Reviews

Read all the latest press coverage below:

Brahms' Piano Concerto No 2

"Ticciati's style of conducting is enthralling..." **** EdinburghGuide.com Read review

"The outcome was truly magnetic in Ticciati's hands." **** The Scotsman Read review

"But the heavenly slow movement, graced by a complete absence of wallowing and blessed by the sublime, song-like, extended solos of principal cellist David Watkins, lifted the music to the highest plane." **** The Herald Read review

"This ambitious programming and consistently high standard of performance across a very varied repertoire is making the SCO an exciting ensemble to follow." Classical Iconoclast Read review

"Hats off, too, to all the players for their role in this astonishing tour-de-force..." MusicWeb International Read review

In the Steppes of Central Europe

"At 26 years old Frank-Gemmill, the orchestra’s principal horn, plays with astounding security and a touch of the star turn." MusicWeb International Read review

"Ticciati’s account of the symphony was crisp and beautifully balanced..." ***** The Herald Read review

"Principal conductor Robin Ticciati expertly steered the music’s flow with affection, yet not without grit and bite in the darker slow movement." **** The Scotsman Read review

"...impressive and heart warming." **** EdinburghGuide.com Read review

"This was edge-of-the-seat enjoyment." Bachtrack.com Read review

Handel's Water Music

"To hear this music played with such style and passion by the SCO directed by a French musician of Haim’s standing was almost miraculous." The Press and Journal Read review

"...a delivery from the SCO that was immaculately shaped, spiced with consistent and flamboyant ornamentation..." **** The Scotsman Read review

"...a glowing, transparent sound with pristine strings, characterful woodwind and resonant brass." ***** The Edinburgh Reporter Read Review

New Year in Vienna

"The SCO always seem so enthusiastic and glad to be making music..." EdinburghGuide.com Read review

"...a programme with an emphasis on lesser-known pieces, it was in many ways impeccable..." **** The Herald Read review

"Take a bow, Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Thursday night’s performance in Perth’s Concert Hall was the best I’ve heard them in this guise..." Dundee Courier Read review

"...an animated performance that enthralled the capacity audience." Perthshire Advertiser Read review

Mozart at Christmas

"Lyrical, playful, expressive and graceful, Janiczek and Atkins were a classy double act backed by the SCO in full voice, especially in the lower, darker colours of Mozart’s string writing." **** The Scotsman Read review

"...a thoroughly satisfying and enriching concert..." **** EdinburghGuide.com Read review

Northern Landscapes

"...a wonderful patchwork of colour with Pike, for whom the work was written, delivering a performance that went through the whole spectrum of emotions from engaging softness to full-blooded ferocity." Dundee Courier Read review

"...arresting in its elemental simplicity, yet energising in its rhythmic potential." *** The Scotsman Read review

"...a luminous, gleaming and massively-assured performance from violinist Jennifer Pike...not long ago a wunderkind, now a seasoned artist whose maturity was reflected at every level of her understanding of Hallgrimsson's concerto." *** The Herald Read review 

Christmas Oratorio

"Exploring and exploiting every fine detail of the music, Egarr’s joyous yet sensitive direction never let go for a moment..." **** The Scotsman Read review

Keyboard Titans

"SHEER class. That was the overriding character of the SCO’s playing on Friday night when they were conducted by octogenarian pianist Leon Fleisher." ***** The Herald Read review

"The SCO seemed completely tuned into this unfussy, intelligent approach." **** The Scotsman Read review

"...playing and conducting of the highest order." MusicWeb International Read review

Romantic Love Stories

"...the precision-tooled playing of the SCO string section was a thing of wonder". **** The Herald Read review

"...the SCO...played here with elegance, and fired by vitality, delicacy and unfussy clarity." **** The Scotsman Read review

"Sculpted like a stormy sea, the choppy waters of the first movement were compellingly described by the SCO, although it was the second movement that, in their skilful build up of frenzy, truly exhilarated." *** The Times (review available on request)

"Ticciati was able to revel in the subtleties of texture and shading afforded by the more fleet-footed ensemble, but yet was able to summon considerable weight and power when the moment demanded." **** MusicalCriticism.com Read review

Master Pianist

"Breathing new life in masterpieces..." MusicWebInternational Read review

"...[an] absorbing concert..." ***** The Scotsman Read review

"When the orchestra stops, fasten your seatbelts and say a prayer." **** The Herald Read review

