Reviews

Read all the latest press coverage below:

Child Prodigy, Mature Genius, March 2010
"An affable character, Egarr addresses the audience while the fortepiano was being set up for the Haydn concerto... it was very effective, and quite in keeping with Egarr’s reputation as one of our finest experts in “period” practice." Music Web International Read review

"Only a conductor and player this good, armed with an orchestra that good as his backing band, could get away with it. And they did." ***** The Herald
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"...Egarr moulded a performance that captured the sheer basic bravado and structural dexterity of the work..." **** The Scotsman

"...the orchestra, completely focused on Egarr, played exceptionally well. A great concert..." **** Edinburgh Guide Read review

CL@SIX - Baroque Masters, February 2010
"After a long day at the office, the restorative and calming qualities of baroque music are hard to beat, particularly this lively selection of Handel and Bach concertos presented by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Richard Egarr from the harpsichord and chamber organ." **** The Scotsman Read review

SCO Chamber Concert, February 2010
"In the mounting intensity of Brahms’s Von ewiger liebe and the two lovely songs with viola obbligato, mezzo soprano Julia Riley rose to the occasion, delivering with fine seriousness and responding admirably to the soft-grained beauty of Jane Atkins’s viola." **** The Herald Read review

"I've said it many times before, but I think the SCO's chamber concerts are one of the jewels of their season." Where's Runnicles? Read review 

Travels in Eastern Europe, February 2010
"This is pure magic... [it was an] enthralling concert on Friday. The atmosphere generated in Ligeti’s buzzing Ramifications was electric. There may have been little conventional in it for mainstream audiences to hang on to, but Ticciati’s belief in the music gave the performance a magnetic quality." **** The Herald

"It was a joy to hear, the kind of performance to have you craning forward in your seat to catch every last detail. Behind him the SCO were in period mode, with the horns playing on natural instruments, and Ticciati providing plenty of energy and directing a taut performance." Where's Runnicles? Read review

Leschenko Plays Chopin, February 2010
"Whenever the SCO are reunited with Swensen something magical always happens, and sparks were certainly flying in their sizzling performance of Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3 in A minor (Scottish)." **** The Scotsman Read review

"...the SCO was in magisterial form, with playing of such refinement, intensity and clarity in every section of the orchestra that it became one of those occasions where the music, through the power of the performance, grips you by the throat". ***** The Herald Read review

"...Polina Leschenko gave a convincing rendering of his [Chopin's] second piano concerto..." Read review 

L'Enfance du Christ, February 2010
"...this performance by the SCO and Chorus singled it out as eternally fresh. There was hardly a moment where the sheer transparency of the music, its crystalline intimacy, failed to draw us in. Simply superb. Robin Ticciati, played to the SCO’s strengths, serving up Berlioz’s delicious imagery with a level of precision that was staggeringly beautiful."
***** The Scotsman

"It is a study in miniature, the ­overwhelming mood one of tranquillity."
**** The Guardian Read review

"...the orchestra responded with spirit, while the SCO Chorus sang with renewed vigour - as much a tribute to new chorus master Gregory Batsleer as to Ticciati". Financial Times Read review

"Making his third appearance with the orchestra since he officially picked up the baton in December, he assembled an excellent team of soloists for an interpretation that lingered on the details while keeping a gossamer thread running through the whole." **** The Times Read review

"...in one of the most enthralling and, indeed, spellbinding SCO performances I have witnessed in a long time, Ticciati demonstrated in Berlioz’s l’Enfance du Christ his immaculate command of the long line in music, and his acute   sensitivity, faithfully reflected in superlative SCO playing, to colour, mood and atmosphere...Everything was layered gently into it: the tender portraiture of Karen Cargill’s Mary and Ronan Collett’s Joseph; the aching uncertainty andworld-weary qualities of Matthew Rose’s supreme Herod, the light, fluid character of Yann Beuron’s narrator, and the luminous singing of the SCO Chorus. Everything blended into an extraordinarily unified presentation.
***** The Herald

"The musicians of the SCO give a predictably fine performance and the SCO choir sounded magnificent in places, particularly in the extraordinary ending of the piece which concludes with an exquisite unaccompanied pianissimo "Amen". **** Edinburgh Guide Read review

"Saturday evening’s performance by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at  Aberdeen’s Music Hall passed like a magical dream, 100 minutes seemingly condensed into a single thought...Rapt by the work’s spell, I don’t think anyone wanted to let it go. Aberdeen Press and Journal

"...this was something altogether special. The work emerged as though freshly minted, natural and direct in utterance, with finely graded dynamics and beautiful tone, and not the slightest hint of prettiness or sentimentality... the whole was more than the sum of its parts." Hector Berlioz website
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"It was a magical hour and a half" Read review from Where's Runnicles?

