Blog
Andrew Staples on Beethoven's Mass in C
Tenor Andrew Staples joins the SCO and SCO Chorus for Beethoven’s Mass in C, with conductor Louis Langrée and fellow soloists Elena Xanthoudakis, Jurgita Adamonyte and Alastair Miles in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 2 and 3 February. We caught up with Andrew to find out more...
Beethoven’s Mass in C is often overshadowed by the much grander Missa Solemnis – how do you feel the two works compare to one another?
This piece owes much to the traditions established by Haydn and, in passages, is reminiscent of works like the Nelson Mass and the Theresienmesse… This work blazes a trail that allows for the composition of grander, more complicated and demanding music that breaks the boundaries of the Classical style.
A major role is given to the chorus rather than the soloists – how does this affect your approach?
As a soloist in this piece you have to adapt your singing for a variety of styles within the same piece. There are sections of straightforward solo voice and orchestra, for instance the Gloria. There are sections of ensemble singing with the other soloists, which require a blended, nuanced and a more adaptable corporate choral approach - like the Benedictus. ...From the other point of view, the chorus role is demanding and requires a large range of colour and vocal agility. This piece is very much a team effort.
Do you have a favourite operatic role? Is there a role that you would love to perform but haven’t had the opportunity as yet?
I have been having a lot of fun playing Tamino in The Magic Flute recently: he gets some good tunes but he's a bit of a goody-goody. I sang Rodolfo in La Bohème a few years ago and that felt like 'proper opera'. It would be fun to play some darker characters, but these are normally given to baritones or women. Peter Quint in Turn of the Screw and perhaps even Peter Grimes one day would be exciting.
What is the most interesting costume you’ve had to wear for a performance?
I had a good one at the Royal Opera House recently that involved me shaving my head and being strapped into an exoskeleton, complete with wide panniered purple skirt and six inch heels. It was quite a look…
Do you have any pre-performance rituals?
I noticed a while ago that on the day of a show I tend to burp more than usual. I don't know why or indeed if this is helpful, but be warned Edinburgh…
Exploring the Music of Ligeti
SCO Connect welcomed Dr Michael Searby to Edinburgh for an Explore day focussed on the music of Ligeti. Alongside special guests Robin Ticciati and Alec Frank-Gemmill, participants learned more about his music from the performer’s perspective, and looked in detail at the Chamber Concerto and Hamburg concerto.
At the end of the day the group even had a chance to compose music like Ligeti!
The Serendipitous Horn Concerto
SCO Principal Horn Alec Frank-Gemmill performs the solo in Ligeti's Hamburg Concerto, conducted by Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati.
In this short video Alec explains why his performance of the piece was serendipitous and gives us a taste of the concerto. Catch Alec's performance on 20 January at City Halls in Glasgow and 21 January at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh.
For more Ligeti (and a touch of Brahms and Haydn), French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard appears with the SCO on 26 January at the Usher Hall and 27 January at City Halls.
Robin Ticciati explains his love for Ligeti's work in this video.
Emmanuelle Haim on In Tune
“Dynamo” conductor and harpsichordist Emmanuelle Haim joins the SCO this week with concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.
On Tuesday she spoke to BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, describing what it was like growing up with music – her parents’ flat was like “Budapest in Paris” – and the fascinating history behind the programme she will be playing with the SCO: Handel’s Water Music in D and G, Rameau’s Suite from Dardanus, and Handel’s Cantata: Delirio Amoroso, sung by soprano Camilla Tilling.
Catch it on BBC iPlayer (1.33 mins into the show).
Gingerbreadmen make a visit to the office!
To get everyone in a festive mood, the SCO staff and a few players spent a tea break icing gingerbread men. Here is a gallery of our efforts!
Season's Greetings from all at the SCO!
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Season's Greetings from the SCO
As the festive season approaches, SCO musicians wish everyone a good holiday with Ding Dong Merrily on High arranged by the late Kevin McCrae.
