A Happening in Leith – Emma Lloyd at the Custom House
Custom House, Leith - 19/01/24
On Friday 19th January, I attended a splendid fund-raising event at the historic Custom House in Leith. The multi-talented violinist, Emma Lloyd, gave a performance of music, new and old, as part of a drive to raise money and awareness of the Edinburgh Tool Library, based in this very interesting building next to the Water of Leith. I have walked or driven past the Custom House hundreds of times without ever knowing what goes on in this iconic Leith landmark. Emma was featuring a brand new instrument, the Diablo Violin d’Amore, created in his workshop in the Custom House by the luthier, Jonathan Hill. I first met Emma last summer, when she was engaged to play violin in a new work by the Edinburgh-based composer Nigel Don, ‘Don’t ask the Time’, a series of songs for violin, bass singer (me) and piano (Stuart Hope) which was part of a recital I gave in St Michael’s Church, Slateford Road, in the Edinburgh Festival (reviewed by the EMR).
Built in 1812, the Custom House was in use to deal with customs and excise on goods imported through Leith until, unbelievably, 1980, when it became a museum store. In 2015, threatened with being sold, Edinburgh Council acquired the building and charged the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust with turning it into a hub for the creative industries. It now houses the Edinburgh Tool Library, where you can learn how to make things with all sorts of materials and borrow the tools to help you. There are workshops and tutors to assist, and one of the workshops is a proper instrument-making room, where master luthier, Jonathan Hill, Heritage Crafts Woodworker of the Year 2022, plies his trade.
The Diablo Violin d’Amore was created to provide a violin which can also resonate while playing. Based on historical examples of 18th century Swedish resonance fiddles, the Diablo has four gut playing strings and eight metal resonant strings, a combination which gives it a sweet, mysterious and sometimes haunting sound.
Emma Lloyd has learned to play this amazing instrument and this was the second concert she has given where she explores all the possibilities of its potential. Her recital covered all sorts of genres, from a baroque passacaglia through Swedish folk melodies to avant garde contemporary music, including one of her own compositions. We were welcomed into the Custom House and were free to wander through the various rooms and workshops, with volunteers on hand to answer any questions. The event was sponsored by the innovative Leith brewing company, Moonwake, established in 2021, with a Taproom on Leith Shore, and we were able to enjoy a tasty beer from their range as part of our ticket. Highly recommended!
Emma herself, as well as being a sought after violinist and composer, volunteers at the ETL, where she also practices her woodworking skills. However, it was her violin skills that brought us to this concert, played on the first landing of the grand staircase of the Custom House, with her audience ranged over the stairs and upper levels. Imaginatively lit and with electronic effects to enhance the sound, Emma began with the Passacaglia of the Mystery Sonatas, one of the first ever pieces for solo violin, by the Bohemian/Austrian composer Heinrich Ignatz Franz Biber (1644-1704). He was one of the first great violin virtuosi, and from his base in Salzburg, his fame spread, both as composer and player. Emma was able to show the Diablo off to great effect in this complicated baroque piece and followed this with a set of Scandinavian folk tunes from a collection by Vicki Swan. For these, she was joined on the little stage by Jonathan Hill himself, proving himself to be a master of the small bodhrán, as well as an excellent instrument maker. I really enjoyed Emma’s lilting playing of these folk tunes, the resonant strings giving a surround sound beyond the melody on the gut strings.
After these baroque and folk pieces, we moved into the avant garde section of the concert, with pieces by John Hails (‘Widmung’), Deborah Shaw (‘A Starlett’) and Emma herself (‘Bees’), using her composer name of Emma Jane Lloyd. This was the part of the concert that made me think of some of those ‘Happenings’ of the 1960s, when creative types got together to put on events of an avant garde nature, with sympathetic, cool people watching, listening and taking part. It was fun to see a mainly young audience really getting into experimental music, as Emma explored all the possibilities of the Diablo, particularly her own piece which involved recorded sounds and effects. I can’t claim to have understood a lot of what was going on musically, but it was very impressive, and the audience was spellbound. A perfect finishing touch came right at the end, when Emma’s dog joined in to great acclaim. I was intrigued by the title of John Hails’ piece, ‘Widmung’, as this is a song from Robert Schumann’s song cycle, ‘Myrthen’, which I will be performing in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery with Beth Taylor and John Kitchen on 28th February. As John pointed out, this piece had nothing of the great composer in it but was so called because Schumann wrote it to celebrate his passion for Clara Wieck as she was about to become his wife, and that was his inspiration. As John is Emma’s partner, we could see it meant a lot to both of them.
So, a fascinating evening was had in deepest Leith, and I was excited to see a completely different aspect of Edinburgh’s cultural life. Further details of the Edinburgh Tool Library can be found on their website, and I would encourage our readers to have a look at what they offer. In addition keep a look out for Emma Lloyd, a terrific violinist, and Jonathan Hill, a marvellous instrument maker, both living and working in Edinburgh. We at the Edinburgh Music Review are trying to cover every aspect of music making in the capital, and I hope more people can engage in listening and playing by following us. We are not trying to make money or sell you anything, we are simply opening your eyes and ears to what is going on here.
To that end, can I shamelessly invite you to come to St Andrew’s and St George’s Church in George Street at 7.30pm on Saturday 3rd February, when Derek Clark, formerly Head of Music at Scottish Opera and I will be performing Schubert’s fantastic masterpiece, ‘Winterreise’, the greatest song cycle ever written. This cycle is rarely performed, and it is a life changing experience both to perform and listen to. I first heard it in the Usher Hall in the early 1970s with Dietrich Fischer -Dieskau and Daniel Barenboim, and the memory has lingered ever since. I sang it myself in 1980, in the Queen’s Hall with Jeremy Sams as accompanist, and I have returned to it several times since then, but this will be the first time in Edinburgh since then. I would love to see you on the 3rd.
