Music CLASSICAL & OPERA
Edinburgh Chapter House Singers: Duruflé and Haydn St Mary’s Cathedral, 23 Palmerston Place, 225 6293. 7pm. £10 (children free). Amateur choir performs Duruflé’s Requiem and Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass. Edinburgh Bach Choir: Haydn – The Creation Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). Haydn’s oratorio features Emma Morwood (soprano), Chris Elliott (tenor) and Henry Herford (bass), with the Scottish Sinfonia and Neil Mantle conducting. Jubilo: A Choral Cocktail – Sacred to Secular St Columba’s Parish Church, Hillhouse Road Blackhall, 07788 757297. 7.30pm. £5. Choral benefit concert. Walter Thomson conducts, with John Willmett on piano. Dundee City of Discovery Charity Concert
Caird Hall, City Square, 01382 434940. 7.30pm. £17.50–£22.50. Nicola Benedetti and Laura McGhee headline with some popular classics.
Sunday 5 Glasgow FREE Festival Sung Eucharist St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 337 2862. 10.30am. Music by Croft and Finzi. West End Festival. RSAMD Piano Festival: Sunday Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10.50 (£7.50). Five pianos! Five! Elliot Schwartz is among the featured composers. FREE Live Music in the Bandstand Mugdock Country Park, Craigallian Road, Milngavie, 956 6100. 2–3pm. See Sun 29. RSNO Chamber Series: Four, Five and Six St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 337 2862.
2.30pm. £12 (under 26s £5; under 16s free). See Sun 29. West End Festival. Amici Winds: Family Concert Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 3pm. £8 (£4). Works by Arnold, Johann Strauss, Dvorák, Debussy, Bizet and others. West End Festival. FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3–3.45pm. See Sun 29. Land of Lehár Kelvin Stevenson Memorial Church, Belmont Street, 339 1750. 3pm & 7.30pm. £8 (£6). Frothy Viennese fun. West End Festival. Fejes Quartet Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 6pm. £8 (£4). Snarly chamber masterpieces by Bartók and Beethoven. West End Festival. FREE Choral Evensong St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 337 2862. 6.30pm. Music by Howells and Finzi. West End Festival. Glasgow Phoenix Choir – The Glory of Song St Peter’s RC Church, 46 Hyndland Street, westendfestival.co.uk 7.30pm. £7.50. Gala concert celebrating 110 years since the founding of the Choir’s predecessor, the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. West End Festival. FREE Glasgow International Organ Festival 2011 Choral Concert Glasgow University Chapel, University Avenue, 330 4092. 8pm. Pieces by Vaughan Williams and Parry, plus a new commission. West End Festival.
Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: Pistons and Pipes St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Music by Eben, Jackson, Messiaen, MacMillan and Grier on trumpet and organ.
✽✽ Edinburgh Royal Choral Union Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155.
7.30pm. £5. Choral works by Beethoven and Haydn with the Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra. Monday 6
Glasgow FREE Paragon Ensemble: Waka Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1pm. Works for wind, including a new Maxwell Geddes quintet. West End Festival. RSAMD Piano Festival: Sinae Lee RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £6.50 (£4.50). Korean-born pianist explores Liszt. Edinburgh Quartet Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 6pm. £8 (£4). Quartets by Thomas Wilson and Shostakovich (the awesomely flinty No 8). West End Festival. Edinburgh FREE Noisy Nights Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 228 1404. 8pm. Sociable evening of new music, played (this month) on electric guitar, electric violin and electric cello.
Tuesday 7 Glasgow Lunchtime Concert with Arctic Winds Lansdowne Church, 416 Great Western Road, westendfestival.co.uk 1pm. £5. Classics for wind quintet by Danzi, Shostakovich and others. West End Festival. Guitar Fusion Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 552 3489. 1.15pm. £4. Peter Argondizza (guitar) plays work by Berio and Mackey, plus jazz standards. Da Vinci Trio Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 6pm. £8 (£4). Piano trios by Shostakovich and Schubert. West End Festival. FREE Francis Jackson Glasgow University Chapel, University Avenue, 330 4092. 7.30pm. Distinguished composer and organist plays music including his own Op 16. RSAMD Guitar Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £3–£5. Student showcase concert.
