MUSIC LIST
The Flying Dutchman. Glasgow 21
and 26 Feb, 4 March; Edinburgh 17 and 20 March.
The Marriage oi Figaro, Glasgow 27 Feb, 3 and 7 March; Edinburgh 18 and 21 March.
For the story at The Flying Dutchman, Wagner looked to myth and legend as representative of the workings oi the non-rational world.
John Cox’s production tinds an unreal atmosphere at misty ambivalence lor its staging. When the two ships (one cursed, one tree) meet in the iirst act, we see only one, the undoomed ship oi Daland, with its very corporeal, beer-drinking crew. Gradually we understand that we, the audience by implication and by our silence, are in tact the ghostly ship oi the Flying Dutchman. It’s not an idea which is totallythoughtthrough, however, and doesn’t comment very etiectively on the story.
Norman Bailey is a line darkly brooding Dutchman. He is a character without iree will, chained to liie until he can lind a woman who will love him iaithiully. In the meantime he is compelled to sail the seas iorever. His position is mirrored in a huge wheel which dominates the back at the stage, suggesting both a ship‘s wheel and a treadmill, like a iutile exercise wheel tor a rat in a cage. Kathryn Harries achieves a passionate Senta and iinds the centre at the single-mindedness
SCOTTISH OPERA
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which makes her sacrifice for the Dutchman so determined.
The ending however feels a little clumsy and perhaps ambiguous in its imagery. When Senta and the Flying Dutchman meet in death, a huge red banner, the colour at his ship’s sails, hovers above them. It tliere is also a polemical intent here it isn’t a climax which comes oi the interpretation, and as a result seems rather contused.
The drama is thoroughly absorbed into the music in Mozart’s The Marriage oi Figaro, and Graeme Jenkins as conductor makes this delightfully apparent. The orchestra
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tully articulates each change oi mood and John Byrne's design completes and complements this deiinition. His Renaissance-inspired sets are not only elegant but give space and structure to the action. ForAct3, when Figaro’s parentage is iinally resolved, the scene movesto the symmetry oi a triple-windowed chamber where all is ordered and balanced. This delicate lightness ottouch is picked up in the performance, with Joan Rodgers iull oi verve and wit as Susanna, while Bill McCue made Don Basilio's ‘gitt tor elegant malice’ particularly engaging. (Sally Kinnes)
performance from the Edinburgh Quartet. Opening their programme is Beethoven‘s Op 74. The Harp.
0 Edinburgh Secondary Schools Orchestra Music Hall. Assembly Rooms. George Street. Tickets: 229 9166 ext 2176(Mrs Kinghorn). 7.30pm. £1 (50p). This talented group ofyoung people from Edinburgh perform the music from West Side Story by Bernstein and Shostakovich‘s Concerto for Piano and Trumpet.
0 Piano Recital Dalkeith Arts Centre. Buccleuch Street. Dalkcith. 6636986. 8pm.£2.25 (£1.75) Margaret McLeod plays sonatas by Scarlatti. Mozart. Beethoven (Pathetique) plus 12 Preludes by John McLeod. Mendelssohn‘s Rondo Capriccioso and Songs Without Words.
WEDNESDAY 25 . Glasgow
0 From the House oi the Dead Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234.
7. 15pm. Extra dates: Sat 28. Mon 2. Thurs 5 (Glasgow) and 19 March (Edinburgh). L‘s—£19. The fifth and last of the cycle ofJanacek operas produced jointly for Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera by David Pountney. See panel.
0 Marriage oi Figaro Athenaeum Theatre. RSAM D. Buchanan Street.3324101. 7.15pm. Extra date: Fri 27. Free from Academy General Office. Nelson Mandela Place. See Mon 23 for full description.
0 Concert Kilmardinny House Arts
Centre. 50 Kilmardinny Avenue. Bearsden. 943 1312. 7.30pm. A musical evening in aid ofcharity. This time proceeds go to UNICEF. O Concert'l‘he Martyrs‘ Church. St James‘ Road. Tickets at door. 8pm. 75p. Strathclyde University Chorus and Chamber Orchestra under conductor Alan Tavener perform music in a lighter vein.
0 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 350 Centre. BBC Queen Margaret Drive. Tickets free from Reception. BBC, Queen Margaret Drive or sae to Room 209. 7.30pm. A truly classical concert with Mozart's Overture to la Clemenza di Tito and Haydn’s Symphony No 96.
Edinburgh
0 Edinburgh Quartet Queen's Hall. Clerk Street. Tickets: 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £4/£2.75. Quartets by Beethoven (F major Op 18 No 1). Dvorak (G major Op 106) and Borodin (No 2), the one with the luscious slow movement.
