The Night With…
Fruitmarket Gallery Edinburgh 25/2/25
Hathor Consort, Alex Potter countertenor
Eighteen short pieces of music, contemporary and ancient (and wonderfully navigating various dialogues between the two), were featured in an imaginative and engaging three-part programme featuring the Hathor Consort and accomplished countertenor Alex Potter at the Fruitmarket Gallery and café in Edinburgh.
The well-attended concert included a compelling new commission by Soosan Lolavar, alongside recent music by Matthew Whiteside (convener of The Night With…, who assisted with conducting), Wim Henderickx, Donnacha Dennehy, Nico Muhly and Rebecca Rowe. Voices from the past, predominantly those of women, were wonderfully weaved into this rich musical fabric. This featured Henry Purcell (Evening Hymn, Z. 193, thoughtfully arranged by Marnix De Cat, Night, Fantasia à4 in G Major, Z. 742 and Fantasia Upon One Note à5 in F Major, Z. 745), Mary Harvey, the Lady Dering (When first I saw fair Doris’ Eyes), Hildegard van Bingen (Laus Trinitati), Eleonora d'Este (Felix namque es), Barbara Strozzi (Voi sete o begli occhi), Leonora Duarte (Sinfonia No. 4 in G), and William Byrd (Ambitous Love).
The evening began with Whiteside’s teasing Prelude and Gathering, which lived up to its name by segueing from tuning-up into the actual piece while the audience gathered – uncertain for several minutes as to whether the concert had begun, and therefore slightly hesitant in applause at first. A fitting introduction to an evening of surprises. The first two Purcell pieces followed, rounded off by Dennehy’s That Time, in memory of Jennifer Farrara. This is a setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, premiered by the Concertgebouw Brugge in 2022.
Alex Potter’s rich, mellifluous voice complemented the Hathor Consort (viol players Romina Lischka, Thomas Beate, Joshua Cheatham, Nick Milne, and Irene Klein) perfectly throughout the evening, in a variety of vocal and instrumental combinations. The second part of the concert opened with a mesmerising account of Henderickx’s In Deep Silence, rearranged from the string orchestra original to produce an appropriate version for five viols. Combining elements of free notation with references to Haydn’s Kaiser Quartet, it illustrated the way the viola de gamba can link the traditional and the experimental in fascinating ways, in this case providing a link to more Purcell and the song by Lady Mary Harvey.
The highlight of the third and final portion of an absorbing evening’s music-making was Soosan Lolavar’s Monody, which expounds and recasts Baroque and Renaissance ideas through a single melodic line shared between the voice and several viol solos, building to an intense and colourful climax. Meanwhile, Muhly’s Slow (In Nomine in Five Parts) draws upon a cantus firmus, the passing of notes from one instrument to another, and a series of drone-based variations. Rebecca Rowe’s Fantasie for treble and bass viols explores the converging and diverging qualities of the instruments and their complementary sonorities.
The whole evening was curated by The Night With…, a charity based in Glasgow presenting salon style concerts of interesting music in intimate, informal venues across Scotland and further afield. Run by Matthew Whiteside, it provides development and commissioning opportunities for young and emerging composers.
* The Night With: https://www.thenightwith.com
* Hathor Consort: https://www.hathorconsort.com/en/
* Alex Potter: https://www.alexpotter.info
Simon Barrow is a writer, journalist, think-tank director and commentator whose musical interests span new music, classical, jazz, electronica and art rock. His book ‘Transfiguring the Everyday: The Musical Vision of Michael Tippett’ will be published by Siglum in 2025.