We laughed about it - the logic was to cast me as SCO featured artist - Ken Walton's interview with Karen Cargill Read the full Scotsman article

Mackerras, Mozart and Strauss, January 2010
What was immediately evident in last night's performance was the warmth of affection between Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Their many years of working together produce an atmosphere of being so entirely comfortable with one another that the listener feels that they could achieve almost anything." MusicWeb International  Read review

 "...what poured out from the SCO all evening was some of the most utterly exhilarating orchestral playing you will hear anywhere, from anyone". **** The Herald Read review

"...conductor Sir Charles MacKerras knew exactly how to handle Mozart's work, playing to the complexities and emphasising the contrasts to craft a quirky but curiously intense rendition". **** The Scotsman Read review

Cargill Sings Berlioz, December 2009
"...everything he touched turned to pure gold..." ***** The Herald
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"...to speak only of his youthful energy would be to overlook the depth of interpretation and complexity of character that this conductor brings to the music..." ***** The Scotsman Read review

Ticciati and Kožená, December 2009
"Behind the aura of Kozena's captivating performance – who was visually stunning, too, in a glamorous golden ensemble – Ticciati elicited finely-etched support from his new orchestra." **** The Scotsman Read review

"Ticciati’s understated but detailed interpretation captured this well. And the SCO’s principals seized their solo opportunities — particularly Jane Atkins (viola) with a stunning lament in the haunting Nocturne" *** The Times
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"It reminded the listener just how finely integrated the SCO is...and highlighted the players' commitment to the music and their sparky new conductor." **** The Independent Read review

Young faces on the podium are adding verve to Britain's orchestras
"Robin Ticciati has taken up his baton with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and joined a wave of new conductors galvanising the world of classical music."
Read full article here

Robin Ticciati: lightning conductor
Still only 26 years old, the British star is taking the world of classical music by storm. Read the full article from the Times here

On an Overgrown Path, December 2009
"...different ideas all beautifully integrated in this fabulous up-beat performance..." **** The Scotsman Read review

"The orchestra are fully in sympathy with all of Matthews' choices and they played beautifully, with too many excellent solo contributions to mention here. " Music-Web International Read review
 

Homecoming, November 2009
"this performance from the SCO and chorus and young baritone Alexander Robin Baker, conducted by Garry Walker, made a fitting tribute". **** The Guardian Read review

"Conductor Garry Walker shed new light on James MacMillan's Tryst, in this striking interpretation of a work that is more global meltdown than lover's tryst." *** The Scotsman Read review

" the SCO contributed a characteristically committed and taut performance under Garry Walker's baton." **** Musicalcriticism.com Read review

CL@SIX: Wind Serenade, November 2009
"...the ensemble had fun playing the delightfully dizzy central section of the minuet and the more serene nocturne, with the clarinet and oboe melodies floating over a gently rocking cello line." *** The Scotsman Read review

Beethoven and Brahms, November 2009
"The opening bars of Beethoven's Fidelio overture were riveting theatre, delivered with punchy edge-of-the-seat authority." **** The Scotsman Read review

Paul Lewis Plays Beethoven, November 2009
"The sheer sense of scale he [Lewis] brought to the cadenzas will live with me for a long time, and in this he was matched with utterly committed playing from the SCO whose natural brass lent colour without being distracting. The sharpness of attack from Andrew Manze added to the craggy grandeur of the reading and showed the orchestra at its very best." Music-Web International Read review

"It was a memorable performance that blended well with the orchestra, and was greatly appreciated by the audience whose appreciative clapping swelled like a wave." **** Edinburgh Guide Read review

"The highlight was undoubtedly the British pianist Paul Lewis performing the Beethoven concerto with a mixture of verve, style and intellect that thoroughly
delighted the audience and brought the house down at the finale."  Press and Journal

"Manze pepped up the orchestral score with sharply defined wind and brass, and an urgency that matched Lewis's." **** Scotsman Read review

"...the crystalline tone and understated precision of Lewis’s playing well matched by the dramatic yet delicate orchestral playing. It wasn’t a showy or a driven performance but it had a momentum of its own." *** The Herald Read review

Max at 75, November 2009
"This electric performance — in the presence of Davies — a powerful gathering of forces under Knussen, the landscape of intermittently driven intensity and windy fragments was brilliantly conveyed by the SCO. A fitting birthday tribute."
**** Times Online Read review

"The focus of Friday's concert by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra may have been on Peter Maxwell Davies' Symphony No 4, but that was just one riveting component in a brilliantly-conceived programme." ***** The Scotsman Read review