PREVIEW KAFKA’S DIARIES SET TO MUSIC HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE: KURTAG – KAFKA FRAGMENTS The Arches, Glasgow, Tue 31 May; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 1 Jun
One of Britain’s hottest new singing talents, whether in opera or on the concert platform, 31-year-old soprano Elizabeth Watts (pictured) joins leading chamber music group Hebrides Ensemble for Kafka Fragmente by György Kurtág, an extraordinary masterpiece of the 20th century. Almost an hour in length, the piece is made up of tiny fragments of texts from Kafka’s diaries and letters. The Hungarian composer’s genius for aphoristic, terse writing is well known, and nowhere more so than in Fragmente. The 40 short movements for voice and violin are, says Watts,
‘eclectic, mysterious and very beautiful in places, even though they are atonal. It’s almost impossibly difficult. At one point, the score’s instruction is to sing “nein! nein!” at the highest pitch you can manage. It depends on which day it is, but it could be a top G.’ At the other end, Watts has to sing an E below middle C, the lowest note in her range.
Never performed in Scotland before, the settings might be just a few seconds long, or a few minutes. ‘It’s very intense,’ says Watts, ‘and all about the inner psyche but not necessarily abstract. Some of Kafka’s writing seems abstract, but it also has a fundamental meaning.’ One example is ‘someone tugged on my coat and I shook it off’. ‘That’s actually very picturesque in Kurtag’s music,’ says Watts. She likens the piece to a modern art installation. ‘Everyone has the common experience of psychological exploration but everyone takes something different away.’ For Watts, whose undergraduate degree was a first in archaeology, studying music with the intensity demanded by Fragmente is testing her too. ‘It may sound a little like pseuds corner, but being locked away for hours working on this music is teaching me things about myself I don’t think I’d have known otherwise.’ (Carol Main)
124 THE LIST 26 May–23 Jun 2011
Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Chamber Choir Pro Musica from Gothenburg, Sweden.
Wednesday 8
Glasgow FREE WEF Music at Glasgow University: Masayuki Hirahara Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1pm. Piano works by Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Lloyd Webber. West End Festival. Daniel’s Beard: Messiaen and Krasa Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 6pm. £8 (£4). Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le fun du temps and Tanec by tragic Czech composer Hans Krása. West End Festival. Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Choral music from Gradualekor Langholtskirkju of Reykjavik.
Thursday 9
Glasgow FREE University of Glasgow BMus Fourth Years Summer Lunchtime Recital Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. Final year students accompanied by Claire Haslin. West End Festival. Daniel’s Beard: West End Heritage Concert Cottier Theatre, 93–95 Hyndland Street, 0844 395 4000. 6pm. £8 (£4). Works by Glasgow composer Thomas Wilson and friends. West End Festival. Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Benet Academy Choir and Band from Lisle, Illinois.
Friday 10
Glasgow StringFest: The Brodsky Quartet RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10.50 (£7.50). The outgoing International Fellows in String Quartet enlist Robert Irvine on cello for Schubert’s Quintet in C Major Op 163. StringFest: New Instruments Collection RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 2.30pm. £6.50 (£4.50). Dvorák’s Sextet performed by the Csengele Quartet, Scott Dickinson and Martin Storey, plus a performance by winners of the 2011 Mabel Glover Quartet Competition. StringFest Evening Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 5.30pm. £7 (£5). Works by Halvorsen, Schumann, Haydn, Frank Bridge and Villa Lobos plus Shostakovich’s tragic Piano Trio No 2. An Evening of Popular Classics St Bride’s Episcopal Church, 69 Hyndland Road, westendfestival.co.uk 7.30pm. £7 (£4). The YMCA Glasgow Wind Orchestra plays light music. West End Festival. Glasgow Gaelic Choir Kibble Palace, Glasgow Botanic Gardens 730 Great Western Road, 334 2422. 7.45pm. By donation. An evening of song conducted by Kenneth Thomson. West End Festival. Edinburgh Romantic Ensemble St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 8pm. £5. Brahms’ Clarinet Trio and Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet performed by young Edinburgh chamber musicians.
Saturday 11 Glasgow StringFest: Chamber music by Czech composers RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 5pm. £7 (£5). Works by Dvorák and Janácek. Glasgow Chamber Choir: Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass Hyndland Parish Church,