SCO Northern Lights Queen's Hall 18th April 2024 Review
SCO Northern Lights at the Queen’s Hall this afternoon was a celebration of not only music from the north - Orkney, Denmark and Finland - but also of the very special vistas of land, sea and air as winter finally releases its often elemental grip on nature to allow spring to be heralded in. To a greater or lesser extent, the very elemental forces of the world around them have been the inspiration for today’s programme of music.
Opening this afternoon’s concert was music from Maxwell Davies, Concert Overture ‘Ebb of Winter’, This work from 2013, written a few years before the composer’s death in 2016, may be a little tamer, a little less edgy and confrontational than some of his earlier works. Even here though it is obvious that none of that early desire to constantly challenge the rules and accepted norms of music have been lost. From 1971 until his death, Maxwell Davis lived in Orkney and his immersion in Orcadian culture and the very forces of nature around him are all here in the very power of this work which at times makes you feel like you are standing watching a huge storm coming in from the sea over the land as the very sky itself changes and you begin to feel insignificant in the face of the forces of nature.
This work was originally written in 2013 for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 40th anniversary celebrations and was a continuation of the composer’s long association with the orchestra. Carefully composed to highlight individual members of the SCO and their instruments, this is a very personal work for everyone on stage today. As always though, Maxwell Davies’ music is challenging, both for the listener at times but always for the musicians performing it, and his use of trumpets in this work is typical of those boundaries so often being pushed into new and challenging spaces.
The second work today moves from Orkney to Denmark and perhaps that country’s most famous composer, Carl Nielsen. Written in 1926, Flute Concerto is almost the calm after the storm of Maxwell’s previous work and gave André Cebrián the opportunity as flute soloist to entrance this audience with his evocative interpretation of this music. Beautifully counterbalancing the flute was an equally evocative use of clarinets, and both met at times, almost in a dualistic fashion, by the sounds of a trombone cutting through the orchestra. A flute and a trombone may seem to most people to be an odd musical combination, but perhaps Nielsen, who played trombone himself was playing his own little musical game with us all here.
Moving to Finland and the music of Jean Sibelius, this 1895 work (revised 1897 and 1900) takes us deep into Finnish folklore with “The Swan of Tuonela”. Based on the Finnish mythological epic the Kalevala, Tuonela is the realm of the dead, the underworld, and as you would expect the music often mirrors the dark overtones of its subject matter. A special note also has to go to Katherine Bryer for her performance of the guardian swan on Cor Anglais this afternoon.
Closing this afternoon’s music was another visit to the music of Carl Nielsen with “Four Movements for Orchestra”. Orchestrated by today’s conductor Joseph Swensen, this orchestration sticks very closely to Nielsen’s original use of instruments and builds upon them to create a dynamic soundscape that is full of power, emotion and more than a few surprises as we enter the playful world of Nordic folk music. The only real addition to this orchestration by Swensen was the every distinctive sound from the timpani, used sparingly in sharp contrast to an often very woodland soundscape of woodwind, brass, and percussion.
This was the last of the matinee performances in this current season’s programme by SCO.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Opening this afternoon’s concert was music from Maxwell Davies, Concert Overture ‘Ebb of Winter’, This work from 2013, written a few years before the composer’s death in 2016, may be a little tamer, a little less edgy and confrontational than some of his earlier works. Even here though it is obvious that none of that early desire to constantly challenge the rules and accepted norms of music have been lost. From 1971 until his death, Maxwell Davis lived in Orkney and his immersion in Orcadian culture and the very forces of nature around him are all here in the very power of this work which at times makes you feel like you are standing watching a huge storm coming in from the sea over the land as the very sky itself changes and you begin to feel insignificant in the face of the forces of nature.
This work was originally written in 2013 for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 40th anniversary celebrations and was a continuation of the composer’s long association with the orchestra. Carefully composed to highlight individual members of the SCO and their instruments, this is a very personal work for everyone on stage today. As always though, Maxwell Davies’ music is challenging, both for the listener at times but always for the musicians performing it, and his use of trumpets in this work is typical of those boundaries so often being pushed into new and challenging spaces.
The second work today moves from Orkney to Denmark and perhaps that country’s most famous composer, Carl Nielsen. Written in 1926, Flute Concerto is almost the calm after the storm of Maxwell’s previous work and gave André Cebrián the opportunity as flute soloist to entrance this audience with his evocative interpretation of this music. Beautifully counterbalancing the flute was an equally evocative use of clarinets, and both met at times, almost in a dualistic fashion, by the sounds of a trombone cutting through the orchestra. A flute and a trombone may seem to most people to be an odd musical combination, but perhaps Nielsen, who played trombone himself was playing his own little musical game with us all here.
Moving to Finland and the music of Jean Sibelius, this 1895 work (revised 1897 and 1900) takes us deep into Finnish folklore with “The Swan of Tuonela”. Based on the Finnish mythological epic the Kalevala, Tuonela is the realm of the dead, the underworld, and as you would expect the music often mirrors the dark overtones of its subject matter. A special note also has to go to Katherine Bryer for her performance of the guardian swan on Cor Anglais this afternoon.
Closing this afternoon’s music was another visit to the music of Carl Nielsen with “Four Movements for Orchestra”. Orchestrated by today’s conductor Joseph Swensen, this orchestration sticks very closely to Nielsen’s original use of instruments and builds upon them to create a dynamic soundscape that is full of power, emotion and more than a few surprises as we enter the playful world of Nordic folk music. The only real addition to this orchestration by Swensen was the every distinctive sound from the timpani, used sparingly in sharp contrast to an often very woodland soundscape of woodwind, brass, and percussion.
This was the last of the matinee performances in this current season’s programme by SCO.
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.