Here's to a joyous Christmas and best wishes for the New Year from all of us at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
If you can't watch the video please try here
Out of the Mouths of Babes
The dust may be settling after the SCO's 'Big Ears, Little Ears' pilot series of concerts for parents/carers with babies, but in the meantime we've been busy gathering the audience's reaction to the whole thing.
As part of this, we asked some audience members at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling to offer a few thoughts on camera; and we're delighted to be able to share the resulting short videos with you. Just click on any of the videos below to view. (And keep an eye out for the particularly cute sneezing baby...!)
GLASGOW
EDINBURGH
STIRLING
Richard Egarr and Bach's Christmas Oratorio
If the weather is anything to go by, it definitely feels like the run up to Christmas.
What better way to celebrate the start of the Festive Season than with the SCO's performances of Bach's wonderful Christmas Oratorio in Edinburgh and Glasgow this week (1 and 2 December).
Baroque expert Richard Egarr directs the Orchestra, SCO Chorus and a glittering array of soloists, including soprano Mhairi Lawson, and mezzo Clare Wilkinson in Cantatas 1, 3, 5 and 6, which will be sung in German.
In the short video below, he talks about the magic of Bach's choral work and returning to the SCO.
Richard Egarr's next performances with the SCO are the Baroque Greats concerts in St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow in April.
Musical Mondays
SCO Violinist David Chadwick has been working with SCO Connect on a new project: Musical Mondays
My new favourite way to spend a Monday is to have a ‘Musical Monday’ at the Scottish National Gallery. This is a new joint project from SCO Connect and the National Galleries of Scotland, enjoying the inexhaustible cross-fertilisation between art and music.
At 10am, with today’s P6 class from Juniper Green Primary School itching to get started, our session kicks off with a walk through the gallery to the two paintings we are to focus on, Nasmyth’s A View of Tantallon Castle with the Bass Rock and William McTaggart’s The Storm. Paula and Rosie from the National Galleries lead us on an adventure into the paintings, immediately sparking 30 young imaginations. I’ve probably spent several hours looking at these two paintings by now but still with each session I discover more, thanks to Paula and Rosie, not to mention today’s P6 class. Throughout, Paula and Rosie ask us to describe how the scenes might feel and sound, providing fuel for the next part of the session.
Then it’s time for some music-making. After a brilliant body-percussion warm-up (my co-ordination is slowly improving...) with Jo Fenna and a quick demo of my violin, we set out to learn how Beethoven went about depicting a storm in his Pastoral Symphony. Next, we split up into five small groups, each tasked with a different aspect of the McTaggart Storm upon which to base a short piece. Armed with selections from the vast array of SCO Connect percussion instruments as well as more body-percussion of course, our five groups set about creating a soundscape (or perhaps I should say stormscape).
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Soon it is time to come back together to whip up an impressive musical storm in the gallery. We have musical representations of accelerating heartbeats, flashes of lightning and deep rumbles of thunder, the boat creaks and splinters, the wind howls and the sea rages. Whirly tubes fly above heads, ocean drums roll and feet stamp – in each group, the narrative is as convincing as in Richard Strauss.
Each group appoints one amongst their number to be the conductor and it is wonderful to see each brand-new conductor coming up with their own method of starting and stopping, as well as communicating changes in tempo and dynamics through gesture. What a talented bunch!
So, if you’re in the Scottish National Gallery on a Monday and hear a rumble of thunder but the sky outside is blue, chances are it’s a Musical Monday.
Leon Fleisher - Keyboard Titan Part Two
Legendary American pianist Leon Fleisher joins the SCO this week for a programme of Mozart and Beethoven, which marks his UK conducting debut. He is joined by his protégé, Nicholas Angelich, for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 2 at the concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Fleisher talks about his amazing career, and the disease which almost brought it to an abrupt end, in this interview which was broadcast on the US PBS Newshour in July.
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