SCO New York Counterpoint Queen's Hall Edinburgh 6th March 2022 Review
Scottish Chamber Orchestra were at The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh this afternoon with their performance of “New York Counterpoint”, and bringing this performance to us were Hugo Ticciatti, Cecilia Ziano, Ruth Crouch (violins), Felix Tanner (Viola), Philip Higham (Cello) and Maximiliano Martin (Clarinet). Our full performance programme was
NICO MUHLY It goes without saying
BRYCE DESSNER Aheym
ALBERT SCHNELZER Solitude
SAULI ZINOVJEV Double Trouble
BELA BARTÓK Selection from 44 Duos? for 2 violins
LUCIANO BERIO Aldo, from Duetti per due Violini
CAROLINE SHAW Entr’acte
STEVE REICH New York Counterpoint
“New York Counterpoint” takes its name from the final music of this programme and was cleverly bookended with the opening performance work of Nico Muhly and his tribute to Steve Reich “'It Goes Without Saying” and the closing work by Steve Reich “New York Counterpoint”. In both cases, an impressive and very jazz feeling performance from Maximiliano Martin with accompaniment by himself via a pre-recorded series of musical variants.
Lovers of violin duets will appreciate the selection from Bartok’s Selection of 44 duos, which is a series of increasingly difficult works for those choosing to study violin, and the range of selections chosen illustrate not only the composer’s understanding of this instrument, but the talents of our SCO artists.
New York Counterpoint is the first of a trilogy of concerts from the SCO with the remaining two works, Seek The Light and America, The Beautiful, being performed at The Queen’s Hall too on 10th and 17th March respectively. Originally Finnish composer/violinist Pekka Kuusisto was scheduled to work with SCO for this residency in March, but unfortunately this was not possible due to unforeseen circumstances and violinist/director Hugo Ticciati has stepped in to fill Pekka’s place. This late change did result in some alterations to the programme, but as a cohesive whole performance work, everything not only came together, but illustrates the skills and adaptability of the orchestra to make late changes to a programme.
All of our works performed this afternoon were of course played to the skill level that you would expect anyone at the SCO to have achieved, but music is always in the end about more than just skill levels; it is about emotions, painting with sound, telling a story, and above all, reaching into people’s very hearts and minds, and for me, Schnelzer’s “Solitude” was the performance that evoked all of these things and for some reason not only gave me that feeling of just how difficult solitude can be, but made me think of Edvard Munch and “The Scream”.
Contrasting against the performances from SCO we also had DJs xivro and Rowan McIlvride, and in the right hands a DJ Deck can be just as much a musical instrument as any traditional one, and if you stayed in your seat for the interval, this ambient sound fitted in so well with the larger picture of New York Counterpoint.
I was also very quickly reminded of why I have missed SCO on a live stage so much over the past few years. Why do I like SCO so much? The answers to that are several, but some of the main reasons include the huge diversity of their performances and the fact that SCO so often break away from the music that many people imagine a Chamber Orchestra will perform; yes they can do the expected classical works when they fit into their programme, but they are also just as comfortable pushing their musical boundaries into other genres, exploring avante garde and ambitious experimental works
I am looking forward now to what surprises the other two works in this series have, and next up is Seek The Light which features the multi talented Scottish artist Karine Polwart.
Review by Tom King (c) 2022
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH
NICO MUHLY It goes without saying
BRYCE DESSNER Aheym
ALBERT SCHNELZER Solitude
SAULI ZINOVJEV Double Trouble
BELA BARTÓK Selection from 44 Duos? for 2 violins
LUCIANO BERIO Aldo, from Duetti per due Violini
CAROLINE SHAW Entr’acte
STEVE REICH New York Counterpoint
“New York Counterpoint” takes its name from the final music of this programme and was cleverly bookended with the opening performance work of Nico Muhly and his tribute to Steve Reich “'It Goes Without Saying” and the closing work by Steve Reich “New York Counterpoint”. In both cases, an impressive and very jazz feeling performance from Maximiliano Martin with accompaniment by himself via a pre-recorded series of musical variants.
Lovers of violin duets will appreciate the selection from Bartok’s Selection of 44 duos, which is a series of increasingly difficult works for those choosing to study violin, and the range of selections chosen illustrate not only the composer’s understanding of this instrument, but the talents of our SCO artists.
New York Counterpoint is the first of a trilogy of concerts from the SCO with the remaining two works, Seek The Light and America, The Beautiful, being performed at The Queen’s Hall too on 10th and 17th March respectively. Originally Finnish composer/violinist Pekka Kuusisto was scheduled to work with SCO for this residency in March, but unfortunately this was not possible due to unforeseen circumstances and violinist/director Hugo Ticciati has stepped in to fill Pekka’s place. This late change did result in some alterations to the programme, but as a cohesive whole performance work, everything not only came together, but illustrates the skills and adaptability of the orchestra to make late changes to a programme.
All of our works performed this afternoon were of course played to the skill level that you would expect anyone at the SCO to have achieved, but music is always in the end about more than just skill levels; it is about emotions, painting with sound, telling a story, and above all, reaching into people’s very hearts and minds, and for me, Schnelzer’s “Solitude” was the performance that evoked all of these things and for some reason not only gave me that feeling of just how difficult solitude can be, but made me think of Edvard Munch and “The Scream”.
Contrasting against the performances from SCO we also had DJs xivro and Rowan McIlvride, and in the right hands a DJ Deck can be just as much a musical instrument as any traditional one, and if you stayed in your seat for the interval, this ambient sound fitted in so well with the larger picture of New York Counterpoint.
I was also very quickly reminded of why I have missed SCO on a live stage so much over the past few years. Why do I like SCO so much? The answers to that are several, but some of the main reasons include the huge diversity of their performances and the fact that SCO so often break away from the music that many people imagine a Chamber Orchestra will perform; yes they can do the expected classical works when they fit into their programme, but they are also just as comfortable pushing their musical boundaries into other genres, exploring avante garde and ambitious experimental works
I am looking forward now to what surprises the other two works in this series have, and next up is Seek The Light which features the multi talented Scottish artist Karine Polwart.
Review by Tom King (c) 2022
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH