SCO/RCS Winds: From Scotland to Persia

The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 24/11/24

Side by Side (SCO Wind Soloists, RCS Wind Students); Kentaro Machida (conductor)

 Link:  https://www.sco.org.uk/events/from-scotland-to-persia

There were elements of both déjà vu and novelty in the Queen’s Hall matinée on the afternoon of Sunday 24th November.  Recalling the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Wind Soloists’ ‘Summer Serenade’ programme which I had caught in Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire, in late June, while otherwise busy covering the East Neuk Festival, the Queen’s Hall programme was also introduced by SCO principal clarinettist, Maximiliano Martin, and included Andrê Caplet’s 1901 3-movement ‘Suite Persane’.  The novelty also comprised both repertoire and personnel: first hearings for me of works by Helen Grime, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Florent Schmitt and Vitězslava Kaprálová, plus the inclusion in the ‘Side by Side’ ensemble of wind students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  There was also an element of irony.  In Dollar, Maximiliano had quipped that a big part the joy of performing as SCO Winds was the freedom of chamber playing without a conductor – in Edinburgh, the Grime and the Schmitt were conducted by RCS conducting student Kentaro Machida.  Maximiliano added that, whilst it was visually obvious which of the musicians were students, with eyes closed there were no clues.  This was no idle praise – the students’ contribution to the ensemble performance was no less than that of the professionals, in terms of musicality and passion.  Attendance was modest but enthusiastic.

Helen Grime’s 2005 2-movement ‘Elegiac Inflections’ is scored for two each of flutes, oboes, horns, bassoons and clarinets.  Apart from the two SCO bassoonists, the other instruments were one each of SCO and RCS performers.  All the players were seated in a semicircle facing the conductor.  The piece opens with a big introduction, then virtuosic rapid figures for oboes, joined by horns and then the rest of the ensemble.  Angry bassoons try to disrupt the flow, but the music builds to a climax, finishing with the oboe figures from the beginning, but on full ensemble.  Very 21st century and full of drama.  The second movement is more obviously funereal, starting with a cor anglais solo which is taken up empathically by solos in the other instruments in turn.  The central section is more agitated with distressed flute and piccolo figures and a climax.  After a pause, the music subsides to a calm resignation.  In terms of virtuosity, it is a demanding piece, but it received a committed and convincing outing, so that its 21st century demands on the listener were met with enthusiasm.

Hummel’s sunny 3-movement 1803 Octet-Partita for 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons and 2 oboes exudes late 18th century Mozartian charm and is something of a harmonious divertimento without any of the characteristics of mere ‘wallpaper music’.  The players stood in an arc, apart from SCO sub-principal bassoonist Alison Green, who sat in a higher chair.  The joyful first movement with its fanfares and ‘tooralay’ rhythms was very lovely.  Still in the major key, the middle movement was not particularly slow and felt like a theme and variations, with one teasing minor key variation featuring a deliciously tearful oboe and another with a sweetly ornamented conversation between oboes and clarinets.  The jig-like rondo finale was all winks and smiles, the melody introduced by oboe, charming, light-hearted and quite Italianate in expression.  One cheeky solo clarinet ritornello raised a few smiles.  Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto has a secure place in the repertoire, but for my money the Octet-Partita is even more delightful.  Plaudits to the SCO and RCS winds for some convincing and first-class advocacy.  Let’s have more (of course, I have no doubt that that remains the mission and am delighted that the next generation are being enlisted).

Florent Schmitt’s 1910 ‘Lied & Scherzo’, dedicated to Paul Dukas, is scored for the full dectet, but with a solo role for one of the horns, played by Slovenian guest hornist, Jože Rošer.  As customary in concertante performance, the ensemble sat, whilst soloist and conductor stood.  Although the title suggests two separate sections, there is a lot of fusion and revisiting.  The soloist begins with an exotic-sounding recitative, leading to the arioso ‘Lied’, but not before mocking clarinets lead a subversive attempt to derail his solemnity.  The dreamy impressionism does not last either and the oboes (throwing caution to the ‘winds’) launch the romp that is the ‘Scherzo’. The contrasting elements are ingeniously fused, and it feels as if the piece might end irreverently, but in fact calm is restored for a glowing final cadence.  Super piece - skilfully performed.

I recall from nigh on a decade ago BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week being devoted to tragically short-lived Moravian composer Vitězslava Kaprálová, in 5 programmes presented by Donald Macleod.  I caught the final programme, which included her moving to Paris to study with her compatriot Bohuslav Martinů and their complex relationship.  It is from this period that her unfinished 1938 ‘Trio for Winds’ dates, based on a ‘Trio for Reeds’ by Martinů.  After the interval, we heard the 2011 reconstruction of the piece by oboist and musicologist Stéphane Egeling, performed by RCS clarinettist and oboist and an SCO bassoonist.  The first of the three movements is the only one completed by the composer, a jaunty march with a slightly oriental feel, surrounding a more melancholy central song led by the oboe.  The ‘Andante semplice’ also starts with an oboe song, joined by elegant counterpoint from the others, the sound world occasionally suggestive of Prokofiev.  Each instrument gets to lead, with impressive use of the full compass of the bassoon.  This is 20th century music, but with engaging directness and simplicity.  The ‘Vivo’ finale is in the character of a French street song, led by oboe with more hints of Prokofiev and some bassoon humour in the ritornelli, concluding with a cheeky flourish.  Notwithstanding the dual authorship, it is a super piece and it received a characterful interpretation and performance.

A brief aside on the venue and a note of appreciation. The house lights were only very slightly dimmed, so that my reviewer’s notes had a fighting chance of legibility. When I got home and checked my review of the Caplet from Dollar in June, I realised that there was literally nothing in the notes that was not stated in the earlier review.  That is my excuse for shamelessly presenting the earlier review virtually verbatim (whilst secretly glad that my tastes remain consistent).

Back to the full dectet for Andrê Caplet’s 1901 3-movement ‘Suite Persane’.  A strong Middle-Eastern flavour pervades the music, probably inspired, as many French composers were, by the oriental exhibits at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.  The first movement, titled ‘Scharki’ (‘sharqi’ is the Arabic word for ‘easterner’, from which the English word ‘Saracen’ is derived) refers to the hot humid wind that blows in the Arabian Gulf in early summer and early winter.  A spare unison exotic Persian melody on flutes and clarinets becomes enriched by impressionistic harmonies.  Prefiguring Maurice Jarre’s music for ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ by no less than 6 decades, it sounded quite filmic and was certainly evocative.  The second movement, ‘Nihavend’, a reference to a scale found in Persian music, started with flutes and clarinet in fixed intervals, before a gentle rhythm is set up and a rhapsodic melody (which to my ear was not unlike Bizet) unfolded a rhythmic depiction of a happy scene.  Back to the opening figures for a short coda.  The final movement, ‘Iskia Samaïsi’ started with swirling arabesques and sounded as if it was going to be an exotic dance movement.  However, the central section was more in the character of a love-song introduced by solo horn.  A sense of epic story-telling reminded me of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.  Andrê Cebrián’s piccolo had some elegantly ornamented figures to present.  Full marks to Side-by-Side for giving this neglected piece an outing, and a persuasive one at that with topflight chamber playing.