SCO Chris Stout Catriona McKay's Möder Dy Queen's Hall Edinburgh 26th January 2023 Review
SCO Chris Stout & Catriona McKay's Möder Dy at The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight was a little bit different from many other SCO concerts as it was an extension of the Celtic Connections Festival which is currently on in Glasgow (Jan 19 to Feb 05) and featured Shetland-born fiddler Chris Stout and Dundee-born harpist Catriona McKay, both long time musical collaborators with one another.
Does traditional Celtic music have a place alongside the more often played classical music that you would expect playing from a chamber orchestra? Of course it does, music is simply just that, music in all of its many variants and no one strand holds superiority over another, and the SCO’s continual programme of doing the often unexpected, and exploring and often integrating diverse genres of music is why I like this orchestra so much. When you are dealing with musicians of the calibre of Chris Stout and Catriona McKay you also discover very quickly that they too have no musical divisions and that being able to work with the SCO and expand upon the musical possibilities of their own work, (and other people’s work that they were playing this evening) was simply an opportunity not to be missed. Watching Chris, Catriona and the members of the SCO take such pleasure in exploring each other’s musical abilities was often as interesting as the performance itself.
As with much Celtic/traditional music and song, the landscape of Scotland has been an inspirational source for much of tonight’s music and Möder Dy (Mother Wave) is a very apt title for the music and poetry of this evening’s works. This source of inspiration from the landscape around you is of course not exclusive to Celtic music and some of the greatest classical musicians throughout the last few centuries have used nature as the source material for many of their best known works.
Opening this programme’s music was Seavaigers, a composition by Sally Beamish which is more of a collaboration between Chris Stout and Catriona McKay which leaves space within its musical score for improvisation within the solo. This space allowed Chris (fiddle) and Catriona (harp) to more than express their own musical individuality whilst other layers of sound and colour were explored by the SCO. When does a fiddle become a violin though? Perhaps that is a question for another day. Further music from Chris Stout and Catriona McKay followed later in the evening including another Scottish landscape-inspired composition, Glenshee.
Although few homes would be large enough to accommodate the SCO into their living room, there was very much that feel of a traditional evening of music and words to this programme as Chris’s schoolfriend and now poet Christie Williamson read out a selection of his works. Like the music, his words were also inspired by the landscape that he knew so well.
One highlight of the evening for me was the chance to hear the voice and music of Liam Ó Maonlaí. Many people in the audience tonight will, I am sure, remember Liam and his then band Hothouse Flowers and their 1988 hit in many countries “Don’t Go”. The band also, as we are told, left a very clear impression on both Chris and Catriona at the time. Watching and listening to Christie Williamson reading his poem “Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings” then Liam putting music to it and singing the words was like watching a little bit of magic happen on-stage. It is clear that words and their rhythm are still very special to Liam and his music.
For much of Celtic music, percussion is the driving heartbeat that underpins so much music, and here James Mackintosh has to be given a special mention for his playing this evening.
Merging the worlds of Celtic/Traditional and classical music together for this performance, was James Lowe conductor.
The full programme of music this evening was
Beamish Seavaigers
Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘Fond Kisses of Old Memories’
Liam Ó Maonlaí Traditional Irish song
Christie Williamson 'Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings' (poem)
Ó Maonlaí, Williamson, Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘When Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings’ (song)
Interval
Christie Williamson If You Find Love (poem)
Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘When Tides Meet’
Stout & McKay Glenshee
Stout & McKay Sair Fecht
An addition to this programme after the interval was a waltz for a wedding by Chris Stout & Catriona McKay.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Does traditional Celtic music have a place alongside the more often played classical music that you would expect playing from a chamber orchestra? Of course it does, music is simply just that, music in all of its many variants and no one strand holds superiority over another, and the SCO’s continual programme of doing the often unexpected, and exploring and often integrating diverse genres of music is why I like this orchestra so much. When you are dealing with musicians of the calibre of Chris Stout and Catriona McKay you also discover very quickly that they too have no musical divisions and that being able to work with the SCO and expand upon the musical possibilities of their own work, (and other people’s work that they were playing this evening) was simply an opportunity not to be missed. Watching Chris, Catriona and the members of the SCO take such pleasure in exploring each other’s musical abilities was often as interesting as the performance itself.
As with much Celtic/traditional music and song, the landscape of Scotland has been an inspirational source for much of tonight’s music and Möder Dy (Mother Wave) is a very apt title for the music and poetry of this evening’s works. This source of inspiration from the landscape around you is of course not exclusive to Celtic music and some of the greatest classical musicians throughout the last few centuries have used nature as the source material for many of their best known works.
Opening this programme’s music was Seavaigers, a composition by Sally Beamish which is more of a collaboration between Chris Stout and Catriona McKay which leaves space within its musical score for improvisation within the solo. This space allowed Chris (fiddle) and Catriona (harp) to more than express their own musical individuality whilst other layers of sound and colour were explored by the SCO. When does a fiddle become a violin though? Perhaps that is a question for another day. Further music from Chris Stout and Catriona McKay followed later in the evening including another Scottish landscape-inspired composition, Glenshee.
Although few homes would be large enough to accommodate the SCO into their living room, there was very much that feel of a traditional evening of music and words to this programme as Chris’s schoolfriend and now poet Christie Williamson read out a selection of his works. Like the music, his words were also inspired by the landscape that he knew so well.
One highlight of the evening for me was the chance to hear the voice and music of Liam Ó Maonlaí. Many people in the audience tonight will, I am sure, remember Liam and his then band Hothouse Flowers and their 1988 hit in many countries “Don’t Go”. The band also, as we are told, left a very clear impression on both Chris and Catriona at the time. Watching and listening to Christie Williamson reading his poem “Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings” then Liam putting music to it and singing the words was like watching a little bit of magic happen on-stage. It is clear that words and their rhythm are still very special to Liam and his music.
For much of Celtic music, percussion is the driving heartbeat that underpins so much music, and here James Mackintosh has to be given a special mention for his playing this evening.
Merging the worlds of Celtic/Traditional and classical music together for this performance, was James Lowe conductor.
The full programme of music this evening was
Beamish Seavaigers
Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘Fond Kisses of Old Memories’
Liam Ó Maonlaí Traditional Irish song
Christie Williamson 'Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings' (poem)
Ó Maonlaí, Williamson, Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘When Waves Whisper Sweet Somethings’ (song)
Interval
Christie Williamson If You Find Love (poem)
Stout & McKay Waves Whisper ‘When Tides Meet’
Stout & McKay Glenshee
Stout & McKay Sair Fecht
An addition to this programme after the interval was a waltz for a wedding by Chris Stout & Catriona McKay.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com