"...the Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert in Perth Concert Hall was one to savour with the greatest pleasure". Perthshire Advertiser Read review

New Babylon

"Mitchell and the SCO, under the authoritative baton of Olari Elts, captured the music’s restless spirit, which is alluring at one level, but strangely elusive at another, as if the composer is deliberately suppressing his own personality." **** The Scotsman Read review

"And at the other end of a programme exceedingly-well directed by conductor Olari Elts, and played by the SCO at full throttle, lay Shostakovich’s...New Babylon, a score packed with can-cans, marches, cartoon scenes and rudeness galore." *** The Herald Read review

Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

"Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony...for the SCO... is a classic vehicle to show off its trademark exceptionally blended string sound along with stunning solo and ensemble playing from wind and brass." *** The Scotsman Read review

"...all honours should go to the SCO itself for a truly extraordinary performance of the Pastoral Symphony". **** The Herald Read review

"The whole evening was crowned with a glorious account of the Shepherds’ Hymn, expansive and soulful with playing of utter conviction and assured control from the podium." MusicWebInternational Read review

Mullova Plays Beethoven

"And what playing followed, from the SCO and soloist Viktoria Mullova in a mesmerising account of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto..." **** The Herald Read review

"Only a week into the new season, and the SCO is already sounding well warmed up." **** The Guardian Read review

"Robin Ticciati’s conducting was memorable for the pace he set his players - and they responded with alacrity." *** EdinburghGuide.com Read review

"...the Scottish Chamber Orchestra made a strong, almost definitive, case for the deliciously light orchestration and sugar-puff clarity of the 1841 version of Schumann's Symphony No 4 in D minor." **** The Times (review available on request)

"There was something thoroughly refreshing about this week's SCO programme..." **** The Scotsman (review available on request).

Symphonie Fantastique: Ticciati Conducts

"SCO phrasing and articulation were super-refined...It was a compelling performance fuelled by brain, not brawn, and prefaced by a moving account from the SCO Chorus of Berlioz’s choral triptych, Tristia." ***** The Herald Read review

"...filled with clarity and vitality". **** The Times (review available on request)

"...the orchestra, whose relatively modest forces proved again to be balancing textures and timbres with refreshing clarity". **** Musicalcriticism.com Read review

Archive reviews

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June - September 2010 - Click here
October 2009 - May 2010 - Click here
January - September 2009 - Click here

German Romantics

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra deliver a dazzling evening of Spohr, Weber and Mendelssohn.
SCO: Martin Maximillano, German Romantics
SCO: Martin Maximillano, German Romantics
Image: Ken Dundas
Sarah Mitchell
Wednesday 11 November 2009, The Journal Issue 27

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*****

It seems to go without saying that a virtuosic concerto coupled with a dynamic conductor and two thoroughly Romantic symphonies will draw in the crowds with ease. This is why, with the new Scottish Chamber Orchestra season programme still fresh in our minds, a considerable Queen’s Hall audience await those opening chords with anticipation.

This evening’s opener is Louis Spohr’s second symphony, a work which doesn’t grace the concert hall with its presence all that often. Tonight’s performance is successful in, among other things, proving to us that lack of such repertoire as standard is a great shame. The piece itself brings to mind the works of many great composers, while also presenting the contrasts and deep harmonies of the very best Romantic music. From the beginning, the strings are fabulously unified , as well as a coherent whole, and the winds show outstanding balance consistently. British-born conductor Nicholas McGegan is animated and effortless; a joy to watch.

Following this, McGegan is joined on stage by another dynamic and engaging performer, SCO principle clarinet Max Martin. Weber’s second clarinet concerto is an ideal platform to showcase outstanding talent which Martin relishes without fail. It is surprisingly rare to see a performer who is as consistently engaging as Martin. A whole other connection with the music is apparent. His fantastic tone is present through all registers and all dynamics; his connection with the rest of the orchestra is effortless as the strings build up to solo entries and the wind colourfully interject throughout the melodic line.

The second half of the concert brings Mendelssohn’s first symphony. For a work written when the composer was just fifteen, it's beautifully reminiscent of Beethoven and perhaps could be answered by Beethoven's ninth symphony, written a year later. The symphony once again presents the talents of separate sections as string pizzicato is so amazingly united that one could mistake it for only two or three instruments. The wind once again give vibrant solo lines in parts and work remarkably well as a whole in other passages. McGegan’s energy never subsides, leaving an uplifted audience awaiting the rest of this promising season.