Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Haydn’s ‘The Creation’
Usher Hall - 06/10/22
A good Creation but not a great Creation!
That was my feeling after Thursday’s SCO concert at the Usher Hall. On the face of it there were all the ingredients for a great Creation, an expanded SCO of almost 50 musicians for the second week in a row, plus the SCO chorus and three good looking (but notably not Scottish) principal singers. We do have a number of fine young singers in Scotland and it would be good to see Scottish orchestras using them more. Yet, although I enjoyed the concert, had we still been giving stars it would have been a four star concert not a five star rating as some of my fellow critics gave it. These included David Kettle of ‘The Scotsman’, who wrote a very good set of programme notes for the performance. That raises an interesting ethical issue for critics: are you conflicted by reviewing a concert where you have been paid by the orchestra for writing the programme notes? As a former member of the NUJ’s Ethics Committee these are the kind of issues we discussed there. Whilst excoriating motoring journalists who were given expenses paid holidays, including wine, women and song in luxury hotels, and were expected to write good reviews of the latest model, the Ethics Committee were understandably more reluctant to be critical of cultural journalists who were given all expenses paid trips to view a new work for the Edinburgh Festival or accompany one of Scotland’s orchestras on their overseas trips. Could they then give an unbiased critique of the work? Now I must emphasise that David Kettle is a very good critic and very much entitled to his fee for the programme notes. I also agree with most of his review of the SCO concert in ‘The Scotsman’, although I wouldn’t have given it five stars. I should declare an interest that I get free tickets for concerts and an occasional drink at the intervals. I don’t get paid by the ‘Edinburgh Music Review’; indeed it costs me and my Co-Editor Christine Twine several hundred pounds a year to publish the online review. I think this gives editorial and critical freedom to our reviews; indeed I have savaged operas in Vienna, Copenhagen and Covent Garden, despite getting free tickets (though no other expenses) for the opera there.
One reason the concert didn’t seem as good as last week, when Nicola Benedetti wowed us with a new violin concerto by James Macmillan, was that the Usher Hall was only half full compared to the sold-out hall last week. Of course Nicola tends to sell out concerts in Scotland and brings young people to the events; let us hope she can use that magic to help the Festival whose directorship she took over in October. The truth is without Nicola, or some other star attraction, orchestras and concert halls and opera houses are finding it difficult to get audiences. This is an international phenomenon which is causing a crisis in all arts organisations, including cinemas, such as The Edinburgh Filmhouse and Film Festival, which declared bankruptcy this week, not least because only around 50% of audiences have returned since the pandemic. Add to that huge energy cost increases for halls and the cost of living crisis causing audience members to cut back their cultural expenditure. This not only affects the economics of concert going, it also of course changes the atmosphere in a concert hall - the half empty Usher Hall was not as enthusiastic as the previous week.
But what about the music I hear you say? Well let me begin with the orchestra. I’m a big fan of the SCO and it’s been great in the last two weeks to hear their big expanded ranks producing a big impact, aided of course by their colourful and dynamic conductor Maxim Emelyanychev who proved to be just as lively with Haydn this week as he was with Macmillan last week. Also the SCO principal musicians were used fully to imitate the animals in ‘The Creation’, notably Phillip Higham on the cello. The SCO chorus were 60 strong, augmented by some young singers under the direction of Gregory Batsleer. They were very good, although my companion, a former Edinburgh Festival chorister, thought their pronunciation was not as clear as it could be. Perhaps my major criticism was of the soloists: Hanno Muller-Brachman had a very sweet upper register, indeed he sounded like tenor, but lacked a bit of depth and heft in the lower register. Perhaps I had been somewhat spoiled by hearing Mathew Rose sing ‘The Creation’ a day before on a YouTube delivered concert from Holland, and he was very imposing. Andrew Staples has a melodic tenor voice, but I found soprano Lydia Teuscher a little less convincing. But maybe I should conclude what is, I admit, ‘a bit of a rant’ with some positive reflections from our long-time reviewer, Kate Calder, who is to our great pleasure returning to the EMR after a period of ill health.
Kate Calder adds:
This was my first SCO concert of the season and, having missed the excitement of the "Nicola effect" last week, I was disappointed to see such a poor audience for what promised to be an outstanding performance. I found the momentum, attention to detail, and high quality of playing and singing throughout much of the concert very exciting. As always there's the sense that Maxim has both prepared his musicians thoroughly but is still thinking on his feet. Sometimes, for example he appeared to improvise some of his harpsicord interpolations, and at others to decide that he should take physical steps to ensure the music could be just that bit better, as when he leaned over the harpsicord to encourage the cellos to hit their strings more loudly with their bows - a special effect to represent some of the sea creatures. A prepared moment but none the less dramatically effective was after the tenor sang ‘Let there be light’, and as the strings played a quiet high note which got louder, Andrew Staples looked into the distance and let his eyes follow the imagined sunrise. He largely had a good night and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. The combined choruses did too, and their blend of youth and experience made for some lovely quiet effects as well as providing terrific power for the big finales.
Incidentally, Haydn wanted his work to be performed in English as well as in German. I've heard that the standard English translation is too literary, but surely a modern translation, possibly in the plain Biblical style of Charles Jennens or John Bunyan, would make the work more accessible. There were no supertitles, and I saw the family in front of me, probably relatives of choir members struggle to follow what was going on.
Two other points. I think all the SCO choral concerts this year are due to take place in the Usher Hall. It gives a better sound, I think for the larger orchestra and chorus, but financially will it prove a bad move!
Finally, in case they think no-one's noticed, the gentlemen of the SCO are sporting new ensembles. For some years they have worn open-necked black shirts with black trousers, comfortable for performing in. Now they are wearing black suits, white shirts and ties, for which they seem to be given a free choice of colour and style. We will look for creativity and sparkle in their neckwear from now on!
