Autumn Concert, Young Lothian Musicians
St Andrew Blackadder Church, North Berwick, 17/11/2024
Director, Maureen Morrison, Young Lothian Musicians
A great concert on many levels. And I almost didn’t go. There was some difficulty getting hold of tickets and all anyone could tell me was that a mysterious Maureen was behind the whole project. Eventually tracked down Maureen Morrison, all got sorted and there I was in the second row with my daughter. The last time I’d been in this church was a few weeks ago when she and I were performing there. Ms Morrison turns out to be a neighbour of ours and the young musicians playing were all from East Lothian and Edinburgh. Though it felt like a cosy local affair, the talent and musicianship on display was of the highest standard.
First came a quartet of elegant young ladies, with a Violin Concerto by Telemann, played with an air of expectancy. All are studying with the same teacher, Uli Evans. Two of them are sisters and one is just 11 years old.
Alex Layberry gave us our first taste of Vivaldi, the Allegro from the Sonata in G minor, played with precision and detail. Then came Eirene Cai playing the first movement from the Vivaldi’s Spring, a piece that is played everywhere even on hold on the telephone, but here it had a new flavour as a solo with piano accompaniment. This gives pride of place to the violin itself, played here with real skill. No doubt Vivaldi, himself a violin virtuoso, would have approved.
Next came a movement from one of Boccherini’s Cello Concerti. It’s a favourite of mine; presenting it with just piano accompaniment gives the cello full space for its warmth and emotion. Seeing it live and close-up, I was aware of the beautiful dynamism of the fingers and how the instrument’s volume filled both sound and space. Towards the end the piano goes silent enabling player and listeners to explore all the cello has to offer, deep and high, rapid and drawn out, gentle and aggressive.
In a different mood came four songs for soloist Isla Houghton: a playful French folk song, a brief aria from Mozart’s Figaro, a song of lonely yearning from Les Misérables, and in cheerful nostalgia the Nightingale that sang in Barclay Square. Miss Horton’s high notes resonated effortlessly over our heads.
Ms Morrison introduced Franck’s Violin Sonata, having played it herself as a student on the cello, telling us how difficult it was. Miss de Crombrugghe, the 11-year-old, now as a soloist, evoked in my mind the phrase ‘enfant prodige’.
In the interval, we were entertained by the Portobello High School Fiddlers in a set of Scottish folk songs. Their relaxing sound came over as a pleasant bonus.
Then a movement from Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D major. Years ago Anne- Sophie Mutter’s recording of this had first brought me to a love of classical music. In Carina Cai’s playing the mix of deep feeling and fun is there again. She’s all in black but conveys the joy of the music, smiling subtly to the pianist Philip Coad.
After the ecstasies of Mozart came the romantic melancholy of Fauré, finely expressed in Après un rêve from Hannah Swinney‘s cello.
The concert ended in the High Romantic with Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto. Ms Morrison explained that Rhea Fitzgerald had played the first movement a year ago and would now give us the second and third. In an autumn-coloured gown, she sways and almost swoons, bringing tears to the eye with the yearning intensity of her playing. As the music builds to a dramatic climax, we experience a perfect ending to the evening. Walking away, I say to my daughter, “I’m so glad we came and happy to be living here with all this talent pushing up around us.”
