady his hand” (composer’s own words) had returned? Whatever his personal reasons, this was to be the last major completed work from Sibelius.
There seems to be something magical, almost mystical, about the landscape of Nordic countries and their spectacular Northern Lights in the sky that give its composers a unique aspect to their work and Errollyn Wallen Northern Lights is as descriptive a title of its source of inspiration as any.
In stark contrast to this work, Rune Glerup About Light and Lightness with Isabelle Foust, violinist, fits few of the traditional sounds that you would expect from Nordic music. Instead, this often more abstract work acts as a fine showcase for the technical and performance talents of Isabelle Foust whilst also allowing the composer to explore his own very individual soundscape.
Starting off with the faint whisper of a single violin, Bent Sørensen Evening Land is musical exploration of the composer’s memories of his childhood in a small town on Zealand in Denmark and its very special evening lights. These memories intermingle with others as over 50 years later he is looking out over New York from a high balcony.
With a performance time of four minutes, Aileen Sweeney Glisk is perfectly appropriate for its title, a glint of sunlight, a flicker of hope breaking through the clouds of a Shetland sky.
As often with the RSNO, this was a musical programme tonight that gives us, the audience, the familiar and unfamiliar whilst also highlighting the versatility of the individual musicians of the RSNO to adapt quickly to an ever changing musical performance landscape.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Please note that unless requested by performers/pr/venues that this website no longer uses the "star rating" system on reviews.