The McPherson Recital Room in St Andrews’ Laidlaw Music Centre is an astonishing space, somewhat hiding its light under a bushel by calling itself a room. It is a beautiful, acoustically brilliant, soaring hall.
The stage is not overly high, so if, like me, you sit in the front row, you are only a few feet away from the performers. Whilst waiting for them to come on stage, you can hear them tuning up.
You can only wonder at the beauty of the ‘room’ and daydream about hearing the Steinway grand, nestled in the corner, being played—perhaps by one of Scotland’s finest musicians, perhaps by an up-and-coming student. This space feels accessible in all senses of the word, and if you’ve not been, get yourself along there: the programme for the rest of the year is wide-ranging and tantalising.
Scottish Ensemble Review: The ‘Between Light and Shadow’ Tour
The Scottish Ensemble, based in Glasgow, was founded in 1969 and has always had high ambition. It comprises only twelve members, and as it says on their website, “Scottish Ensemble belongs everywhere and nowhere. The whole of Scotland is ours, but we also reach listeners here and everywhere through digital projects.” It is a very modern take on what an orchestra is or should be.
The Ensemble travels far and wide, records often, collaborates across genres you’d hardly imagine, and appears to know no limits. It also nurtures rising talent. This is all hugely to its credit, and ‘Between Light and Shadow’ is part of an annual concept which allows four musicians—a string quartet, of course—to get back to basics and take their music on the road into some smaller and more far-flung venues.
The programme ranged from Mozart to Beethoven, with two very modern pieces by Caroline Shaw in between. The musicians were not introduced, nor was there a programme to refer to, but I believe the principal violin was Jonathan Morton, the Ensemble’s Artistic Director and Leader, with Cheryl Crocket (violin) and Jane Atkins (viola).
Whilst waiting for them to come on stage, you can hear them tuning up. You can only wonder at the beauty of the ‘room’ and daydream about hearing the Steinway grand, nestled in the corner, being played…
The Ensemble has just lost its long-standing principal cellist, Alison Lawrance, and my apologies to the cellist whose name I have been unable to unearth. Hands up, I’m a huge cello fan and was enchanted by the range of sensitivity and brio demonstrated here.
Mozart’s String Quartet No. 14: A ‘Spring’ Masterpiece
Mozart’s String Quartet No. 14 in G Major (‘Spring’) was a joy on this sunny, blue-sky St Andrews afternoon. Heavily influenced by and dedicated to Haydn, Mozart was almost 30 when he wrote this. On hearing ‘Spring’ for the first time, Haydn wrote to Mozart’s father: “…your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.”
Quite the accolade from the “father of the string quartet.” Morton commended the piece for allowing all four members of the quartet to shine, rather than the principal violin getting all the glory. This was indeed the case, and it was very evident that all four members of the quartet revelled in their colleagues’ playing as much as in their own. Heavily influenced by Haydn as it is, ‘Spring’ is definitely very much ‘Mozart’ and very accessible.
Caroline Shaw’s ‘Echo’ and ‘Ruby’: Contemporary Classical Music
Caroline Shaw’s Second and Third Essays—‘Echo’ and ‘Ruby’—were a complete contrast. Shaw is a young, award-winning American composer of contemporary classical music. She is a violinist and singer, too. As with the Scottish Ensemble, Shaw works across different genres and collaborates widely, “trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed” (carolineshaw.com).
These pieces were sometimes difficult and almost always beautiful but, I think, divided the audience somewhat. They were played before the interval, so there was plenty of time for an exchange of opinion before the Beethoven of the second half. Instruments were played differently from anything I’ve heard before, so Caroline succeeded in her goal, for me at least, and I loved that.
I’m still wondering how some of the sounds were produced and whether any instrument was harmed in the process. I’m sure none were. These pieces weren’t to everyone’s taste, to be sure, but I bet they’ll still be telling their friends about it even more than the jaunty Mozart and complex Beethoven. And as ‘Echo’ is partly a response to the self-perpetuating nature of social media, that seems very fitting.
Beethoven’s ‘Razumovsky’ Quartet: A Stirring Finale
So, on to the Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2, ‘Razumovsky’. What a contrast, and yet a beautiful transition from the first half. It is grand and stirring, challenging the musicians to go full pelt (hence my reference to the cellist’s ‘brio’ earlier), and yet with such lyrical beauty in there, too.
These pieces weren’t to everyone’s taste, to be sure, but I bet they’ll still be telling their friends about it even more than the jaunty Mozart and complex Beethoven.
There are “Russian” melodies—an homage to the commissioner of the piece, the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky. Morton explained that Beethoven was allegedly inspired to write the second movement while contemplating the starry night sky. The Russian theme is evident in the second part of the third movement.
Perhaps Beethoven didn’t like the Ambassador much or had had a falling-out at some point along the way, as the movement clashes and bangs its way along in a manner that seems before its time, in a very twentieth-century fashion. But all is resolved again in the jaunty Finale, though strangely it starts in C major and ends in E minor. What was Beethoven trying to tell us, I wonder?
I loved this programme and the variation it encapsulated. What a joy to know Spring shone bright in the Laidlaw Music Centre for at least one day in March.
Featured Image: Scottish Ensemble Quartet at Laidlaw – Pic Viktoria Begg
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