www.list.co.uk/music
Hebrides Overture, and culminating in a performance of Orff’s bawdy, theatrical Carmina Burana. ■ Sospiro St Michael and All Saints’ Church, Brougham Street, Tollcross. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). New Edinburgh based baroque ensemble presents Grand Tour, a panorama of European baroque music in four concerts. In the first, they visit England with Handel’s Let God Arise and William Boyce’s Symphony No 1. France, Italy and Germany to follow over May, June and August. Tickets available at the door. Dundee ■ Dundee Symphony Orchestra Concert Caird Hall, City Square, 01382 434940. 7.30pm. £10 (£8; students £5; accompanied under 16s free). Robert Dick conducts the orchestra through Schubert’s Symphony No 9 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 2.
Glenrothes ■ Glenrothes Choral Society Spring Concert Rothes Halls, Kingdom Centre, 01592 757600. 7.30pm. £7 (£6). The choir performs works by Gounod and Puccini. Linlithgow ■ Red Priest: Johann, I’m Only Dancing! Linlithgow Academy Theatre, Braehead Road, 01506 844645. 7.30pm. £8 (£4–£7). It’s not often that an early music group draws comparison with the likes of the Rolling Stones or Jackson Pollock, but this vibrantly imaginative foursome has done just that. Here the ensemble performs arrangements of music by Bach for recorders, harpsichord, violin and cello.
Perth ■ Perth Choral Society Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 7.30pm. £12. A choral performance from the local society of Dvorak’s Requiem, with accompaniment from the Angus Chamber Orchestra. Monday 29
Glasgow FREE The Edinburgh Quartet Eastwood Park Theatre, Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. Noon. A lunchtime concert which includes a short piece by pupils from St Ninians High School after their masterclass with the quartet. ■ East Dunbartonshire Schools String Orchestra and Ensemble RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). A programme of music by Dvorák, Bach and Sibelius. ■ European Chamber Players Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, The Square, off University Avenue. 7.30pm. £10 (£5; children free). Formed from a group of Europe’s finest young musicians, the European Chamber Players visit Glasgow for a performance of chamber works by Schubert and Brahms. See www.gla.ac.uk/events
Tuesday 30 Glasgow ■ East Dunbartonshire Schools Concert Band, Percussion and Wind Ensembles RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). A programme of music by Stuart, Johnson and Bruce Fraser.
Classical Music
Thursday 1
Edinburgh ■ NYOS: Camerata Scotland The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £2–£10. See Wed 31. Perth ■ Scottish Ensemble Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 7.30pm.
£12–£14.50. The ensemble joins forces with chamber choir Tenebrae, with award-winning music theatre pioneers Cryptic providing visuals, in a concert that opens with the Scottish premiere of Nigel Osborne’s Seven Words, Seven Icons, Seven Cities, followed by John Tavener’s Tears of the Angel and James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross.
PREVIEW CLASSICAL JACQUES LOUSSIER TRIO City Halls, Glasgow, Sun 21 Mar
Sunday 28 Wednesday 31
Armstrong City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow ✽✽ James Ehnes With Andrew 353 8000. 3pm. £12. Grammy award- winner James Ehnes is among the top violinists in the world today, and is here joined by pianist Andrew Armstrong. Schumann’s passionate Violin Sonata in a minor is followed by Bach’s Partita No 3 for Solo Violin, and finally a brilliant, virtuosic finish with Beethoven’s celebrated ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata. FREE Organ Recital Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3pm. With music from Stuart Campbell. ■ Junior Academy Orchestra Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £9 (£6). Christopher Adey conducts some talented young musicians.
Edinburgh ■ St Giles’ at Six St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. St Giles’ Cathedral Choir performs Duruflé’s Requiem for Passiontide.
Glasgow ■ East Dunbartonshire Schools Concert Band, Percussion and Wind Ensembles RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). See Tue 30.
Edinburgh ■ Edinburgh Quartet Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 7.30pm. £12 (£2–£8). String quartets by Mozart, Shostakovich and MacMillan. ■ St Mary’s Music School Concert St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmerston Place, 538 7766. 7.30pm. £9 (£3–£6). Holy Week concert involving all 72 pupils at St Mary’s and featuring James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross along with music by Bach and Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto. Dundee ■ High School of Dundee Spring Concert Caird Hall, City Square, 01382 434940. 7pm. £6 (£3). Spring concert featuring the choirs and orchestras of the junior and senior schools.
Nestling among the classical superstar line-up of pianist Joanna MacGregor, Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey and violinist James Ehnes, who appear in Glasgow’s International Classical Season to celebrate the music of JS Bach, there’s a name that doesn’t at first glance fit the mould. It’s the Jacques Loussier Trio who are renowned for their brilliant jazz improvisations rather than a more traditional classical approach. Behind the Romantic Bach series is Lindsay Pell, BBC Scotland senior producer, who says, ‘Basically, I wanted to put together four high profile concerts centred on Bach, but looking at his music in a slightly different way. Lots of work has been done on period performance, but it has always struck me that people have never stopped playing Bach on a grand piano, so it seemed that we should also look at Bach through a post-Romantic eye.’
Loussier, who is 76 this year, first created his original Play Bach Trio way back in 1959. It was astonishingly successful. Taking Bach’s compositions as a base for jazz improvisation, their most famous recording is undoubtedly Air on a G String which was used for more than 35 years as the tune accompanying Hamlet cigar ads. ‘Loussier is an iconic figure of the 70s,’ says Lindsay Pell, ‘but we’ve got
a very good relationship with him these days through our Jazz Line-Up programme, and when we were chatting about the Bach series, the idea of Loussier came up and he was a perfect fit.’ Loussier’s original trio broke up in 1978, but he reformed it 300 years after Bach’s birth in 1985. ‘He strikes a chord with everybody,’ says Lindsay Pell, ‘as he’s such a high quality, instinctive musician that you just sit back and relax. It’s a rare chance to hear him, especially in this slightly unusual context.’ (Carol Main)
Never been to the opera? Try it for free. Get a taster at La bohème Unwrapped where the orchestra, singers and back-stage crew introduce you to the plot, characters and music and let you in on some behind-the-scenes secrets.
Mon 19 Apr 6-7pm | Festival Theatre Edinburgh scottishopera.org.uk
18 Mar–1 Apr 2010 THE LIST 81