SCO Time and Tides with Pekka Kuusisto Usher Hall Edinburgh 14th March 2024 Review
SCO Time and Tides at the Queen’s Hall tonight featured a carefully curated programme of music directed by Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto. At first glance, this diverse selection of music might seem an odd collection of words and music, but very quickly you realise that all of this is a wonderful celebration of nature and in particular the endless cycle of time and energy of the true great driving force of everything that makes this planet we call earth what it is, the life-giving water trapped within the atmosphere of a small ball spinning through space.
Pekka Kuusisto has an obvious love for both classical music and folk music, and combining both together in musical programmes is another obvious passion. The two have always been connected, folk music has so often been the inspiration for so much of what we call classical music; there has always been that endless movement of time in music. Tonight though that musical time-shift was perhaps more noticeable as the composers in this programme were contemporary.
This evening’s music was diverse in both its music and the approaches used to create that, and each work could easily have its own far more detailed review. Sadly there is just not space to do this here, so these words are more of an overview than anything else of this concert.
Of all the programmes of music that I have reviewed from the SCO, this is the one that perhaps has taken them furthest outside of the safe musical spaces that audiences love so much. Here there are no comfort cushions of the widely known works of composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky (and many others).
In their place, amongst others was the music of Estonian composer Tűűr and “Lighthouse” from 1997. This very elemental work somehow, with its huge slow moving harmonies that soon quicken their pace, captures that feeling of power that anyone who has ever been on a lighthouse must feel all around them; that and being at the total mercy of the forces of nature around them.
Forming a connection back in time to traditional folk music was a fine duet between violinist/fiddle player Aidan O'Rourke, a name known to so many people on the folk/traditional music scene both individually and with the band Lau, and Pekka Kuusisto. Interestingly, Pekka chose to play harmonium on some of these songs. These were timeless songs, so old that the words to some had been long forgotten, leaving only the music, and with a rowing song that originated from the island of St Kilda, that connection between the fragility of man and the sheer power of the waves was again made.
The UK premiere of “Time and Tides” by composer Anna Clyne, commissioned by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Swedish Chamber Orchestra, was one of the highlights of the evening. Here over five very distinctive movements that incorporate into traditional folk music from many countries, a wonderful soundscape and homage to nature and time emerges.
Another UK premiere tonight was by composer Helen Grime and the 2021 “It Will Be Spring Soon”. This wonderful combination of music and narrative was also performed by soprano Ruby Hughes (for whom, along with Malin Broman, this work was originally written).
The final work this evening by Finnish composer Rautavaara, “Cantus Articus Op 61” from 1972 was on of this concert’s real surprises for me. This was both an introduction to a new composer and a new work of music, and the three movements, The Bog, Melancholy, and Swans Migrating were simply magical and evocative in very different ways.
This is sadly the last of the SCO’s current programming with Pekka Kuusisto, and I hope that this innovative director of music returns soon as his vision to both unite the many connective strands of folk and classical music and do it in a way that endears him to his audiences is much needed.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Pekka Kuusisto has an obvious love for both classical music and folk music, and combining both together in musical programmes is another obvious passion. The two have always been connected, folk music has so often been the inspiration for so much of what we call classical music; there has always been that endless movement of time in music. Tonight though that musical time-shift was perhaps more noticeable as the composers in this programme were contemporary.
This evening’s music was diverse in both its music and the approaches used to create that, and each work could easily have its own far more detailed review. Sadly there is just not space to do this here, so these words are more of an overview than anything else of this concert.
Of all the programmes of music that I have reviewed from the SCO, this is the one that perhaps has taken them furthest outside of the safe musical spaces that audiences love so much. Here there are no comfort cushions of the widely known works of composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky (and many others).
In their place, amongst others was the music of Estonian composer Tűűr and “Lighthouse” from 1997. This very elemental work somehow, with its huge slow moving harmonies that soon quicken their pace, captures that feeling of power that anyone who has ever been on a lighthouse must feel all around them; that and being at the total mercy of the forces of nature around them.
Forming a connection back in time to traditional folk music was a fine duet between violinist/fiddle player Aidan O'Rourke, a name known to so many people on the folk/traditional music scene both individually and with the band Lau, and Pekka Kuusisto. Interestingly, Pekka chose to play harmonium on some of these songs. These were timeless songs, so old that the words to some had been long forgotten, leaving only the music, and with a rowing song that originated from the island of St Kilda, that connection between the fragility of man and the sheer power of the waves was again made.
The UK premiere of “Time and Tides” by composer Anna Clyne, commissioned by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Swedish Chamber Orchestra, was one of the highlights of the evening. Here over five very distinctive movements that incorporate into traditional folk music from many countries, a wonderful soundscape and homage to nature and time emerges.
Another UK premiere tonight was by composer Helen Grime and the 2021 “It Will Be Spring Soon”. This wonderful combination of music and narrative was also performed by soprano Ruby Hughes (for whom, along with Malin Broman, this work was originally written).
The final work this evening by Finnish composer Rautavaara, “Cantus Articus Op 61” from 1972 was on of this concert’s real surprises for me. This was both an introduction to a new composer and a new work of music, and the three movements, The Bog, Melancholy, and Swans Migrating were simply magical and evocative in very different ways.
This is sadly the last of the SCO’s current programming with Pekka Kuusisto, and I hope that this innovative director of music returns soon as his vision to both unite the many connective strands of folk and classical music and do it in a way that endears him to his audiences is much needed.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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