SCO Baroque Inspirations Queen's Hall Edinburgh 10th October 2024 Review
SCO Baroque Inspirations at the Queen’s Hall tonight was obviously a concert very close to the musical heart of conductor Maxim Emelyanychev as we all joined him on his annual exploration of the world of Baroque music.
Officially the programme of music for tonight was as below, but as often with SCO programming there were many more layers to be explored in what was selected. For the Baroque Inspiration concerts, Maxim Emelyanychev also takes on the dual tasks of conductor and when required harpsichord player.
POULENC Concerto Champêtre
STRAVINSKY Suite, Pulcinella
VIVALDI Concerto in D minor Op 3 No 11, RV 565 ‘L’Estro Armonico’
RAMEAU Suite, Les Boréades
This musical exploration was really one of two halves. Before the interval, two works from the 1920s where the composers are looking back through time for inspiration for their music and after, two works from the 1700s and composers who were so often creating the musical building blocks of what was to come after them.
The first work tonight was written for the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and, hard as it may be nearly a hundred years later for us to understand, this wonderful Baroque period instrument had fallen so much out of favour that there are stories of fine harpsichord collections being broken up for firewood. Thankfully Wanda Landowska had a passion for not only preserving the harpsichord for the period music to be played on it, but also for new works to be commissioned for it.
We are also at this period at a musical cross-roads as many composers were exploring not only how to create new musical possibilities with traditional orchestra line-ups, but also many more modern instruments. To some, the idea of looking back through time for inspiration was not an option; music had to progress in a forward direction only. Also at this time, the idea of hearing period music, played on period instruments, was in general not even considered. Bach, for example, composed music for his own instrument, the harpsichord, but everyone was used to hearing his work performed on the later creation, the louder and more powerful piano.
POULENC Concerto Champêtre is an odd work, at times more of a musical jig-saw that is trying to incorporate musical influences from two very different time periods. The harpsichord is, in the right hands such as Maxim Emelyanychev, one of the instruments that, for me, just captures that sound and mood of Baroque music, but it always struggles to be heard amongst far louder instruments around it. Here though, Poulenc has scored this work to give the harpsichord and the SCO their own distinctive musical moments.
STRAVINSKY Suite, Pulcinella also sees the composer looking back in time. With the encouragement of ballet impresario, Diaghilev, Stravinsky took elements of the work of Italian composer Giovanni Pergolesi and wove his own unmistakable musical signature into the score for this new ballet. Like Poulenc’s work, there is still at times that feeling of two very different musical stories being told here. Despite his initial reservations in re-working existing music, this work was to become one of Stravinsky’s personal favourites in the years to come.
With VIVALDI Concerto in D minor Op 3 No 11, RV 565 ‘L’Estro Armonico’, we are definitely in one time period and this work with its beautiful score for two violins and a later added cello gave Stephanie Gonley, Marcus Barcham-Stevens (violins) and Philip Higham (cello) the opportunity to highlight their musical talents. This is a work that is instantly recognisable to many people (even those who do not think that they know any classical music) and the pleasure that everyone in the SCO was getting from performing this music was obvious tonight.
Closing with RAMEAU Suite, Les Boréades, the circle of music is complete tonight as he was one of the composers that Wanda Landowska suggested to Francis Poulenc that he should get to know, and it is easy to see why she made this suggestion. Sadly, we do not get to hear anywhere near enough of Rameau’s wonderful music in concert these days, but tonight the SCO gave a performance that was full of the many emotions and colours that this composer was capable of creating with his music. Also this was an opportunity to hear Alex McCartney Moore play one of my favourite instruments of all time, the lute, an instrument with an unmistakable sound and a very long musical history and legacy.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Officially the programme of music for tonight was as below, but as often with SCO programming there were many more layers to be explored in what was selected. For the Baroque Inspiration concerts, Maxim Emelyanychev also takes on the dual tasks of conductor and when required harpsichord player.
POULENC Concerto Champêtre
STRAVINSKY Suite, Pulcinella
VIVALDI Concerto in D minor Op 3 No 11, RV 565 ‘L’Estro Armonico’
RAMEAU Suite, Les Boréades
This musical exploration was really one of two halves. Before the interval, two works from the 1920s where the composers are looking back through time for inspiration for their music and after, two works from the 1700s and composers who were so often creating the musical building blocks of what was to come after them.
The first work tonight was written for the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and, hard as it may be nearly a hundred years later for us to understand, this wonderful Baroque period instrument had fallen so much out of favour that there are stories of fine harpsichord collections being broken up for firewood. Thankfully Wanda Landowska had a passion for not only preserving the harpsichord for the period music to be played on it, but also for new works to be commissioned for it.
We are also at this period at a musical cross-roads as many composers were exploring not only how to create new musical possibilities with traditional orchestra line-ups, but also many more modern instruments. To some, the idea of looking back through time for inspiration was not an option; music had to progress in a forward direction only. Also at this time, the idea of hearing period music, played on period instruments, was in general not even considered. Bach, for example, composed music for his own instrument, the harpsichord, but everyone was used to hearing his work performed on the later creation, the louder and more powerful piano.
POULENC Concerto Champêtre is an odd work, at times more of a musical jig-saw that is trying to incorporate musical influences from two very different time periods. The harpsichord is, in the right hands such as Maxim Emelyanychev, one of the instruments that, for me, just captures that sound and mood of Baroque music, but it always struggles to be heard amongst far louder instruments around it. Here though, Poulenc has scored this work to give the harpsichord and the SCO their own distinctive musical moments.
STRAVINSKY Suite, Pulcinella also sees the composer looking back in time. With the encouragement of ballet impresario, Diaghilev, Stravinsky took elements of the work of Italian composer Giovanni Pergolesi and wove his own unmistakable musical signature into the score for this new ballet. Like Poulenc’s work, there is still at times that feeling of two very different musical stories being told here. Despite his initial reservations in re-working existing music, this work was to become one of Stravinsky’s personal favourites in the years to come.
With VIVALDI Concerto in D minor Op 3 No 11, RV 565 ‘L’Estro Armonico’, we are definitely in one time period and this work with its beautiful score for two violins and a later added cello gave Stephanie Gonley, Marcus Barcham-Stevens (violins) and Philip Higham (cello) the opportunity to highlight their musical talents. This is a work that is instantly recognisable to many people (even those who do not think that they know any classical music) and the pleasure that everyone in the SCO was getting from performing this music was obvious tonight.
Closing with RAMEAU Suite, Les Boréades, the circle of music is complete tonight as he was one of the composers that Wanda Landowska suggested to Francis Poulenc that he should get to know, and it is easy to see why she made this suggestion. Sadly, we do not get to hear anywhere near enough of Rameau’s wonderful music in concert these days, but tonight the SCO gave a performance that was full of the many emotions and colours that this composer was capable of creating with his music. Also this was an opportunity to hear Alex McCartney Moore play one of my favourite instruments of all time, the lute, an instrument with an unmistakable sound and a very long musical history and legacy.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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