THURSDAY 26
Glasgow
0 Lunchtime Recital Concert Hall. Glasgow University. Free at door. 1.15pm. French music for two bass viols and continuo by Couperin. Saint-Colombe and Marin Marais. Music for harpsichord by Forqueray. o The Flying Dutchman Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.15pm. Extra dates: Wed 4 (Glasgow) and 17, 20 March (Edinburgh). £3—£ 19. See Sat 21 for full description.
O Macbeth Tron Theatre. 63 Trongate. 552 4267. 7.30pm. £4 (£3/£l ). Scottish Opera Go Round continue taking their small scale production ofMacbeth to the parts that other opera companies just cannot even try to reach. Last chance to see it in Glasgow before it travels the length of the country.
0 3N0 City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5961. 7.30pm. Extra dates: Fri 27 Edinburgh and Sat 28 Glasgow. £2—£9. Ravel's famous Pavane and Berlioz‘s Symphonie Fantastique conducted by Matthias Bamert. Christina Ortiz plays Rachmaninoy‘s Rhapsody On A Theme O f Paganini in the Glasgow Herald Th ursday concert. but she‘s replaced by Bernadette Greevy (mezzo-sporano) for Mahler‘s Kindertotenlieder in Edinburgh and Glasgow on the 27th and 28th.
Edinburgh
0 Edinburgh University Madrigal Group Reid Concert Hall. Teviot Row. Bristo Square. Tickets: 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £3 (£2). Professor Michael 'l‘ilmouth directs his young singers in Music Of'l‘he Chapels Royal.
FRIDAY 27 Glasgow
0 Marriage of Figaro Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.15pm. Extra dates: Tue 3. Sat 7 (mat. Glasgow) and 18. 21 March (Edinburgh). £3—£19. Mozart‘s delightful opera in John Cox‘s production see for the first time last year. See panel for review.
0 Marriage of Figaro Athenaeum Theatre. RSAMD, Buchanan Street. 332 4101. 7.15pm. Free from Academy General Office, Nelson Mandela Place. See Mon 23 for full description.
0 Midday Concert Stevenson Hall, RSAMD. Nelson Mandela Place, 332 4101. 1pm. Free at door. The
first performance of a new work for two pianos by Peter Inness. Also Brahms’ Variations On A Theme By Haydn and Lutoslawski‘s Variations On A Theme By Paganini. Jean Hutchison and Jack Keaney at the keyboards.
0 Glasgow Philharmonic Choir City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5961. 7.30pm.
Edinburgh
0 Friends 01 the 8N0 Portrait Gallery, Queen Street. 041 332 7244 (SNO). 12.45pm. Free at door. The Allander Ensemble give an hour‘s worth of chamber music by Schubert.
0 Organ Recital McEwan Hall. Bristo Square. Free at door. 1.10pm. More usually seated at the organ ofSt Mary‘s Cathedral in Palmerston Place, organist Dennis Townhill takes a trip to Edinburgh University with a programme of works by J. S. Bach and Kenneth Leighton.
O 8N0 Usher Hall, Lothian Road. 228 1155. 7.30pm. Extra date: Sat 28. £2—£8.8(). See Thurs 26 for full description.
. ' RDAY 28
Glasgow
0 From the House oi the Dead Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.15pm. Extra dates: Mon 2. Thurs 5 (Glasgow) and 19 March (Edinburgh). £3—£l9. See Wed 25 for full description.
0 3N0 City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5861. 7.30pm. £2—£9. See Thurs 26 for full description.
Edinburgh
0 Winds at Edinburgh Reid Concert Hall. Teviot Row. Bristo Square. 229 9882. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£2). Not quite blustcring March windsjust yet. but the rather more welcome Mozart‘s Serenade for 13 Wind and with a few strings from Scottish Sinfonia. Wagner‘s Siegfried Idyll and Schoenberg‘s Chamber Symphony. Neil Mantle conducts. 0 Society at Recorder Players St Cecilia‘s Hall. Cowgate. Tickets at door. 7.30pm. The annual concert of this unusual Edinburgh SOCiCIy-
SUNDAY 1
Glasgow
0 Good Shepherd Chorus Henry Wood Hall. Claremont Street. 552 5961 (Ticket Centre) or 943 0256 (Mr Fields). 8pm. £2.50. Handel‘s The King Shall Rejoice and Rossini‘s Stabat Mater are two of the works in this concert in aid ofthe Musicians’ Benevolent Fund. Giving their services free ofcharge are soloists Maria and Claire Moll. John Oakman. lan Caddy and conductors Glyn Bragg and Richard Honner.
Edinburgh
0 Clementi Company St Cecilia's Hall. Cowgate. Tickets: 228 1 155 (Usher
24 The List 21) Feb — 5 March