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CL@SIX: The Lark Ascending
Tonight, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will perform one of Britain’s favourite pieces of classical music in a concert directed by SCO Associate Artist Alexander Janiczek. Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending has been voted by listeners as their favourite piece of classical music in the Classic FM Hall of Fame for four years running (2007-2010).
This well-loved piece took the composer six years to perfect. Inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the same name about a skylark, The Lark Ascending was written first as a duet for violin and piano in 1914. Williams later rewrote it for violin and small orchestra, and it was first performed in this form in 1921 by English violinist Marie Hall. It is this orchestral version that is most frequently heard and loved by listeners.
The piece was recently the focus of a BBC documentary, exploring its enduring popularity. Watch this short excerpt to see violinist Tasmin Little explain the challenges the piece presents to players and the power it has to move audiences.
CL@SIX: The Lark Ascending will be performed tonight at St Cuthbert’s Parish Church Edinburgh, alongside the Overture from Mendelssohn’s operetta Son and Stranger. Schubert’s Symphony No 5 completes the programme.
Lars Vogt in Serenade
Pianist Lars Vogt is joining SCO Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati for concerts in Edinburgh and Glasgow this week, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1. To get a feel for Vogt’s playing, check out the video below of his performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Vogt was last with us in December 2010, in what The Herald described as “a wonderful performance…of Mozart’s 21st Piano Concerto with a gorgeous account of the slow movement.”
Also on the programme this week is Berlioz’s Love Scene from Romeo & Juliet and Brahms’ Serenade No 1.
Click here to watch Vogt playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3.
...And the crowd went wild!
Last week we had an outstanding concert in the form of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 5 'Emperor' and Symphony No 3 'Eroica' with pianist Llŷr Williams and conductor Andrew Manze joining the SCO.
Players, artists and programme combined perfectly for intense performances in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, eliciting rave comments from our audience.
@blithe_spirit: Thanks for an excellent concert in Aberdeen last night. I thought Llŷr Williams played brilliantly.@SCOmusic
@celestriana: Eroica/Emperor concert in Aberdeen last night with @SCOmusic was wonderful - thank you. Also incredibly beautiful playing from Llyr Williams
@Dutch23122d: Am increasingly convinced Llŷr Williams is the finest pianist in UK today. @SCOmusic
@Dutch23122d: Review of outstanding @SCOmusicconcert: http://rowbseat87.blogspot.com/2012/02/sco-1022012.html
@paulcareyjones: Superb playing from @SCOmusic at the @theusherhall last night. Llŷr ace as ever. They're at Glasgow City Halls tonight.
@JaneJune: The great @PeterJudge1 once said, "Mozart makes you feel alive, but Beethoven reminds you why you want to be." @SCOmusic's proving him right
@JaneJune: It's official: I need more Beethoven and more @SCOmusic in my life. Emperor and Eroica gave me chills!
Friday night's concert was absolutely wonderful. Llŷr Williams was on top form for the Emperor and the Eroica was spellbinding. Well done everyone.
Enjoyed the concert last night at music hall aberdeen full house all ages roll on april 28th when nicola bennedtti will be there...
Absolutely wonderful Emperor/Eroica concert in Aberdeen last night. Thank you all so much!
Tonight was absolutely wonderful, breathtaking, moving, energtic - not enough words to describe it. Thanks again everyone!
Cracking Usher Hall concert tonight. Llyr Williams' Beethoven was brilliant. Wish I could see it all over again in Glasgow and Aberdeen. Thanks SCO!
I wanted to tell you what a wonderful experience Andrew and the band gave us on Saturday 11th with an Eroica like I have never experienced it before. It was turgid, gritty, ugly in parts, heart-rendingly poignant in others and altogether magnificent. I know this symphony so well - or thought I did.
I have never felt intensity like it before: the funeral march was angry and grief-stricken, violent even at times. Andrew kept a really slow pace throughout, and in the descending scale phrase motif tears were audible in Beethoven's writing. Then new life burst out in the scherzo. At the beginning Andrew said he wanted us to hear the Eroica as we never had before - well I did, and learned so much more about a symphony I thought I already knew.
The rawness was a shock... but this intensity would have gained Beethoven's approval, I'm sure. Beethoven's score pushed the envelope of what symphonies and polite music making were like in 1805, and Saturday's performance did the same in 2012 - it was of a different order, and it was amazingly courageous; it was quite wonderful, a heartfelt thanks to all involved. Alan Bartlam
Reviews
"The notebook is closed and there is little to do but rave." ***** The Herald
"Nothing more needs to be said apart for the fact that it was, quite simply, the best live performance of the Eroica I've heard." Dundee Courier
Join the SCO for more Beethoven, with Lars Vogt performing the Piano Concerto No 1, conducted by Principal Conductor Robin Ticciaiti in St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow (22- 24 February).
Llŷr Williams Artist Profile
Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams joins conductor Andrew Manze and the SCO for concerts in Edinburgh (9 February), Glasgow (10 February) and Aberdeen (11 February) this week, where he will be playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 ‘Emperor’.
The Borletti-Buitoni Trust have put together a video artist profile about Llŷr as a BBT Award winner. Watch it to hear him talk about his first ever piano lessons as a child, and when he’s most comfortable as a performer today.
Click here to watch it on YouTube.
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…
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