CL@SIX - Myths and Legends, October 2009
"the SCO’s performance of King Arthur was fresh and sprightly, the orchestra neither slavishly copying a period instrument style of performance nor treating the music like later repertoire, but finding a distinct performing style entirely in keeping with the music." **** The Herald

German Romantics, October 2009
"Martin produced a gorgeous honeyed tone from the instrument even in the softest passages, which he played with such delicacy it sounded as if the music was underwater..."  **** The Scotsman Read review

"...another world-class performance by a power-driven, ultra-polished SCO in
immaculate form, with an astonishing display of musicality, acrobatic dexterity and spectacular, unforced virtuosity from its principal clarinettist, Maximiliano Martin." ***** The Herald

"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 Journal Read review

Beethoven Five, October 2009
"...Swensen and the orchestra were practically airborne and looked as if they were having the ride of their lives..." ***** The Scotsman Read review

"...This has everything the SCO is renowned for – strings tight and precise, a woodwind section of typical excellence and a brass ensemble that added the flair the work’s undeniable grandeur..." Dundee Courier and Advertiser

"...this Fifth was astutely placed as the appropriately explosive climax to a programme that featured superior performances of a brace of very different beauties: Borodin’s gorgeously-seductive In the Steppes of Central Asia and Sibelius’s pulsating Violin Concerto, which received a performance of molten intensity from fine Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud..." **** The Herald

Unfinished Masterpieces, October 2009
"...far and away the finest performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony that I've heard in Edinburgh..." Music-Web International  Read review

"...the French-born director of New York's Mainly Mozart Festival drew from the players performances of remarkable precision and zeal". **** The Scotsman
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"...a mesmeric performance by the SCO..." **** The Herald  Read review

Masterworks, September 2009
"...this was premier league music education and top drawer performance in indivisible alliance..." ***** The Herald  Read review

"...a thrilling performance..." **** The Scotsman  Read review

"It was a splendid performance and a great start to what promises to be a fine season." Where's Runnicles? blog Read review

SCO and RSNO lead revolution in music education, The Herald, September 2009
Read Michael Tumelty's full feature here

SCO/Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, August 2009
"...a stirring performance from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra..." *** The Independent Read review

Haydn and Battistelli, Edinburgh International Festival, August 2009
"...it was delivered with panache and a sense of melodrama by the excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Garry Walker." *** The Times  Read review

The Return of Ulysses, Edinburgh International Festival, August 2009
"A potent mix of taped songs and extracts from Purcell, played live and beautifully by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra."  *** Daily Telegraph  Read review 

Judas Maccabaeus, Edinburgh International Festival, August 2009  
"The orchestral playing, in particular was consummately stylish..." **** The Times    Read review

"... outstanding clarity and stylish sophistication from the SCO's soloists, small groups and full orchestra..."  **** The Herald  Read review 

BBC Proms, July 2009
"...the SCO played like Trojans for Nézet-Séguin..."
**** musicomh.com   Read review    

"...a first rate performance..." **** The Guardian  Read review  

Highlands I - Stirling Castle, June 2009
"...a delightful evening..."  **** The Scotsman   Read review  

The Seasons, May 2009
"...an outstanding performance..."  **** The Herald   Read review  

Bass Notes, May 2009
"...the SCO's concert...was an enthralling magical mystery tour of the world of sonority..."  **** The Herald  Read review

"...superbly balanced display of molten tranquility and dizzy excitement..."
**** The Scotsman  Read review

Symphonies in C, April 2009
"...the SCO...superbly captured the deranged nature of this mesmerising work [Les Illuminations]"  **** The Scotsman  Read review

"...sizzling performance..."  **** The Herald  Read review

The Fire and the Rose, April 2009
"The SCO and section soloists were both subtle and majestic."
*** The Times   Read review

Dramatic Beethoven, March 2009
"...the final reception [was] barely short of raucous..."
***** MusicalCriticism.com  Read review

"...the SCO played with devastating clarity and the emotional intensity of a band possesed..."  ***** The Herald  Read review

Elijah, January 2009
"...the SCO and its Chorus performed as though there were no tomorrow..."
***** The Herald   Read review

Mendelssohn's Reformation, January 2009
"...the SCO quite excelled itself..." **** Edinburgh Guide  Read review

"The Mendelssohn bi-centenary will be fortunate indeed if it contains more performances of this quality..."  ***** The Guardian  Read review

The Fair Melusine, January 2009
"...the SCO at its most responsive, homogeneous in ensemble, and pristine in its balance and articulation..."  **** The Herald  Read review

"..his [Manze's] dynamic authority over the players elicted playing of the very highest distinction..."  ***** The Scotsman  Read review 

 

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.