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Love Festival Theatre, 13/29 ✽✽ Scottish Opera: The Elixir of Nicolson Street, 529 6000. 7.15pm. £14–£62. See Sun 22.
Friday 27
Glasgow ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Homecoming City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £11–£24 (concessions available). See preview, page 81. Part of St Andrew’s Day 09. FREE Sound Thought 2009 Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, The Square, off University Avenue, 7.30pm. The third annual interdisciplinary showcase of music postgraduates’ research. Edinburgh ■ Scottish Opera: The Italian Girl in Algiers Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street, 529 6000. 7.15pm. £14–£62. See Sat 21. ■ A Concert for the Sea Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). A concert in aid of the Marine Conservation Society, featuring works by Vivaldi, Elgar and Massenet. ■ Edinburgh University Music Society Sinfonia Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 7.30pm. £6 (£4). Nicholas Fletcher conducts Dvorák’s merry, Bohemian Symphony No 8, Edward Harper’s Chanson Minimale and Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad.
Saturday 28 Glasgow FREE Sound Thought 2009 Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 2pm and evening. See Fri 27. ✽✽ RSNO: A St Andrew’s Day Party with Phil and Aly Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£32 (concessions available). Scotland’s two most celebrated traditional musicians rejoin the RSNO. Also with 15-times world champions, the House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band. John Logan conducts.
Edinburgh ■ Scottish Opera: The Elixir of Love Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street, 529 6000. 7.15pm. £14–£62. With a pre-show talk, audio description and touch tour at 6pm. See Sun 22. ■ Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 2251900. 7.30pm. £8 (£3–£5). A maritime theme with Bridge’s The Sea and Debussy’s La Mer, and also featuring soloist Katrine Townhill in Elgar’s song cycle Sea Pictures. ■ Edinburgh University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus St Mary’s Cathedral, 23 Palmerston Place, 225 6293. 7.30pm. £8 (£5). Orff’s Carmina Burana opens this concert, which also features Borodin’s Symphony No 2. ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Homecoming The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £8.50–£26 (concessions available). See Fri 27. ■ The Open Orchestra Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate. 7.30pm. Retiring collection. Bizet’s overture to Carmen, followed by the Piano Concerto No 2 by Saint-Saëns and Rimsky Korsakov’s popular Scheherazade.
Sunday 29
Zehetmair and Ruth Killius Glasgow ✽✽ The Bohemians: Thomas City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 3pm. £12. The International Concert Series continues its Bohemian theme with violinist Zehetmair and violist Killius, in a performance of works including Drei Skizzen by contemporary composer Heinz Holliger, Martinu’s Madrigale.
82 THE LIST 19 Nov–3 Dec 2009
FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3pm. See Sun 22. ■ Handel: Saul Bute Hall, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, 330 5522. 7.30pm. £9 (£6). The Dunedin Consort & Players and the Glasgow University Choral Society & Chapel Choir conducted by John Butt. With soloists Susan Hamilton, Emma Harper, Tim Travers-Brown, Simon Wall and Brian Bannatyne.
Scotland Usher Hall, Lothian Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: Organ Recital St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. Chris Bragg performs music by JS Bach, Verdin, Franck and Mendelssohn. ✽✽ BBC SSO: A History of Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £15. The BBC SSO plays music from the TV series A History of Scotland, with guest appearances from Eddi Reader, McIntosh Ross and God Help the Girl. ■ Meadows Chamber Orchestra The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.45pm. £10 (concessions available). Alexander Janiczek is director and soloist in two Bach violin concertos, the first and third Brandenburg Concertos, Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for String Orchestra and the rarely heard Concertino for 12 Instruments.
Monday 30 Perth FREE Scottish Ensemble: Lunchtime Concert Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 1pm. £7–£10.50 (£6–£9.50). Some Mozart and Beethoven to get you through the afternoon.
Tuesday 1
Glasgow ■ RSAMD Students Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 548 2558. 1.15pm. £4. String music. Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and pianist Margaret Murray McLeod perform works by Purcell, Butterworth, John McLeod and Haydn.
Wednesday 2
Glasgow ■ Ludus Baroque: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 668 2019. 6.30pm. £25. Richard Neville-Towle directs the annual performance of Bach’s sacred masterpiece. Featuring soloists Augusta Hebbert, Robin Blaze, Ed Lyon and William Berger. A post-concert reception follows. ✽✽ Ryuichi Sakamoto The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7pm. £26. See preview, page 64.
Thursday 3 Glasgow FREE Lunchtime Concert Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. Percussionist Heather Corbett gives a concert of solo works plus a few Christmassy pieces. ■ BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Bohemian Rhapsodies 4 City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7pm. £10–£23 (£8–£21). American pianist Garrick Ohlsson joins conductor Ilan Volkov and for the last in the Bohemian Rhapsodies series. Martinu’s Piano Concerto No 4 (‘Incantations’) is given a rare performance, along with Dvorak’s Legends. Janacek’s bold, brassy Sinfonietta provides a climactic finale.
PREVIEW CLASSICAL SCO HOMECOMING CONCERT City Halls, Glasgow, Fri 27 Nov; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Nov
As Scotland’s Year of Homecoming draws to a close, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra pays tribute to three of the country’s finest composers with a special focus on Edward Harper who died earlier this year. In the world premiere performance of the complete version of his Symphony No 2, the orchestra is finally able to play all of the work they had originally intended to programme more than three years ago.
Interrupted by terminal cancer while in the process of its composition,
Harper hadn’t completed the first movement when medical treatment intervened. ‘He knew he had cancer when he was writing it,’ says close friend and fellow composer Lyell Cresswell, ‘but he became too ill to make a start on the first movement. His plan was to write the beginning bits last, which is a good approach, because you can then introduce everything that is going on in the piece.’ The symphony, which includes poetry, Bible texts and parts of the Latin
Mass, focuses on two themes – the tragedy of death involving children and the hope of peace and reconciliation that can come out of such tragedy. ‘It’s the last major piece Edward wrote and very moving,’ says Cresswell. ‘It has a sense of foreboding mixed with signs of hope. There’s a kind of Englishness about it, some folk tunes, hints of Elgar. It’s a fairly tonal work and I think, in the end, Edward really found the music he wanted to write.’
The performance of Harper’s 2nd Symphony, alongside music by Kenneth Leighton and James MacMillan, replaces his intended Symphony No 3, Homage to Robert Burns, which was only in outline sketches when Harper died. Cresswell is now working on its completion for inclusion in the SCO’s season next year. ‘It is a very touching thing for me to do’, he says, ‘and my aim is to make it work.’ (Carol Main)
Edinburgh ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: On an Overgrown Path The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £8.50–£26 (concessions available). A second chance to hear David Matthews’ orchestration of Janácek’s piano miniatures – composed for the SCO for the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival. André de Ridder conducts this plus Mozart’s Symphony in D major K 320 (‘Posthorn’) and Schubert’s Symphony No 4 (‘Tragic’). ■ Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 7.45pm. £7 (£4). David Seers directs a concert of music for Advent.